The University of Turku will host doctoral candidates as part of a new pan-European training network that will advance understanding of how microorganism and host genetics interact.
Microorganisms that live on and within our bodies impact almost all our bodily processes. Many areas of research are now changing with the realisation that microbial ecosystems, their genes and the way they interact with host genetics, have direct relevance to many global societal challenges from public health to adaptation to climate change. This realisation has the potential to revolutionise not only basic biology but also applied areas such as agrobiology, biomedicine and biotechnology.
The new Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions Doctoral Network (“HoloGen”) is being led by Professor Torgeir R. Hvidsten from Norwegian University of Life Sciences. University of Turku is one of eight institutions involved around the world. Professor Leo Lahti and Adjunct professor Aki Havulinna, internationally recognized experts in computational omics research, are unravelling the mysteries of how host-associated microbial communities affect human health. They will host two doctoral placements at the University of Turku. Lahti also leads the doctoral training activities of the entire network.
“I am delighted to be part of this Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions Doctoral Network working with exceptional teams across the EU, dedicated to training the next generation of doctoral researchers in computational hologenomics. Given the fundamental importance of microbes for human and planetary health, this initiative is crucial for advancing our ability to leverage on open source development model, leading European supercomputers and massive data collections to gain a more holistic understanding of living systems,” says Professor Leo Lahti from the Department of Computing at the University of Turku.
This EU funding will enable the establishment of a doctoral programme that brings together organisations from different sectors to train highly skilled doctoral candidates to develop the practical implementation of hologenomics, to gain a more comprehensive understanding of host-microbiota interactions and their impact in both basic and applied areas, with direct relevance to many global societal challenges.
There will be 11 doctoral posts at seven universities, all benefitting from top researchers with theoretical knowledge on symbiosis biology, microbial ecology, animal evolution, animal production and biomedicine, as well as practical expertise in large- scale (meta)genomics, DNA sequence analysis, metabolomics, computational biology and biological systems modelling. In total, the network includes 18 partners including universities, research institutes and industry partners.
