BIO-info (en)

Category: 2016 – Week 14

A new level in the Academic Council for Biology

Last week the Academic Council for Biology (Biofagrådet) was assembled in the Tårnbygningen at Ås. NMBU were the hosts for the meeting, which includes representatives of biology from most universities in Norway, under the umbrella of the Norwegian Association of Higher Education Institutions (UHR). Both NTNU, NMBU, and UiB are represented by two departments. From Bergen, the Department of Molecular Biology (MBI), and BIO are represented. In addition, UiO (Oslo), UiS (Stavanger), UiT (Tromsø) and Nord University (Bodø) are members of Biofagrådet. The meetings of the Council is an important opportunity to exchange experiences and discuss strategic issues in biology with colleagues from the other Norwegian universities. This is also the forum where each year we discuss which scientific journals should be lifted to level 2 of the Biology list of the Norwegian publication system. This discussion takes place in the fall.

This time the whole Academic Council was lifted to a new level, through the establishment of an Educational Forum, on initiative from bioCEED, under the Council (see photo). The Educational Forum will be a forum where educational leaders in biology can meet with the objective to drive development of biology education and exchange experiences between universities. Øystein Varpe from UNIS (and bioCEED) presented the idea to the Council. Øyvind Fiksen from BIO (and bioCEED) and Tom Andersen from Department of Biosciences (UiO) presented their experiences as educational leaders at their resepective departments. The Educational Forum is obviously a good and timely initiative, and we will most certainly here more from this in the future.

Next week we organize our own Strategy seminar in the Aula with interesting presentations and important discussions. Save Thursday April 14, and register here, if you didn’t do so already.

Hilsen AndersFagråd&Forum_NMBU_mars2016_lowres

2016 - Week 14, Welfare HR and HSE

Welfare, HR and HSE – Week 14

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Survey from the University Administration on Monday

On Monday you will receive a short questionnaire by email from Kirsti Brekke at the Communications Department, which we hope you have the time and opportunity to respond.

The survey contains only 4 questions and is anonymous.

The survey results are for internal use and is part of a project Communication department conducts on behalf of the university administration.

 

New employees

Vegar Løland is the latest addition to the BIO administration and Economy section.

He will work mostly related to projects with external financing.

Vegar Løland

 

Harald Lunde Saebo is employed as a Senior Engineer in the Fish Immunology Group from 1 March 2016
He will work with immunoassays and infection trials with fish, larvae and cells in cultures.

Harald Sæbø Lunde (2)

 

Welcome to BIO!

2016 - Week 14, Upcoming events

Upcoming events – Week 14

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Upcoming BIO events

Are now found on the left side menu, imported directly from uib.no/bio.

Events made on the Research group pages will also show up here.

 

Exploring the Arctic Ocean

After the UN Continental Shelf Commission recommended the Norwegian requirement limit solution in the Arctic Ocean in 2009, and Norway and Russia agreed on maritime delimitation and cooperation in the Barents Sea in 2011, the new large sea areas come under Norwegian administration.

Program for the evening:

Into The arctic ocean – research initiative byGunnar Sand, project director at SINTEF
The major scientific issues by Rolf Mjelde, professor at Univ. Of Bergen
Gakkelryggen- the project’s geographical goals by Rolf Birger Pedersen, Univ. Of Bergen
Thursday 14 April at. 19.00
Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing, Thormøhlensgate 47

 

Gene editing: A double-edged scissors?

CRISPR is called the largest biotech breakthrough this century. The so called DNA scissors cuts DNA and is the latest of several new methods to alter genes. CRISPR makes it possible to change the gene in all organisms and cell types, and are useful for everything from studying development of diseases to produce genetically modified organisms with unique characteristics.

What is actually CRISPR? Why all the fuss?

Presentation by senior adviser Sigrid Bratlie Thoresen in Biotechnology Council. It is time for questions from the audience after the lecture.

Time: April 26, at. 8.15 to 9.30

Location: Bergen, Litteraturhuset, Olav H. Hauge hall.

Free admission and breakfast/ More info and registration.

2016 - Week 14, Featured news

Featured news – Week 14: GBIF data – an important resource

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Open and available localized species data from so-called collecting databases are a vital resource in management, research and education. A new master’s thesis from the University of Bergen is a good example of the importance of this type of data in education.


Bahar Mozfar is a master student at Ecological and Environmental Change Research Group (EECRG) at the Department of Biology, University of Bergen. She has done extensive fieldwork, and registered and species specific bumblebees in different habitats in most parts of southern Norway. During fieldwork their species specific Mozfar total 1089 bumblebees. It was found 26 species totaling 199 localities. After the fieldwork Mozfar compared her own findings with 33,484 datapoints on findings of bumblebees that are registered in the database of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). This was done to find out if data from GBIF matched own findings with regard to the distribution of the species.

Read more on Biodiversity Information sites

2016 - Week 14, Research

Research – Week 14

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The research council warns about research magazines with paid content

Read more on UiBs employee pages

 

BIO internal deadlines towards the RCN (FRIPRO) deadline:    May 25th

April 13:           Expected call announcement

April 22:           Notify the department of your “intent to apply” – email: sjoukje.kuipers@uib.no

April 29:           Open and share your e-application with BIO’s administrator. Please use email address: synnove.myhre@uib.no

May 2-11:         Preparation of your draft budget with BIO administration. Budgets must be prepared in accordance with TDI budgeting model  – email: thomas.hugoy@uib.no

May 12-18:       Finalization of budget and formalities (including partner projects) will take place continuously

May 18:            Completion of final budget – thomas.hugoy@uib.no

 

Please respect the internal BIO deadlines for proposal submission. Should you need an extension for any of the above, please notify Sjoukje and/or Thomas.

Note: Changes in this year’s FRIPRO call: Read more

  • Larger budgets
  • Definition of work load for the project leader: at least 25 % for associate professors and professors, and at least 50 % for researchers
  • Interview round for young research talents
  • RCN’s stay abroad scholarship is now extended to include project leaders of young research talent projects, as opposed to only PhDs and postdocs financed by RCN.

2016 - Week 14, New Publications

New publications – week 14

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Bergendahl IA, Salvanes AGV, Braithwaite VA (2016) Determining the effects of duration and recency of exposure to environmental enrichment. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 176:163-169 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2015.11.002 Bjerga GEK, Arsin H, Larsen O, Puntervoll P, Kleivdal HT (2016) A rapid solubility-optimized screening procedure for recombinant subtilisins in E. coli. Journal of Biotechnology 222:38-46 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbiotec.2016.02.009 Bjørnevik M, Hansen…

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