New doctoral degrees were conferred at the anniversary ceremony of Estonia's national university
On 1 December, this years' University of Tartu doctoral degrees were conferred. Ceremonial event took place during 105th anniversary of Estonia's national university ceremony. During year 2024, seven doctoral theses were defended in the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology.
Watch the ceremony with simultaneous interpretation into English on UTTV. Until 20 December, an exhibition showcasing the doctoral theses defended in 2024 is open at the UT Library.
Maarja Jõeloo
On 31 May, Maarja Jõeloo defended her doctoral thesis "Advances in microarray-based copy number variation discovery and phenotypic associations".
Supervisors:
professor Reedik Mägi
professor Andres Metspalu
professor Andres Salumets
professor Andrew P. Morris (University of Manchester)
Opponent:
Elliott G Rees, PhD (University of Cardiff, Great Britain)
Vi Ngan Tran
On August 21, Vi Ngan Tran defended her doctoral thesis "The Cellular Dynamics and Epithelial Morphogenesis in Drosophila Wing Development“.
Supervisor:
Professor Osamu Shimmi, University of Tartu
Opponent:
Doctor Barry Denholm, University of Edinburgh (the United Kingdom)
Arun Kumar Devarajan
On August 22, Arun Kumar Devarajan defended his doctoral thesis "Microbes and climate change: insights from plant-microbe interactions in rice phyllosphere and soil microbiomes in subarctic grasslands“.
Supervisors:
Associate Professor Marika Truu, University of Tartu
Professor Jaak Truu, University of Tartu
Professor Ivika Ostonen-Märtin, University of Tartu
Opponent:
Associate Professor Kim Yrjäla, University of Helsinki (Finland)
Natàlia Pujol Gualdo
On June 5th, Natàlia Pujol Gualdo defended her doctoral thesis "Decoding genetic associations of female reproductive health traits".
Supervisors:
Associate professor Triin Laisk
professor Reedik Mägi
professor Terhi Piltonen (University of Oulu)
Dr Riikka Arffman (University of Oulu)
Opponent:
Dr Ilkka Kalliala (University of Helsinki)
Sirelin Sillamaa
On 11 June, Sirelin Sillamaa defended her doctoral thesis “The role of helicases Hmi1 and lrc3 in yeast mitochondrial DNA maintenance“.
Supervisors:
Professor Juhan Sedman, University of Tartu
Associate professor Priit Jõers, University of Tartu
Opponent:
Professor Pawel Golik, University of Warsaw (Poland)
Kertu Liis Krigul
On 4 October, Kertu Liis Krigul defended her doctoral thesis “The gut microbiome at the interface of human health and disease”.
Supervisors:
professor Elin Org, University of Tartu
associate professor Tõnis Org, University of Tartu
Opponent:
Nassos Typas, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (Germany)
Danat Yermakovich
On 16 October at 14.15 Danat Yermakovich defended his doctoral thesis "The evolutionary history of complex traits: implications of archaic admixture".
Supervisors:
associate Professor Michael Dannemann, University of Tartu
associate Professor Jon Anders Eriksson, University of Tartu
Oponent:
David Gokhman, Weizmann Institute of Science (Israel)
