MSc Marta Gómez Muñoz from the Institute of Clinical Medicine at the University of Oslo will be defending the thesis Global responses to genotoxic stress and culture supplements in Mycobacterium tuberculosis for the degree of PhD (Philosophiae Doctor). 

She will have a digital Public Defence March 4 at 12:15 pm

Find link and information here:https://www.med.uio.no/klinmed/english/research/news-and-events/events/disputations/2021/munoz-marta-gomez.html  

She will also give a digital trial lecture on March 4 at 10:15 am on the given topic: Regulation of gene expression in response to stress in bacteria

Find link and information here:https://www.med.uio.no/klinmed/english/research/news-and-events/events/trial-lectures/2021/munoz-marta-gomez.html

PhD candidate and IBA member Bishnu Joshi (UiT) has defended his thesis “Bacterial Extracellular vesicles and their cargo” for the degree of Philosophiae Doctor February 5th 2021.

IBA congratulates!

Read Bishnu Joshi´s report on his PhD experience from Northern Norway here.

IBA welcomes IBA members to a 1-week online workshop on scientific writing with Mathew Stiller-Reeve  12^th-16^th April.

This course is meant to provide a virtual space to meet up, learn, get motivated, write and talk about your writing. This course will be online to widen participation and interaction across the IBA network.

Read more and see the schedule on our course page

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In collaboration with Turning the Tide of Antimicrobial Resistance  (TTA), IBA ​invites IBA members to the second TTA/IBA Bioinformatics course Level 1 this year.

Wednesday, February 24th 2021 – Oslo, UiO, Domus Medica, L-257

This course will give you basic knowledge on whole genome assembly, including quality assessment of raw data (FastQC), adapter / quality trimming and contig assembly. You will also learn about the differences between De novo assembly and mapping to an annotated reference genome.

Do you strive for a career in science? Or maybe you consider whether research is the right career path for you? 

The abilities to manage your own career and to make well-founded career decisions are important skills for PhD- students – whether you choose to stay in academia or not.

On March 3rd (12:00-15:15) IBA will host a webinar on career opportunities within and beyond academia. The webinar is aimed at IBA doctoral students (but open to all members).

Schedule

PhD candidate and IBA member Chris Hadjineophytou (UiO) is defending his thesis “Protein glycosylation in the genus Neisseria: coordinated evolution of glycan biosynthesis and substrate targeting” for the degree of Philosophiae Doctor Monday February 8th at 13:15.

Read more and join the defence here.

Do you want to use illustration as an effective communication tool? Learn the essentials of graphic design and visual communication theory, drawing by hand and drawing digitally during this one week course from March 8-13 2021.

This course will introduce the theory and method of how to visually represent your scientific research. Being able to translate complex research into information that can be understood by a wide range of audiences is an important skill that will help you throughout your career.

Communicating your work using different methods helps you to think about your work from different perspectives. Not only will this help you understand your own research better, but it will also give you the tools to be able to explain your work to others.

The skills you will learn in this course are highly transferable to any design project you may do in the future.

Read more about the course on our courses and events page.

Course facilitator: Pina Kingman

The course is open to IBA members free of charge (PhD students are prioritized).

Deadline: February 15th.

In collaboration with Turning the Tide of Antimicrobial Resistance  (TTA), IBA ​invites IBA PhD student members to the TTA Bioinformatics course Level 1.

Wednesday, January 20th 2021 – Oslo, UiO, Domus Medica, L-257

This course will give you basic knowledge on whole genome assembly, including quality assessment of raw data (FastQC), adapter / quality trimming and contig assembly. You will also learn about the differences between De novo assembly and mapping to an annotated reference genome.

Course schedule

13:00 – 13:30 Part I: Introduction to Whole Genome Sequencing

Theoretical introduction and applications in microbial whole genome sequence analysis:

    – Basic whole genome sequence assembly and bioinformatics

    – NGS read-to-reference alignment (contig assembly)

Analysis techniques covered will employ raw data from Illumina platforms (HiSeq/MiSeq).

13:30 – 13:45 Coffee break

13:45 – 15:30 Part II: Hands-on exercises

    – Quick explanation of associated file types

    – Performing quality checks with FastQC (before and after trimming)

    – Adapter and quality trimming

    – Contig assembly and mapping to reference genome

Course facilitator: Timo Lutter

Dear IBA members, 

2020 has been a special, strange and challenging year! We would like to first thank all the participants of our courses and events (creating scientific illustrations, Covid-19 online seminar series, annual meeting, mindfulness and stress management and Nature Masterclass on scientific writing to name a few). Like so many other research schools, IBA had to postpone several courses and events in 2020. The upside is that we gained experience in hosting online events and webinars which will benefit all of us in the future!

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In 2020, many research schools (including IBA) were mid-term evaluated by the Research Council. We are happy to announce that IBA was approved for three more years, and that in the process, we have received valuable feedback and guidance. The fruits of this process are an updated course portfolio that will be more thoroughly introduced later. We would briefly note that IBA will hold a core summer course in early June where will offer a thorough introduction to the Principles of Infection Biology. We are also planning courses on zoonotic infectious diseases, host-pathogen interactions, vaccines, microbial symbiosis/host microbiota and antimicrobial resistance (all in summer/autumn 2021). In addition, we will continue to offer workshops and courses on transferable skills (Scientific Illustrations (early March and autumn), Scientific Writing, Career opportunities after completing your PhD ++).

Lastly, we would like to take this opportunity to introduce the three new regional directors of studies! Welcome to Özgün Candan Onarman Umu, Kurt Hanevik and Synnøve Brandt Ræder who will be in charge of organising IBA courses and events at NMBU, UiB and NTNU, respectively. They will also serve as the local IBA contact people. Johanna Ericson Sollid and Mike Koomey will continue to fill these roles at UiT and UiO.

With that, we wish you a peaceful Christmas and a safe new year! 

A big thanks to Catarina Moura for allowing us to share her Christmas stem cell tree with all of you! Read more about the making of it here

More than 25 IBA members presented their research via poster and/or oral presentation on this year´s annual meeting.

Of these, Ragnhild Sætra and Joel Heim took home the prize for best poster and oral presentation, respectively.

Congratulations!

Poster Award Winner: “Mechanisms in human macrophages infected with Mycobacterium Tuberculosis” presented by Ragnhild Sætra from NTNU

Oral Presentation Award Winner: “Bacterial survival in highly acidic environments – study of structure-function relationship of urea channels” presented by Joel Heim from UiO.