Dear Researcher,
Business Finland’s Research to Business (R2B) Call is Open
The Spring 2025 Research to Business call is now open, with an application deadline of March 5, 2025.
Business Finland funds R2B projects in public research organizations, where the project team prepares a research-based product or service idea for commercialization and conducts applied research to support its commercialization.
Several updates have been introduced in the Spring call, incuding:
1. Funding rate: Business Finland can grant funding for up to 80% of the total approved project costs.
2. Project costs: In this call, there is no upper limit on the total project costs. Typical costs range between 300,000€ and 700,000€, and applicants are encouraged to propose budgets of various sizes.
We encourage all interested parties to take advantage of this opportunity to develop innovative, research-based solutions for commercialization with the support of Business Finland.
Links:
* https://patio.oulu.fi/en/news/business-finlands-research-business-r2b-call-…
* https://www.businessfinland.fi/en/whats-new/calls/2025/research-to-business…
For more information and assistance in preparing your application, please contact janne.haverinen(a)oulu.fi<mailto:janne.haverinen@oulu.fi> or markku.kansakoski(a)oulu.fi<mailto:markku.kansakoski@oulu.fi> at the Innovation Centre.
Best regards,
Markku
Heippa kaikille,
Seuraavat maisteriseminaari pidetään keskiviikkona 5. helmikuuta. Muistakaa kirjautua zoomiin omalla nimellä. Suoritusta ei voida kirjata muuten.
Hello everyone,
The next master’s seminar will be on Wednesday 5th of December.
NOTE THIS IS A NEW LINK TO ZOOM!
https://oulu.zoom.us/j/62887929324?pwd=bU8JixWJgVdCOwLf0bkAJYV9TflaqG.1
Wednesday 5.2.
Time
Speaker
Title
Opponent
Plan/ Result
Professor
Supervisors
14:15
Anni Vähäkari
Sinitiaisen pesyekoon muutos ja taustat
Nina-Maria Kattainen
Plan
Timo Muotka
Emma Vatka ja Seppo Rytkönen
Dear colleagues,
Biology Thursday seminar this week will be on site, room MA335, 6th Feb, 12:15,
with Dr. Ina Satokangas, Univ. Helsinki, Helsinki Institute of Life Science (HiLIFE), on:
Hybridisation and introgression in Formica wood ants - a threat or a key to fast adaptation?
Studying how hybridisation and introgression shape closely related species increases our understanding of their persistence and adaptation possibilities. Hybridisation can be detrimental if the hybrids combine incompatible genetic material from their parents. For example, Formica wood ant hybrids suffer from male mortality. However, hybridisation can also facilitate fast adaptation, as populations may gain through it functional genes that allow coping with, e.g., novel thermal requirements. We have analysed whole-genome sequences from five hybridising, closely related species of Formica wood ants that are adapted to different climatic conditions. We show that the wood ant hybrids may harbour adaptive potential under warming climate: they live in warmer habitats than the parental species that is cold-adapted. Patterns of genomic variation suggest that hybrid male mortality may be partly environment-dependent, and that historically the gene exchange has actually been selected for in multiple genomic regions. Does hybridisation lead to exchange of adaptive genes among Formica, and what these are? In summary, I show that hybridisation and gene exchange may bring adaptive benefits. However, our work emphasises that these processes are complex and the evolutionary outcomes depend on many factors, including both intrinsic and environment-dependent selection.
See also: https://scholar.google.fi/citations?hl=fi&user=X5vOIiMAAAAJ&view_op=list_wo…
AND note that Ina will be around at the unit for the afternoon after the talk, if you want to talk her about your work, her work, genomics, evolution, ants, speciation, climate adaptation etc, please let me know and we'll put you together!
Cheers,
Heikki