MERG - Universitetet i Oslo

merg 

info 

NEW KNOWLEDGE 

by CrOssiNG 

DisCipLiNary 

barriErs 

Report for 2011 and plans for 2012 

Our main goal is to 

achieve status as a 

excellent research 

environment at UiO 

within 2012 

3 • 2012 

MERG is an 

effective arena for a 

good working environment 

and innovative 

research and 

teaching.

Index 

2nd norwegian Microbiology Meeting (noMi-11) 

The NoMi-11 meeting was organized on behalf of the MicroMatNat network. 

The second meeting took lace 14.-16. Sep, Hemsedal. It aimed to gather junior 

scientists, post doctors, and PhD students working in Norwegian institutions 

and companies in the area of microbial biology. The goal of the NoMi-11 

meeting was to create a fruitful environment for young scientists to discuss 

and interact scientifically with each other. The organising committee was lead 

by Thomas Haverkamp 

GOals and VIsIOns fOR MERG 3 

aCTIOn plan fOR 2012 4 

MajOR aChIEVEMEnTs In 2011 6 

MERG REsEaRCh pROjECTs 8 

InfTRasTRUCTURE IMpROVEMEnTs 2012 9 

BUdGET 10 

appEndIx 1: REsEaRCh pROjECTs 

appEndIx 2: jIppI REpORT

Goals and Visions for MERG 

Visions 

Research 

MERG is in the frontline of the international research 

within microbial ecology and evolutionary biology. 

MERG is a natural partner in Norwegian and European 

research projects and networks. 

Service and Communication 

MERG is a national service centre in bioinformatics and 

microbiology laboratories (includes collection, culturing, 

storage and training). 

MERG excels in communicating competence and popularizing 

for the public. 

bio9905 - bioinforMatics for MetagenoMics and enViron- 

Mental sequencing 

MERG in collaboration with Norwegian Sequencing Centre and ForBio arranged 

a 5 days intensive course in April. The course had both national and 

international speakers, including Karl Inne Ugland, Thomas Haverkamp, Lex 

Nederbragt, Anders Lanzén, Ramiro Logares, Christopher Quince, Anders 

Nielsen, Surendra Kumar and Håvard Kauserud (course organizer). The 

course received funding from Department of Biology, MLS uio and ForBio. 

Our main goal is to achieve status as 

an excellent research environment 

at UiO within 2012. 

Teaching 

MERG is a place for excellent teaching at the masters 

and PhD-level by the integration of research and teaching. 

MERG is the preferred national source of knowledge on 

microbial ecology and evolutionary biology. 

Organization 

MERG is an effective and open organization and an 

arena for a good working environment, as well as for innovative 

research and teaching.

action plan for 2012 

JiPPi & annual rePorts 

• Jippi on UiO nettskjema 

• Jippi goal - 2012 

• Main responsible: Kathrine 

• MERG annual report January 2013 

• Responsible: Kamran 

hMs focus 

• SOP and risk assessment 

• Working environment 


infrastructure 

MERG web-pages 

• Simplify the webpages 

• Improve the people’s homepages 

• Internal pages for each project 

• Protist2012 webpages 


Merg is the local host for the conference Protist2012 

Protist2012 will cover key topics in eukaryote microbiology. Latest 

news in the field of genomics, biodiversity, cell biology and 

technological innovations will presented. Protist2012 will take 

place 29 July - 3 August 2012 at Georg Sverdrups hus at Blindern 

campus. The organizing committee is Anders Krabberød, Rakel Blaalid, 

Hanne Ballestad, Kathrine Schou and Kamran Shalchian-Tabrizi. 

For more information: http://www.protist2012.org 

The action plan for 2012 is developed 

through an evaluation seminar 

in november 2011 where all participants 

contributed. Under each focus 

area the actions are describes with 

deliverables and responsibilities. 

here are all the main actions described. 

Bioinformatics and computational infrastructures 

• Improve computing / bioinformatics infrastructure. 

• Databases for the labs, Bioportal, programs for sequence 

analyses and imaging, statistical programs 


Wet lab infrastructures 

• Promote Microlab for new user groups 

• Manage the new Microlab infrastructure 


Technicians 

• Apply for funding for technicians and running costs 

• Main responsible: Kathrine

VisualiZation of Merg 

Administrative 

• UiO reporting systems 

• Define MERG on CRISTIN 


External communication 

• Promote MERG in regular courses and in presentations 

– develop appropriate PP slides 

• Active use of the MERG profile: ppt, NEWS, poster, 

corridors, doors 

• 4 articles on forskning.no, in Apollon (UiO magazine) 

or in National newspapers 

• Main responsible: All 

Meetings & conferences 

Protist2012: 

• Planning the conference: program, dates, localities 

and all necessary information on specific web-page 

• Establish E-pay and email-lists 

• Main responsible: Kamran 

inforMation, education & celebration 

Information 

• MEWS – MERG News 

• Organize Tuesday seminars every Tuesday January 

to May and September to December 


Celebration 

• Champagne celebration last Friday of every month 

• Jippi party last Friday in November 


Courses 

• Microscopy, fieldwork and culturing 

• Main responsible: Dag K 

Journal clubs 

• Develop new journal club course at 

Department of Biology 

• Main responsible: Håvard 

MERG marked 

• Establish marketing place with MERG information in 

MERG area 


Merg eVents 

MERG Seminars take place every Tuesday in room 4213 at 12:15. Presentation 

of project and results will be followed by a discussion. 

MERG Journal clubs take place every second Wednesday in room 4213 at 

13:15 

For more events in 2012 see: 

http://www.mn.uio.no/bio/english/research/groups/merg/Events/ 

iMProVe research ProPosals 

• If the CoE grant proposal reach the final write CoE 

grant proposal together with microbiology research 

groups at UiO 

• Improve dissemination, ethics and gender issues in 

all grant proposals 

• Initiate actions to improve chances for achieve EU 

grants, focus on Marie Currie grants 


recruitMent 

China and India – Norway programs 

• Communicate MERG to RCN responsible for China 

and India – Norway programs – to recruit people to 

MERG. 


MERG open day 

• MERG open day – presentation of activity, demonstration 

of equipment and projects for master students 


cooPeration across Merg 

• Arrange two annual workshops/seminars on specific 

themes 

• Establish “interest groups” 

• Common grant applications – establish teams that 

write proposals 

• Main responsible: All 

disseMination, ethics & gender issues 

• Initiate collaboration with the School Laboratory in 

Biology, UiO for dissemination of results 

• Apply for gender equality grants from UiO 

• Implement ethics standards recommended by “Forskningsetiske 

kommitteer 

• Define MERG specific ethic guideline and statement 


integration of technicians 

• Improve the technicians involvement in MERG research 

and teaching 

• Main responsible: Kathrine

Microlab 

MERG has established a new infrastructure for microbiology research at the 

University of Oslo, Department of Biology. Access will be granted to staff, 

guests and students at UiO working with microorganism cultures and/or eukaryotic 

cells, as well as ”field” material. For access and questions contact 

Cecilie Mathiesen and Kathrine Schou. 

More about the Microlab, see: 

http://www.mn.uio.no/bio/english/research/groups/merg/ 

Major achievements in 2011 

Publications 

In 2011 MERG published 4 more articles than in 2010, 

and is the most productive year since the group was 

established. Altogether 31 articles were published. 

Inter-disciplinary publications 

Several of our papers have a clear cross-disciplinary 

profile where different types of expertise have been 

combined to achieve common goals. Two of these are 

presented here. The article by Kumar et al. presents a 

new bioinformatics pipeline named CLOTU dedicated 

to processing of DNA sequences generated by the 454 

technology. In this work expertise in microbiology, informatics 

and statistics worked together. 

The other paper by Krabberød et al. investigates the 

phylogeny of a group of unculturable group of eukaryotes 

by applying fieldwork, whole genome amplification 

MERG’s main goal is to achieve a 

status as an excellent research environment 

within 2012. We reached 

this goal in 2011 by participating on 

a proposal for a Centre for Integrative 

Microbiology, which received 

the score Excellent by an international 

review panel. The finalists 

will be announces in May. 

and phylogenetic analyses. To accomplish the work, experts 

in biochemistry, micropaleontology, bioinformatics 

and evolutionary biology where brought together. 

• Krabberød, Anders Kristian; Bråte, Jon; Dolven, 

Jane Karine Lønne; Ose, Randi Frida; Klaveness, 

Dag; Kristensen, Tom; Bjørklund, Kjell Rasmus et 

al. (2011). Radiolaria Divided into Polycystina and 

Spasmaria in Combined 18S and 28S rDNA Phylogeny 

. PLoS ONE. doi: 10.1371 

• Kumar, Surendra; Carlsen, Tor; Mevik, Bjørn-Helge; 

Enger, Pål; Blaalid, Rakel; Shalchian-Tabrizi, Kamran 

& Kauserud, Håvard (2011). CLOTU: An online 

pipeline for processing and clustering of 454 amplicon 

reads into OTUs followed by taxonomic annotation 

. BMC Bioinformatics. doi: 10.1186/1471-2105- 

12-182

Impact factor 

The two papers published in 2011 with highest impact 

factor (IF) were: 

• Buntgen U, Kauserud H, Egli S. 2011. Linking climate 

variability to mushroom productivity and phenology. 

Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, in press 

(IF: 8.8) 

• Eastwood et al. 2011. The Plant Cell Wall‚ Decomposing 

Machinery Underlies the Functional Diversity 

of Forest Fungi. Science 333, 762 (IF: 31) 

All 2011 publications see the appendix 2. 

Highly cited papers 

In 2011 two articles were on the top cited articles in two 

international peer reviewed journals. Burki et al. 2008 

and 2009 are currently at top cited list in Biology Letters 

Genome Biology and Evolution. 

• Burki, F; Shalchian-Tabrizi, Kamran & Pawlowski, J 

(2008). Phylogenomics reveals a new ‘megagroup’ 

including most photosynthetic eukaryotes. Biology 

Letters. ISSN 1744-9561. 4, s 366- 369 . doi: 

10.1098/rsbl.2008.0224 

• Burki, Fabien; Inagaki, Yuji; Bråte, Jon; Archibald, 

John M; Keeling, Patrick J; Cavalier-Smith, Thomas; 

Sakaguchi, Miako et al. (2009). Large-Scale Phylogenomic 

Analyses Reveal That Two Enigmatic Protist 

Lineages, Telonemia and Centroheliozoa, Are Related 

to Photosynthetic Chromalveolates. Genome 

Biology and Evolution. ISSN 1759-6653. 1(1), s 

231-238 . doi: 10.1093/gbe/evp022 

research and serVice aPPlications 

In 2011 MERG staff took part in 11 larger grant applications 

to national and international grant offices. These 

are the following highlight: 

Centre of Excellence (CoE) 

MERG applied for a Centre of Excellence named Centre 

for Integrative Microbiology (CIM) together with three 

other microbial biology research groups at the University 

of Oslo (Glyconor, LaMDa, MERG and Tone Tønjumgroup) 

and external collaborators to maximize the potential 

synergies. The assessment gave an overall score 

excellent. The outcome of the prequalification round will 

be announced in May 2012. 

ERC starting grant application 

In November 2011 Håvard Kauserud submitted an ERC 

starting grant application to the European Research 

Council entitled “Linking microbial communities in boreal 

forest soils to plant diversity and productivity – a 

metagenomics approach”. The goal of this project is to 

make fundamental progress in the understanding of the 

community ecology of microorganisms in boreal forest 

soils and how they are organized spatiotemporally. The 

diversity, composition and activity of microbial communities 

will be related to the diversity and productivity of 

co-occurring plants. 

Grants from Research Council of Norway and UiO 

Project leader Dag Klaveness, got funded the project: 

“X-cell parasites: an emerging threat to marine fish”. This 

project is a collaboration with Kamran Shalchian-Tabrizi, 

Mark Freeman, University of Malaya, David Bass, Natural 

History Museum, London and Håkon Hansen, Norwegian 

Veterinary Institute, Norway. 

The project ”Regulatory RNA and the origin of animal 

multicellularity” got funded by an UiO PhD position (Ralf 

Neumann) and a, postdoc position to Jon Bråte. The 

projects aims to investigate whether the RNAi machinery 

was lost from the genomes of single-celled ancestors 

of animals multiple times and if the miRNA pathway 

evolved independently in animals with respect to other 

eukaryotic supergroups. 

All scientific project see the appendix 1 

high PerforMance coMPuting 

The capabilities of the Bioportal will be expanded to meet 

the Life Science users’ computational needs. The major 

objective with the requested project from NOTUR is to 

implement the Galaxy infrastructure at the computational 

resources at UiO and develop this system to handle 

jobs from the Bioportal. Porting jobs from the Bioportal 

to the Galaxy system will have several advantages. This 

project is a collaboration between BIO, USIT and CLSi. 

eValuation 

In the BIO-fag evaluation from 2010 the research program 

MERG got a good – very good score. The BIO-fag 

evaluation is based on achievement from 2000-2009. 

infrastructure 

The Microlab facility at Department of Biology was 

opened in December 2011. The facility is designed and 

managed by MERG. The Microlab is established for 

storage and growth of microbial cells of prokaryotes 

and eukaryotes species a well as virus, and other kinds 

of cell tissues from multicellular organisms such as animals 

and plant. The Microlab will be used for research 

on algea, fungi, protozoa, several bacteria strains and 

salmon cells. More about this infrastructure see MERG 

web-pages. 

new web-Pages 

New MERG web pages have been made - see 

http://www.merg.uio.no 

new coMMunication Profile for Merg 

New profile including power-points, posters, newsletters, 

colour pallet and elements was ready September 

2011. This is intended for MERG internal and external 

use. 

all achieVeMent 2011 in the JiPPi rePort 

Activities in MERG has been reported in the JIPPI, more 

information about JIPPI and the activities in MERG 2011, 

see appendix 2.

write-it-right 

In January Anke Stuken invited Gadi Rothenberg and Christopher Lowe to 

UiO to course 40 PhD students, postdocs, and researchers. For a successful 

career in research you must get your work published, read and cited. In 

our Write it Right (WiR) workshops we learnt how to: Write clear technical 

English, Structure our article effectively, Enhance titles and graphics to make 

an impact 

MERG research projects 

The MERG on going research project 

covers a wide range of areas 

in microbial ecology and evolution. 

here is a overview of the title of 

the projects. further details of the 

research content and the participating 

teams are 

described on MERG web pages. 

• Regulatory RNA and the origin of animal multicellularity. 

• X-cell parasites: an emerging threat to marine fish. 

• Population diversification and horizontal gene transfer processes in freshwater cyanobacteria: genomic and 

ecological perspectives. 

• Saxitoxin biosynthesis and genomics in organisms from two kingdoms - horizontal gene transfer or parallel 

evolution? 

• Biodiversity of marine eukaryotes (BioMarKs). 

• Phylogenomic and single cell whole genome amplification of Radiolaria. 

• Bioinformatics applications for evolutionary and ecologically high throughput sequence analysis. 

• A molecular phylogeny of the brown-spored agarics (Basidiomycota). 

• Endophytic fungi in boreal forest bryophytes. 

• Population genetics and phylogeography of Serpula lacrymans. 

• Comparative genomics of Serpula spp. 

• Microbial ecology of mycorrhizal symbiosis. 

• Fungi and climate change. 

• Ectomycorrhiza on Salix repens in coastal ecosystems on Lista peninsula, Vest-Agder, SW Norway. 

• Origin of animals and plants. 

• Evolutionary diversification and functional genomic studies of the Collodictyonidae. 

• Hydrurus foetidus, a large freshwater representative of the Chromalveolate (SAR?) clade. 

• Habitat fragmentation and pathways to extinction in dead-wood dependent fungi. 

• Advanced monitoring of the introduced crayfish plague (Aphanomyces astaci) for improved management of 

endangered freshwater crayfish. 

• High throughput sequencing of deep sea metagenomes. 

• Alkaloid profiles in Claviceps purpurea - relationships between chemotype, genotype, host and habitat.

adVanced equiPMent aPPlication 

The total figure announced for new applications of equipment and infrastructure 

is NOK 22,828,000. Applicable funding is categorized into advanced scientific 

equipment, scientific databases and collections and eInfrastructure, 

and costing at least NOK 1 million. Suitable coordinated applications across 

the university will be favoured. Grants will be made on the bases of the longterm 

priorities for academic and research activities. Our candidates are: BI- 

OLOG and Influx flow (see illustrations). Deadline for application is 1.March. 

Infrastructure improvement 2012 

At present the Bioportal, a web-based front-end to the 

computational resource Titan at the University of Oslo 

(UiO), is a highly successful method for accessing the 

resource for many researchers in the field of life science. 

The primary goal with the Bioportal has been to reduce 

the barriers for users to explore the HPC resources. The 

success of the Bioportal is largely due to the simplified 

user interface that enables non-programmers access to 

advanced computational tools in their research. Close 

to 3 million CPU hours were consumed through the Bioportal 

during the last allocation period (2010.2). The 

usage prognosis for the present period is the same, limited 

only by the present allocation. As the demand for 

simplified and user-centric interfaces to computational 

resources are increasing, so is the demand for a wider 

range of applications and tools presented through these 

interfaces. 

Bioportal is a web-based bioinformatics 

service at UiO, which is initiated by 

MERG participants. 

Bioportal is the most used bio-informatics service in norway. In 2012 we 

will implement Galaxy as an infrastructure middleware. 

obJectiVes of the ProJect 

The major objective with the requested project from 

NOTUR is to implement the Galaxy infrastructure at the 

computational resources at UiO and develop this system 

to handle jobs from the Bioportal. 

the teaM 

Kamran Shalchian-Tabrizi (BIO), Hans A Eide (USIT), 

Bjørn-Helge Mevik (USIT), Katerina Michalickova (USIT),

Merg 

Budget 

Microbial eVolution research grouP 

MERG works strategically to improve our research by creating synergies 

across the group and with external collaborators. The core of our research 

area is microbial ecology and evolution. We address basic theoretical and 

methodological questions for a broad group of microorganisms, and aim to 

apply this knowledge to solve challenges within health, climate, environment, 

energy and food production. Our research and teaching is inter-disciplinary 

and aim at creating synergies across wide range of disciplines. 

for 2012 MERG is anticipated to get a base funding of approximately 

416.000 nOK for running cost from the department of Biology. This year 

we will focus on upgrading the areas outside room 4212 as a “MERG 

market”. We will continue with champagne celebrations and the jIppI party 

the last friday in november. 40 000 is allocated travel support. 

Microbial Evolution Research Group (MERG), www.merg.uio.no 

Mail address P.O box 1066 Blindern 0316 Oslo Norway 

Contact person: Kamran Shalcian-Tabrizi, kamran@bio.uio.no 

traVel suPPort 

Support up to 3000 NOK for traveling to conferences, 

courses and research stay abroad will be transerred to 

MERG participants based on JIPPI registration at the 

end of the year. 

Merg Maked Place 

The area outside room 4212 will be renovated and furnished 

during 2012. The intention is to improve our visibility 

at the department by displaying news, printed articles 

and announcements. 30 000 NOK is allocated to 

this work. 

Microlab 

The new labs have opened and needs 50 000 NOK for 

simple equipment. 

JiPPi celebration 

In 2012 we will celebrate the MERG activity the last Friday 

in November at a restaurant in Oslo. 30 000 NOK is 

allocated to this event in the budget. 

furniture 

2012 is the last year we are paying for our office furniture. 

We have each of the three last year spent about 

140 000 NOK on new kitchen, desks, chairs and shelfs.

MERG 

Annual report 2011 

APPENDIX 1: MERG Research 

Projects 2012 

Microbial Evolution Research Group (MERG) 


University of Oslo

Index 


In alphabetic order: 

A molecular phylogeny of the brown-spored agarics (Basidiomycota) ........ 3 

Advanced monitoring of the introduced crayfish plague (Aphanomyces 

astaci) for improved management of endangered freshwater crayfish ........ 4 

Alkaloid profiles in Claviceps purpurea - relationships between chemotype, 

genotype, host and habitat .......................................................................... 5 

Biodiversity of marine eukaryotes (BioMarKs) ............................................ 6 

Bioinformatics applications for evolutionary and ecologically high 

throughput sequence analysis ..................................................................... 7 

Comparative genomics of Serpula spp. ........................................................ 8 

Ectomycorrhiza on Salix repens in coastal ecosystems on Lista peninsula, 

Vest-Agder, SW Norway .............................................................................. 9 

Endophytic fungi in boreal forest bryophytes ........................................... 10 

Evolutionary diversification and functional genomic studies of the 

Collodictyonidae ......................................................................................... 11 

Fungal speciation ...................................................................................... 12 

Fungi and climate change .......................................................................... 13 

Habitat fragmentation and pathways to extinction in dead-wood dependent 

fungi .......................................................................................................... 14 

High throughput sequencing of deep sea metagenomes ............................ 15 

Hydrurus foetidus, a large freshwater representative of the 

Chromalveolate (SAR?) clade ..................................................................... 16 

Microbial ecology of mycorrhizal symbiosis .............................................. 17 

Origin of animals and plants ..................................................................... 18 

Phylogenomic and single cell whole genome amplification of Radiolaria .. 19 

Population diversification and horizontal gene transfer processes in 

freshwater cyanobacteria: genomic and ecological perspectives ............... 20 

Population genetics and phylogeography of Serpula lacrymans ................ 21 

Saxitoxin biosynthesis and genomics in organisms from two kingdoms - 

horizontal gene transfer or parallel evolution? ......................................... 22 

Regulatory RNA and the origin of animal multicellularity ........................ 23 

X-cell parasites: an emerging threat to marine fish .................................. 24 

2


A molecular phylogeny of the brown-spored agarics 

(Basidiomycota) 

Objectives of the project 

• Re-analyse the current classifications schemes of the brown-spored agarics and define 

monophyletic groups. 

• Track and analyse the evolution of various mycorrhizal and saprotrophic life-forms. 

• Analyse infrageneric molecular phylogeny in Galerina, and test species boundaries and character 

evolution, using a multi-locus phylogenetic approach. 

• Analyse infrageneric molecular phylogeny in Cortinarius, and track the evolution of chemical, 

morphological and ecological characters in light of the molecular results. 

• Perform a critical examination of the G. atkinsoniana and G. marginata species complexes, using a 

combination of multi-locus sequencing and AFLP fingerprints. 

Galerina marginata, Photo: Klaus Høiland 

Project summary 

The brown-spored agarics include saprotrophic and mycorrhizal fungi belonging to the families 

Bolbitiaceae, Cortinariaceae, Crepidotaceae, and Strophariaceae. The taxonomy is largely based on 

morphological and ecological characters, as in most groups of fungi. In this PhD project, our main goal 

is to support species and genus level distinction by using DNA sequence data to infer phylogenetic 

relatedness and character evolution, and subsequently, to approach a phylogenetic classification of the 

brown-spored agarics. Multilocus sequence data sets will be analyzed using parsimony and maximum 

likelihood based phylogenetic methods. A special emphasis is put on the genus Galerina, which 

includes saprotrophic and bryophilous species producing small, mycenoid and yellow to brownish 

basidiocarps. 

The team 

Øyvind Stensrud (PhD), Trond Schumacher, Håvard Kauserud, Klaus Høiland + external collaborators.


Advanced monitoring of the introduced crayfish plague 

(Aphanomyces astaci) for improved management of endangered 

freshwater crayfish 


Develop and apply molecular methods for direct monitoring of crayfish plague (CP) in water and 

environment in order to 1) explore the ecology and adaptation of Aphanomyces astaci in freshwater 

systems and 2) develop rapid, reliable and cost efficient tools for improved management of endangered 

freshwater crayfish. 

Signal crayfish (left) and noble crayfish (right,) 

Photo: David Strand 

Sub-goals: 

1) Develop an operational real-time PCR for direct and 

quantitative monitoring of CP in freshwater and 

freshwater environment 

2) Compare the levels of CP-infection in signal crayfish 

stocks and their freshwater environments 

3) Target potential alternate hosts for A. astaci from Nordic 

freshwater systems 

4) Develop molecular markers for direct monitoring and 

epidemiological studies of low- and high virulent CPgenotypes. 

5) Determine the distribution of CP-genotypes involved in 

previous & present Norwegian outbreaks 


Aphanomyces astaci is a specialized parasite on North American freshwater crayfish. Accidental 

introduction of A. astaci to Europe resulted in the lethal crayfish plague (CP). Later introductions of 

North American carrier crayfish to Europe has accelerated CP spread and established constant 

infection reservoirs. Due to CP, European freshwater crayfish are endangered, and the crayfish 

businesses suffer great economical losses. In Norway, CP is listed as a group A disease, and 

introduction of carrier crayfish is prohibited. Several outbreaks of CP have wiped out Norwegian 

populations of noble crayfish, and illegally introduced carrier crayfish was recently detected. Growing 

evidence indicate that CP may persist longer than previously thought, which complicates re-stocking 

activities. In 2005, CP killed reintroduced crayfish stocks in two Norwegian watercourses. Recently, the 

Minister of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs asked the competent authorities to develop strategies to 

combat CP and signal crayfish in Norway. The major objective of the proposed project is to develop 

and apply molecular methods for direct monitoring of A. astaci in water and environment in order to 1) 

explore the ecology of A. astaci in freshwater systems and 2) develop rapid, reliable and cost efficient 

tools for improved surveillance that will enhance sustainable management and use of freshwater 

crayfish. Improved surveillance will include a) early warning of CP infections, b) unveiling illegally 

introduced carrier crayfish and c) declare waters free of infection. The project will further explore the 

persistence of CP in freshwater habitats and target mechanisms for prolonged survival. Methods for 

monitoring high- and low virulent CP-genotypes will be developed in collaboration with active project 

partners. The project involves collaboration with reputed national and international institutions that will 

ensure needed competence, provide relevant study areas, and enhance research networking 

The team 

David Strand (PhD), Bente Edvardsen, Dag Klaveness, Trude Vrålstad. 

4


Alkaloid profiles in Claviceps purpurea - relationships between 

chemotype, genotype, host and habitat 

Project Summary 

The project is about the grass parasitic fungus Claviceps purpurea that produces toxic ergot alkaloids 

leading to ergotism and neurological disturbances in mammals. Phylogenetic analyses support three 

habitat specific C. purpurea lineages (dry, wet/shady, saline), indicating a habitat driven evolution that 

again correspond to unique chemotypes. Recent results suggest that this picture is more complex. The 

aim of the project is to test whether the alkaloid profile within a genotype is a function of genotype only, 

or also dependent on the host plant. We will further investigate if alkaloid profile variation between 

genotypes is larger than the host-plant-determined variation, and if genotypes co-exist within hosts and 

habitats. 

The team 

Mariell Negård (master student). Supervisors: Trude Vrålstad (MERG, NVI), Silvio Uhlig & Gunnar 

Sundtstøl Eriksen (NVI), and Klaus Høiland (MERG).. 

5 

1. Claviceps purpurea på timotei, 

2. Mariell in the field 

Photo: Trude Vrålstad


Biodiversity of marine eukaryotes (BioMarKs) 


• Establish a baseline of protist biodiversity in EU coastal waters, 

• Measure biodiversity change in marine protist communities facing ocean acidification, 

• Evaluate the impact of ballast water and pollution on marine protist biodiversity. 

• To significantly enhancing our basic knowledge of eukaryote biodiversity and ecology (Who? 

How Many? When? Where? Why?), 


MERG and other research groups at University of Oslo participate in the BioMarKs project as one of 8 

EU research institutes. More than 30 experts from various biological disciplines, economy and politics 

are brought together to address key questions about eukaryote microbial diversity. 

BioMarKs integrates expertise in eukaryotic microbial taxonomy and evolution, marine biology and 

ecology, genomics and molecular biology, bioinformatics, as well as marine economy and policy, to 

assess the taxonomic depth, environmental significance, human health and economical implications of 

biodiversity of the unicellular eukaryotes or protists. Exploration of ribosomal rDNA clone libraries over 

the last decade has revealed ever-increasing biodiversity in both novel lineages and groups which were 

believed to be species-poor. BioMarKs will reassess coastal marine protist biodiversity using massive 

454 amplicon sequencing of both rDNA and reverse transcribed rRNA general eukaryote and groupspecific 

markers, in order to analyze both diversity and abundance/activity of marine protists at 

different taxonomic levels. A suite of physical, chemical, and biological metadata from the same 

samples will allow statistical analyses of the ecological forces shaping marine protist biodiversity. 

Microscopy analyses, as well as downstream PCR-based and FISH molecular analyses of archive DNA, 

RNA, and cellular material (again from the same samples) will allow anchoring of the genetic data into 

high quality phenotypic, phylogenetic, and ecological quantitative frameworks. 

MERG participate in particular on topics related to parasitic organisms and development of 

suitable bioinformatics tools for investigation of diversity and abundance of parasitic groups. 

The team at UiO: 

Wenche Eikrem, Kamran Shalchian-Tabrizi, Tom Andersen, Kjell Bjørklund, Bente Edvardsen. 

6 

The project has a project 

webpage. BioMarKs


Bioinformatics applications for evolutionary and ecologically high 

throughput sequence analysis 


To develop bioinformatics tools and subsequent analysis of ever increasing sequences in the context of 

ecological and evolutionary microbiology. To apply these newly developed tools on computer 

clusters (Bioportal) for ultra high throughput analysis. 

Sub goals: 

• BLASTGrabber: a user-friendly bioinformatics infrastructure for data mining of sequence database and 

downloading aimed for ultra high throughput sequence analysis. 

• AIR (Appender, Identifier, Remover): A web based phylogenomic application for efficient creation of 

multigene alignments and better assessment of evolutionary rates in sequence alignments. 

• CLOTU: A web-based pipeline for clustering and analysis of environmental sequences. 


This project focuses particularly on solving some of the major obstacles in bioinformatics analyses of large 

and complex data in the field of ecological and evolutionary microbiology. The availability of high throughput 

sequencing technology at lower cost than previously will certainly cause dramatic increase in the number of 

genome sequences in near future. The explosion of genomic sequence information generated immediate 

reliance upon ultra high throughput analysis in bioinformatics field. An increase in the amount of large-scale 

sequence data does not necessarily lead to an increase in biological knowledge until it is accompanied with new 

or improved tools for sequence analysis. The main objective of this project is to develop a user-friendly 

bioinformatics infrastructure for data mining of sequence databases and downloading aimed for ultra high 

throughput sequence analysis. This infrastructure, which we call BLASTGrabber, will form the basis for 

developing one major web-based service freely available to anyone. In addition, this infrastructure will form 

the basis for developing two smaller bioinformatics applications in the areas of biodiversity (CLOTU) and 

phylogenomics (AIR). All the web-based applications will be made available on the Bioportal at University of 

Oslo, and it is a goal to contribute to improve research in MERG by applying these applications in ongoing 

research. 

The team 

Surendra Kumar (PhD), Kamran Shalchian-Tabrizi, Kjetill S. Jakobsen, Håvard Kauserud. 

7


Comparative genomics of Serpula spp. 


• Study the genome evolution among various Serpula lineages. 

• Reveal which genomic changes have accompanied the transition from nature to man made habitats. 

• Compare genomes features of various geographic populations of S. lacrymans. 

• Analyse the genomic changes that have accompanied the ecological transition from saprotrophism 

to symbiosis (mycorrhiza) in Serpula. 

• Use genome data to study the evolution of mating types (sex chromosome evolution) in Serpula 

spp. 

Serpula lacrymans 

Photo: Sandy Maurice 


The dry rot fungus Serpula lacrymans is a severe destroyer of wooden building materials in temperate 

regions worldwide. It belongs in the Boletales, being relatively closely related to mycorrhiza forming 

taxa. It is a brown rot fungus, decaying the cellulose and hemicellulose components of the wood. In 

2007, JGI (http://www.jgi.doe.gov/) accepted a proposal to genome sequence S. lacrymans var 

lacrymans and its sequence will soon be made publicly available. JGI has also accepted to genome 

sequence the closely related S. lacrymans var shastensis using 454 sequencing, where our group is 

responsible for providing the genomic DNA. Together with our Swedish collaborators we also plan to 

sequence additional genomes of various Serpula lacrymans lineages using Illumina/Solexa sequencing. 

The main objectives is to reveal which genomic changes that are associated with the fungus transition 

from free-living in nature to becoming the most aggressive indoor decomposer. We also want to extend 

the project with genomic comparisons between saprotrophic and mycorrhiza forming Serpula lineages. 

The team 

Inger Skrede (Post Doc), Sudagar Balasundaram (PhD), Håvard Kauserud + collaborators. 

8


Ectomycorrhiza on Salix repens in coastal ecosystems on Lista 

peninsula, Vest-Agder, SW Norway 


• Differences between above-ground and below-ground fungal structures. 

• The variation of ectomycorrhiza from unestablished to established sand dunes, from rich to poor 

soils, from wet to dry soils, and between sand dune ecosystems and heath ecosystems. 

• Inocybe_dunensis 


Creeping Willow Salix repens is an important woody plant in coastal ecosystems such as sand dunes 

and heaths. In sand dunes its habitats range from dry to wet and from calcareous, humus-poor to 

acidic, humus-rich soils. Its mycorrhizal associations are dual, arbuscular or ectomycorrhizal, 

depending on the relative availability of nitrogen and phosphorus. The differences in the habitat 

preference of the various ectomycorrhizal morphotypes and arbuscular mycorrhiza suggest that 

mycorrhizal diversity contributes to the broad ecological amplitude of S. repens. Moreover, neither 

diversity nor abundance of above-ground ectomycorrhizal fungi (assessed as sporocarps) can be used 

to assess below-ground ectomycorrhizal diversity or abundance. – No studies employing molecular 

detection methods on S. repens mycorrhizae have been performed up to now. Field work has been 

performed in various dune and heath systems on the Lista peninsula in April, July and October 2009. 

Root tips with ectomycorrhiza have been collected for molecular analyses. 

The team 

Klaus Høiland, Cecilie Mathiesen, Håvard Kauserud, Tor Carlsen (tentatively team). 

9 

From left: Fruit bodies 

of Inocybe_dunensis and Salix repens 

Photo: Klaus Høiland


Endophytic fungi in boreal forest bryophytes 


• Describe the diversity of endophytic fungi in three abundant boreal forest bryophytes across different 

habitats and spatial scales, ranging from the single bryophyte shoot up to the global intercontinental 

scale. 

• Explore how the diversity of fungal endophytes in forest bryophytes is affected by landuse, i.e. 

forestry operations. 

• Explore how the diversity of endophytes in forest bryophytes is affected by environmental pollution, 

i.e. nitrogen deposition and acidification. 

• Chemically characterize secondary metabolites produced by fungal endophytes in boreal forest 

bryophytes. 

• Estimate the role of fungal endophytes in the relationship between bryophytes and herbivores. 


Fungi that live hidden inside plant tissues, apparently without causing injuries to the host plant appear 

to be ubiquitous. These fungi are endophytes and they belong to several fungal taxonomical groups. 

While there is a growing appreciation of the ecological importance and human uses of fungal 

endophytes in higher plants, remarkably little is known about their host specificity, diversity, and 

functional role in bryophytes. In this project, which integrates chemical, microbiological, mycological 

and ecological competences, we will study the endophytic fungi and their functional role in three boreal 

bryophytes, i.e. Hylocomium splendens, Pleurozium schreberi and Polytrichum commune. You may 

wonder, by all right, why we chose to target some tiny bryophytes when there are so many other and 

more spectacular plants around? First, these three bryophytes have a circumpolar distribution and they 

are extremely abundant in boreal areas. In the boreal biome they occur in all places on land and their 

biomass outranges most other boreal organisms. Second, they play an important functional role in 

boreal forests, which is the world’s second largest terrestrial biome. The project is funded by NFR (Miljø 

2015). 

The team 

Marie Davey (Post Doc), Lisbeth Thorsvik (scientific assistant), Håvard Kauserud, Mikael Ohlson (UMB) 

+ external collaborators. 

10 

Endophytic fungi 

Photo: Marie Davey


Evolutionary diversification and functional genomic studies of the 

Collodictyonidae 


- Investigate the molecular phylogeny of a Collodicyonidae species already in culture 

- Study the distribution and diversity of possibly related species by means of environmental rDNA 

PCR and/or selected genes 

- Bring new related organisms in culture for identification of allegedly primitive traits by molecular 

methods 

- Discuss the relation between these organisms and the concept of the most primitive eukaryote 


Collodictyon triciliatum Carter 1865 is an amoebo-flagellate originally described from a pond in India. It 

is occasionally found in freshwater lakes and rivers, but it is rare and its systematic relationship to other 

amoeba and flagellate-like organisms has been uncertain. We have a culture of this organism, isolated 

from lake Årungen, and had only done some preliminary light- and electronmicroscopical work on this 

organisms. The overall goal of this project is to obtain an understanding of the origin and evolutionary 

traits of an allegedly primitive organism, by use of frontline methods now available. In addition, by 

employing environmental PCR and recently developed methods using the 454-titanium technology, we 

expect to shed light upon the distribution of related organisms in nature, and to obtain a scientifically 

founded idea about the evolutionary development and systematic relationship to other organisms. This 

may involve a discussion of what are ancestrally primitive eukaryote traits.This investigation leads us 

into questions of great general interest. 

The team 

Sen Zhao (PhD), Jon Bråte (PhD), Klaus Høiland, Kamran Shalchian-Tabrizi, Thomas Rohrlach, Dag 

Klaveness. 

11 

Collodictyon triciliatum 

Photo: Dag Klaveness


Fungal speciation 


The main objective in this project is to analyze mechanisms and processes involved during fungal 

speciation employing empirical and experimental inferences. More specific aims are to: 

• Analyze the geographic component of speciation in fungi (allopatric, parapatric vs. sympatric 

speciation). 

• Evaluate the importance of ecological differentiation and isolation during fungal speciation. 

• Analyze the importance of post-zygotic isolating mechanisms. 

• Evaluate the importance of hybridization and reinforcement (Darwinian speciation). 


Although more than 100.000 fungal species exist, fungi are largely missing 

in the speciation debate. Speciation theory is based mainly on research on animals and plants and little 

is known whether fungi conform to general models of speciation. Four different boreal/nemoral wooddecay 

species complexes (Basidiomycota) will be used as model organisms in this project, selected 

because multiple breeding units (intersterility groups) exist within the species complexes, indicating 

ongoing or recent speciation. Preliminary data indicates that hybridization and/or introgression occurs 

in at least two of the species complexes. One main research topic is to reconstruct speciation 

mechanisms in fungi through biogeographical interpretation of phylogenies (phylogeography) based on 

multilocus DNA datasets. The ecological component of the speciation process will be studied through 

various physiological experiments. Various fitness parameters and ecological characteristics will be 

investigated in the divergent allopatric/sympatric lineages and coupled to the phylogeographic 

information obtained. Various post-zygotic isolating mechanisms will be investigated, including 

chromosomal incongruence. In this way we also want to illuminate to what extent the frequently used 

pre-zygotic clamp connection formation criterion reflects reproductive isolation. Results from some 

studies indicate that reinforcement may be an important speciation mechanism in fungi. The importance 

of hybridization and reinforcement during fungal speciation will be investigated through the analyses of 

hybrid zones and mating experiments between allopatric/sympatric populations. The team behind this 

project together shares the expertise and experience needed to carry through all of the proposed 

subprojects. 

The team 

Tor Carlsen (Post Doc), Inger Skrede (Post Doc), Kristian Seierstad (PhD), Håvard Kauserud, Glenn- 

Peter Sætre (CEES) + external collaborators. 

12 

From left: Fruit bodies of Amanita 

muscaria (Photo: Arve Græsdal) and 

Hypholoma fasciculare (Photo: Per 

Marstad)


Fungi and climate change 


• Analyse the effects of climate change on the biology of fungi. 

• Analyse the impact of climate change on fungal phenology and fungi’s distribution patterns. 


It is well-documented that recent climate change has had great effect on biological systems. Climate 

change has resulted in changes in the timing of phenological events in many organisms, but relatively 

little attention has been paid to how microorganisms, including fungi, respond to climate change. In this 

project the aim is to explore which impact climate change has on fungi. In one part of the project we 

analyze how the phenology of fungal fruiting bodies has changed in relation to climate change using 

complex statistical models. For this purpose we use different types of time series data, including 

herbarium records from various European countries. In another part of the project we aim at analysing 

how fungi’s distributions will change under future climate scenarios by niche modeling analyses. 

The team 

Håvard Kauserud, Klaus Høiland, Nils Chr. Stenseth (CEES), Rune Halvorsen (NHM), + external. 

13


Habitat fragmentation and pathways to extinction in dead-wood 

dependent fungi 


• Study the variables that affect the occurrence of aphyllophorous fungal species (polypores and 

corticioids), with a particular focus on how species’ life-history traits are linked with their 

vulnerability to the effects of forestry. 

• Identify the demographic and genetic processes that disentangle the species that have and have 

not responded negatively to forest management and fragmentation. 

• Examine the variation in intraspecific genetic diversity and its effects to the viability of 

populations. 


In spite of extensive amount of forest biodiversity research in Fennoscandia, the exact mechanisms 

behind species declines are still poorly understood. Identifying the key processes leading to extinctions 

is critical for the development of scientifically informed and cost-effective conservation measures, the 

prediction of future population trends and the assessment of conservation needs. Our project takes 

advantage of the ongoing revolution in molecular biology and sequencing technology, which enables 

one to combine conventional fruit-body inventories with direct measurements of the mycelial (drilling 

sawdust) and dispersal stages (sampling spores from the air). The project will produce systematic 

information on the distribution, abundance and viability of dead-wood dependent fungi as fruit bodies, 

mycelia and spores in Sweden and Norway. This information will be used to identify the key 

mechanisms behind species declines. 

The team 

Jenni Nordén (Post Doc), Anders B. Aas, Håvard Kauserud, Karl-Henrik Larsson (NHM) + external 

collaborators. 

14


High throughput sequencing of deep sea metagenomes 


The objective of this project is to establish high throughput sequencing as a tool for metagenome 

investigations of deep sea sediments in the northern regions. Sediments influenced by methane and 

hydrocarbons are of special interests. 

Our aims within the project are: 

• Comparison of microbial diversity at the sea floor and in oil reservoirs at different sites. 

• Setting up competence around high throughput sequencing and bioinformatics analysis of 

metagenomic data and sharing this competence with collaborators around Norway. 

Project Summary 

The microbial density in marine sediments is about 10 8 -10 9 microbial cells/cm 3 and is reported to 

exceed 10 5 microbial cells/cm 3 even at depths close to 1000 m below the seafloor. 16S rDNA 

sequencing has been used to characterize the composition of microbial communities in deep sea gas 

hydrate sedimentary systems or active mud volcanoes such as the Håkon Mosby Mud Volcano (HMMV) 

in the Barents Sea. These studies confirm that little is known about the microbial consortia in marine 

sediments and that only a few of the microbes detected have been cultivated or described before. 

Furthermore, it seems clear that the environmental conditions, including the carbon and energy sources 

available in the habitat, strongly influences microbial diversity. In this project metagenomics is used to 

help us understand which organisms (and their relative proportions) and which genes (i.e.; 

biochemistry) are present in different deep sea sediment ecosystems and oil reservoirs. Furthermore, 

comparison of samples of different ecosystems makes it possible to identify habitat specific functions, 

e.g. metabolic pathways, within the microbial community. In addition it becomes possible to perform 

gene hunts, for example for genes (enzymes) involved in degradation of long-chained alkanes. In 

principle, any potentially interesting gene can be discovered this way. 

The team 

Thomas Haverkamp (Post Doc), Othilde Håvelsrud (PhD), Helga Kristiansen (MSc student), Kjetill S. 

Jakobsen, Anne Gunn Rike (NGI), Ole Andreas Løchen Økstad (LaMDa), Tom Kristensen, 

15


Hydrurus foetidus, a large freshwater representative of the 

Chromalveolate (SAR?) clade 


- Clear up the molecular phylogeny of a strain from Finse 

- Collect and publish all information on Hydrurus from Norway 

- Critically go through all published records of this sp. worlwide 

- Based upon environmental information, bring a strain into culture 

- Study the evolutionary conditioned plasticity expressed under different culture conditions 

From left: Hydrurus foetidus (Photo: Dag Klaveness), Hydrurus foetidus (Photo: Dag Klaveness), Part of Tafel 1 (XV) from 

Berthold 1878 


Hydrurus foetidus (Vill.) Trev. 1843 is a multicellular, arbuscular representative of the golden algae, 

appearing seasonally in cold rivers, typically in early spring season during snowmelt. The thallus may 

reach considerable dimensions, but under natural conditions a length of 3-10 cm is typical. This alga 

has a long history of scientific attention, because its size and morphological plasticity do not fit in 

among the typical golden algae – and the fragility of the thallus have resisted any attempt of bringing it 

into culture in liquid media, since Rostafinski first tried in 1882. A molecular phylogeny has alredy been 

constructed based upon partial 18S and 28S rDNA sequences, without a definitive location among the 

chrysophytes – but securely located among the latter. We have solved the basic problems with 

culturing, but there remains a lot of thinking to design experimental conditions for the laboratory study 

of this obligate psychrophilic rheophile (= low-temperature and highturbulence-dependent organism). 

The team 

Jon Bråte (PhD), Kamran Shalchian-Tabrizi, Kjetill S. Jakobsen, Nina Værøy (MSc student), Eli-Anne 

Lindstrøm, Dag Klaveness 

16


Microbial ecology of mycorrhizal symbiosis 


• A main focus will be to analyze which factors that determine and influence on the structure and 

composition of the ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungal community in the Bistorta vivipara root system. 

• Using experimental and empirical approaches, we want to analyze the effects of factors like host 

genotype (ecotype) and variation in environmental conditions on the ECM community and how the 

ECM community changes during a primary successional process. 

• Furthermore, we want to analyze the effects of various biotic interactions (like the occurrence of 

various bacteria) on the ECM community of B. vivipara. 

• Another main task will be to evaluate the temporal and spatial variation in the ECM fungal community 

associated with B. vivipara. 

A 


The community ecology of root associated fungi will be studied using the perennial plant Bistorta 

vivipara as a ‘model system’. As one of few herbaceous plants, B. vivipara forms ectomycorrhizal (ECM) 

relationships with various fungi. The small and condensed root systems makes B. vivipara an ideal 

model organism for ECM community studies since the entire fungal assemblage associated with the 

roots easily can be analyzed simultaneously using high throughput sequencing technologies. Using B. 

vivipara as a model system we will be able to overcome many of the challenges we face when working 

with the large root systems of slow-growing cultivated trees. One main focus will be to analyze which 

factors that determine and influence on the structure and composition of root-associated fungi of B. 

vivipara. We also want to analyze the bacteria associated with the mycorrhizal symbiosis and study the 

interplay between the plant host, the fungal symbionts and the associated bacteria. Both observational 

field studies and experiments will be conducted. The experiments will involve the establishment of an in 

vitro model system, where effects of bacterial and fungal species in the symbiotic relationship will be 

tested. 

The team 

Tor Carlsen (Post Doc), Rakel Blaalid (PhD), Unni Vik (PhD), Fang Yao (MSc-student), Synnøve Botnen 

(MSc-student), Rune Heimdal (MSc-student), Håvard Kauserud, Tom Andersen, Klaus Høiland, Trond 

Schumacher, Anne-Brit Kolstø (LaMDa), Ole Andreas Løchen Økstad (LaMDa), Anne Brysting (CEES), 

Karl I. Ugland (Marine) + external collaborators. 

17 

B 

A. Bistorta vivipara B. The small and 

condensed root systems makes B. 

vivipara an ideal model organism 

for ECM community studies 

Photo: Unni Vik 

Photo: Marie Davey


Origin of animals and plants 


• Resolve the phylogeny of choanozoa by multi-gene phylogenies 

• Mapping the change of genes involved in cell signalling and cell adhesion on the Choanozoa and 

early animal phylogeny 

• Reveal the earliest occurrence of DAK1 among the plant lineage 

• Functional characterization of DAK1 domains in algae and early plant lineages. 

• Data-mining and detection of different types of kinases among the Choanozoa. 


Transition from unicellular to the multicellular eukaryotes have occurred multiple times from different 

ancestors, and given rise to plants, animals, fungi, some multicellular amoeba forms, some red and 

brown algae as well as few other groups. The molecular basis for the all these transitions and the 

formation of the various body plans have likely involved very different components; for instance the 

genes involved in embyogenesis of animals seem not to have been central in formation of multicellular 

plants. 

In this project we investigate the origin and evolution of animals and plants by phylogenomic 

analyses. Our approach is to use phylogeny of the opisthokonts (animals, fungi and Choanozoa) and 

Viridiplantae (plants and green algae) as a frame for mapping genetic and genomic changes of key 

components for cell adhesion and cell signaling. The two projects on animals and plants were initiated 

separately and involves different scientists, but a major goal is to compare the evolutionary processes 

that lead to multicellularity in these two lineages. 

The Team 

Marianne Minge, Marit Espelund, Kjetill S. Jakobsen, Ruiz Inaki, Thomas Cavalier-Smith, Odd-Arne 

Olsen, Rob Wilson, Kamran Shalchian-Tabrizi 

18 

From left: Reticulomyxa Filosa Photo: 

José Fahrni, Five group of Eukaryotic 

organsims 

Illustrasjon: Fabian Burki


Phylogenomic and single cell whole genome amplification of 

Radiolaria 


• Develop and optimize genome-sequencing methods for unculturable unicellular protists. 

• Partially sequence the genome and cDNA sequences from three radiolarian species in order to 

provide suitable data for: Investigation of the phylogenetic placement of Radiolaria by using 

multigene data (phylogenomics), and, Identification of sequence markers appropriate for 

species phylogeny and detection of cryptic species diversity. 

• Study the species phylogeny and cryptic diversity of radiolarian lineages by the use of a 

phylogenetic species concept and compare the molecular phylogeny with the current 

morphology-based systematics of the group. 

• Investigate symbionts and parasites associated with the radiolarian cells by using the developed 

molecular methods 

Callimitra carolotae, Lamprocyclas maritalis, mitrocalpis_araneafera, nephrospyris_knutheieri, Lamprocyclas maritalis. Photo: Kjell Bjørklund 


A major goal of the project is to develop methods for genomic investigations of unculturable unicellular 

eukaryotes, which comprise the vast majority of the species. A method known as single cell whole 

genome amplification (SCWGA) can provide enough DNA template for multiple downstream analyses. 

The method has not been widely applied on protists and there is therefore a great need for optimization 

and development. SCWGA will be coupled with the latest upgrade of the 454-pyrosequencing 

technology. Using these techniques we will study a group of unicellular eukaryotes (protists), 

Radiolaria, which like most other microorganisms, are notoriously difficult to grow in culture and are 

therefore virtually nothing is known about their genomes, ecology and species diversity. Hence this 

project will generate knowledge about both advanced molecular methods, applicable for any type of 

microorganism, and fundamental knowledge about a very much enigmatic lineage of eukaryotes. The 

coupling of SCWGA and 454-pyrosequencing will allow: - Investigation of the gene and genome 

organization of at least partial genomes of radiolarians. - Reconstruction of the genome evolution of 

members of the eukaryotic supergroup SAR (includes Radiolaria) as several species in SAR have been, 

or currently are being, genome sequenced. - Rigorous phylogenetic investigation of Radiolaria using a 

multigene approach (phylogenomics). - Identification of proper markers for population genetics and 

across-species studies. - Identification and characterization of associated symbionts or parasites. 

The team 

Jon Bråte (PhD), Anders Krabberød (PhD), Jane Dolven, Tom Kristensen, Randi Ose, Kjell Bjørklund, 

Dag Klaveness, Kamran Shalchian-Tabrizi 

19


Population diversification and horizontal gene transfer processes 

in freshwater cyanobacteria: genomic and ecological perspectives 


• Study whether the subpopulation structure of cyanobacteria in Lake Steinsfjorden and Lake 

Kolbotnvannet. 

• Compare the cyanobacteria genetic and chemotype diversity in different ecological 

environments. 

• Investigate the impact of a change in nutrient concentration on the genetic diversity of 

Planktothrix strains in Lake Gjersjøen. 

• Study to what extent the frequency of HGT is influenced by biotic factors such as Chytrid 

(fungal) infection, or abiotic factors (stresses) such as UV- exposure or shaking. 

Kolbotnvannet 

Photo: Hanne Ballestad 

Project summary: 

The overall goal of this study is to gain a deeper understanding of cyanobacterial population 

diversification processes and how horizontal gene transfer, dispersal and selective forces are 

influencing such processes. The long time goal is to achieve an improved understanding of 

cyanobacterial population genetics – which in turn should open up for a cyanobacterial species 

concept, or a rejection of the species concept. In a study of Planktothrix from Lake Kolbotnvannet we 

utilize the NRPS markers and additional markers to study the chemotype/genotype diversity and the 

impact of selective pressure on the diversity. Complete genome sequencing by the 454 technology of 

several Norwegian and German Planktothrix strains is currently in progress. In a comparative study we 

will look into genetic differences between the genomes and search for answers to what significance the 

genetic variation has had for the differences in chemotype-diversity between Norwegian and German 

freshwaters. We will also do a pan/core genome study to reveal the common set of genes in the genus 

Planktothrix and compare it with those of other cyanobacteria. By utilizing field samples from Lake 

Gjersjøen from 1964-2008 we will study the historical genotype dynamics and what impact a change in 

nutrient availability has had for the genetic diversity of Planktothrix chemotypes. We will also look for an 

answer to what impact the genetic diversity has had for the increased biomass of Anabaena. One 

hypothesis is that stressors lead to an aggregation and cell lysis and that this may result in a higher 

frequency of HGT, and consequently in an increased genetic diversity. If our experimental study 

confirms that infection by chytrids results in an increased frequency of HGT, we may look into what 

significance higher genotype/chemotype diversity has for cyanobacteria’s resistance against infection 

by chytrids. 

The team 

Hanne Ballestad (PhD), Trine B. Rounge (Post Doc), Ave Tooming-Klunderud (Post Doc), Kjetill S. 

Jakobsen, Thomas Rohrlack. 

20


Population genetics and phylogeography of Serpula lacrymans 


• Study the phylogeny of Serpula lacrymans and closely related lineages to illuminate the evolutionary 

origin of Serpula lacrymans. 

• Study the phylogeography of Serpula lacrymans to unravel from where, when, and how it has spread 

and colonized the human domain. 

• Analyze the population genetics of Serpula lacrymans in order to reveal basic biological traits such 

as reproductive mode, degree of clonality and dispersal capacity. 

• Study the evolution and spread of mating types within Serpula lacrymans. 


The dry rot fungus Serpula lacrymans is a severe destroyer of wooden building materials in temperate 

regions worldwide. It has an outcrossing (heterothallic) reproductive mode and is able to produce and 

spread an enormous amount of basidiospores. It is also capable of local vegetative colonization by 

rhizomorphs (i.e. aggregated hyphal structures). Being a widespread aggressive indoor biodeterioration 

agent, it has only been found a few times in natural environments. It is still not known when the fungus 

established in buildings, but it was probably in connection with the establishment of more permanent 

human settlements with wooden constructions, and thus the dry rot fungus probably has a short 

evolutionary history in indoor habitats. In this project we want to study basic biological traits of S. 

lacrymans, such as dispersal capacity and reproductive mode, true population genetic analyses. 

Another aim is to study the evolutionary relationship between S. lacrymans and closely related lineages. 

We also want to reveal from where and when S. lacrymans spread out and colonized the human 

domain. 

The team 

Inger Skrede (Post Doc), Sarasvati Jacobsen Bjørnaraa (MSc Student), Håvard Kauserud, + external 

collaborators. 

21 

The dry rot fungus Serpula lacrymans 

fruiting in a house. 

Photo: Mycoteam AS


Saxitoxin biosynthesis and genomics in organisms from two 

kingdoms - horizontal gene transfer or parallel evolution? 


• Investigate the biochemical mechanism and enzymes involved in sxt biosynthesis. 

• Identify and characterize saxitoxin genes from several dinoflagellate species. Investigate 

evolution, phylogenetic origin, and possible horizontal gene transfer. 

Figure 1. 

Horizontal Gene Transfer of STX from 

cyanobacteria to dinoflagellates? 

22 

Figure 2. 

Alexandrium Photo: Wenche Eikrem 


Saxitoxin (STX) is a natural neurotoxin produced by certain species of marine cyanobacteria and 

dinoflagellates. STX: A secondary metabolite blocks sodium channels, preventing transduction of 

neuronal signals. STX distribution is very peculiar; to-date it has only been identified in 2 dinoflagellate 

(Dinophyceae) orders (Gymnodiniales and Gonyaulacales) and 2 cyanobacteria orders (Nostocales 

and Oscillatoriales). This distribution is intriguing when considering the evolutionary distance between 

these orders. The STX gene cluster has been cloned and sequenced for numerous cyanobacteria, 

however as yet not for dinoflagellates. Despite this both are presumed to have a similar biosynthetic 

pathway. Bacteria living in symbiosis with dinoflagellates do not produce STX so only 2 possible 

scenarios explain STX distribution; Firstly, the parallel evolution of traits due to similar environmental 

pressures and secondly, the most plausible scenario; Horizontal Gene Transfer (HGT) of STX from 

cyanobacteria to dinoflagellates. As STX sequence information is available for cyanobacteria so this 

project will focus on dinoflagellates: Toxic dinoflagellate cultures have been obtained and maintained 

from 32 Alexandrium strains. DNA has been isolated from these strains and PCR product for 18s (Small 

Sub Unit), 5.8s, 28s (Large Sub Unit) and ITS (Internal transcribers) rRNA regions has been amplified 

and sequenced. The toxic profile of the strains has been determined with ELISA and Mass 

spectrometry. Phylogentic work using rRNA to determine the evolutionary branching pattern within 

Alexandrium is in progress.Total RNA has been isolated for 2 Alexandrium strains and has been used to 

construct 2 normalized cDNA libraries. The tagged libraries have now been run on 454 titanium 

technology. To date the sequencing of a ½ plate has resulted in 13800 contigs for the A. fundyense 

library and ~11400 contigs for the A. minutum library. The project is now progressing to a 

bioinformatics stage. Firstly, all contigs will have to be annotated in relation to functionality before 

checking for presence of STX genes using a multitude of bioinformatic tools (Bioportal). 

The Team: 

Anke Stüken (Post Doc), Russell Orr (PhD), Ralf Kellman (Bergen), Kamran Shalchian-Tabrizi, Kjetill S. 

Jakobsen


Regulatory RNA and the origin of animal multicellularity 

This is a project in the field of evolutionary developmental (evo-devo) biology. The overall aim is to 

greatly improve our understanding of the transition from unicellular eukaryotes to multicellular animals. 

This represents a mega-leap in the evolution of eukaryote genome and cell organisation that hence of 

fundamental importance in biology and medicine. 


We will in this project focus on the unicellular relatives of animals termed Choanozoa. On the basis of 

current status in the field we aim toward bringing the field of evo-devo a step further by rigorous 

examination of the role of non-coding and regulatory RNA in the evolution of animal multicellularity. This 

will be achieved by studying selected Choanozoa species and using bioinformatics and highthroughput 

sequencing approaches. 


In this project we will investigate: 

• RNAi machinery losses and gains in the genomes of single-celled ancestors of animals 

• The miRNA pathway evolution in animals compared to other eukaryotic supergroups 

• Whether the miRNA and piRNA pathways have been essential for development of multicellularity 

• Regulatory RNAs in single celled Choanoza that are not derived from RNAi precursors 

• Evolution and function of the RNAi protein machinery 

• Whether genetic processes, such as gene duplications, lineage-specific gene loss or horizontal gene 

transfer took part in shaping the regulatory RNA machinery in Choanozoa 

The team 

Jon Bråte (Post Doc), Ralf Neumann (PhD), Tom Kristensen, Paul Grini, Dag Klaveness, Kamran 

Shalchian-Tabrizi, Maja Adamska (SARS, Bergen), Inaki Ruiz (Univ Barcelona, Spain), Yves Van de 

Peer (Univ. of Gent, Belgium) 

23 

Sphaeroeca, a colony of 

choanoflagellates (aproximately 230 

individuals). Photo: Dhzanette. 

Wikimedia Commons


X-cell parasites: an emerging threat to marine fish 


• To determine the ecological and geographical distribution of X-cell lineages, and their 

phylogenetic relationships. 

• Use FISH microscopy and immuno-staining to elucidate the X-cell lifecycle. 

• Use comparative genomics methods to identify how this pathogen infects and interacts with host 

and what are the genetic characteristics associated with the process of infection. 

• Develop biotechnological tools for detection of X-cells in fish and in the environment for early 

warning systems. 


The term X-cell was first used in 1969 to refer to distinctive cells found in epidermal tumours of flatfish. 

Subsequently, cells with a similar appearance have been found in over 25 species of fish. Many of 

these are commercially important, and are also farmed, which greatly increases the incidence of 

disease and its transmission. X-cell diseases are still mostly unknown, so we currently have a) no way of 

knowing how important they really are, b) which so far uncharacterised diseases are caused by X-cells, 

and c) no understanding of how to best manage aquaculture systems to minimise X-cell related 

disease. Currently the impact of X-cells is likely to be highly underestimated, as many of its effects are 

attributed to other, or unknown causes, or not easily recognised. 

X-cell disease forms in three main fish tissues, depending on the species infected: large epidermal 

tumours in the skin epidermis, fins, head, and inner opercular region, pseudotumours in the 

pseudobranchial tissue, and swollen gill filament lesions. 

In addition to the commercial interest, X-cell parasites are of much interest because 1) they are disease 

causing agents of many groups of fish, yet we know almost nothing about their distribution, lifecycle, 

and mode and frequency of infection, and 2) they occupy a key branching position in the tree of life, 

being related to many parasites of a wide range of animals, some of which are of significant commercial 

importance. They will teach us a lot about the evolution of parasitism in alveolates. Therefore, the 

objectives of the project is to close these knowledge gaps, which are of high ecological and 

evolutionary importance. 

The team 

Dag Klaveness, Kamran Shalchian-Tabrizi, Dr Mark Freeman (University of Malaya), Dr David Bass, 

(Natural History Museum London), Anders Jørgensen (Norwegian Veterinary Institute). 

24 

Pseudobranchial pseudotumours in Atlantic 

cod Gadus morhua from Iceland. a) Five 

cod from the same year-class; two 

uninfected fish (top) and three infected fish 

(bottom). b) Pseudobranchs have a gill-red 

colour in healthy fish and are enlarged and 

have a creamy-whitish appearance when 

infected (c) (black arrows). Scale bars a = 

4 cm, b & c visible. From Freeman et al. 

(2011)



Appendix 2: JIPPI Report 





What is JIPPI? 

The MERG JIPPI score system was introduced in during the first 

month 2010. It is a web-based five step procedure that should 

not take more than 5-10 minutes. It is adopted from National 

Veterinary Institute from Ida Skaar and Section of Mycology. 

AIM 

The aim is to visualise the activities in MERG for 

internal use as well as for reporting. 

It is important for the success of the “utviklingsmiljø” 

to credit all activities. It is also used to measure the 

deliverable set in the annual plan. It is intended to 

inspire all activities not only publications. Each year 

the JIPPI money should be used on a social activity 

selected by the MERG team. A maximum withdrawal 

will depend on the budget. In MERGs 2010 Budget 

30 000 NOKs are granted. This year the money was 

used for a dinner at Nodee. 

The entries are grouped into 8 main categories: 

Publication 

1.1 PUBLICATION: Scientific publication 

1.2 PUBLICATION: Popular scientific publications 

1.3 PUBLICATION: Book publications / Book chapter 

1.4 PUBLICATION: Reports 

1.5 PUBLICATION: Posters 

1.6 PUBLICATION: Congress lecture 

1.7 PUBLICATION: Internal presentation/lecture and 

popular contribution 

Grant applications 

2.1 GRANT APPLICATION: Send a large grant 

application (NFR/EU/network) 

2.2 GRANT APPLICATION: Send a small grant 

application (Nansen/legater/UiO) 

2.3 GRANT APPLICATION: Funding of large grant 

application 

2.4 GRANT APPLICATION: Funding of small grant 

application 

2 

Education 

3.1 EDUCATION: Graduation of Master 

3.2 EDUCATIONS: PhD dissertation 

Courses and workshops 

4.1 COURSES / WORKSHOPS: Organise 

lab/computer lab 

4.2 COURSES / WORKSHOPS: Lecture 

4.3 COURSES / WORKSHOPS: Course leader 

4.4 COURSES/WORKSHOP: Training/Education of 

new students or new employees in lab-procedures 

4.5 COURSES/WORKSHOP: Further education 

(kompetanseheving) 

Media 

5.1 MEDIA: Radio / Television 

Referee 

6.1 REFEREE (incl. internal and external) 

HSE 

7.1 HSE: Internal publications (web) of 

method/protocols 

7.2 HSE: Implementation of new instrumentation 

7.3 HSE: Maintaining good laboratory standards 

according to OHS (HMS) handbook and MERG rules 

7.4 HSE: Remark during internal OHS inspections 

(one entry per lab) 

7.5 HSE: Closed lab due to breach of OHS 

regulations (one entry per lab) 

Other 

8. OTHERS: 

Each year the JIPPI money should be used on a 

social activity selected by the MERG team.


JIPPI numbers 2011 

Based on JIPPI reporting 2010 it is possible to compare the 

performance and improvement yearly. 

Accumulated JIPPI POINTS 2011 

The total JIPPI score 2011 was 103 909 this is an 

increase of 42% compared to 2010. 

Participation 

MERG consist of 43 members of these 36 have 

contributed to one or more entries. The JIPPI score 

is announced each month and published on the 

web-pages. 

Throughout the year participation in the JIPPI 

reporting system has been encourage. 

Scientific publications: Impact factors 

In 2010 78% of the scientific publications have an 

impact factor 3 

in 2011 versus 2010, 59% versus 56% in 2011. (See 

figure page 6.) 

JIPPI 2011: 114, 299 points 

and 235 entries, compared 

to 76, 851 points and 158 

entries in 2010. 

Categories 

The achievement was within the publications with 

57% of all entries. 17% of entries are grant 

applications


Positive trends 

Number of scientific publication has increased 

from 27 to 31. 

There were more and larger grant applications in 

2011 than in 2010 

In collaboration with Lamda, Glyconor and Tone 

Tønjum group a Centre of Excellent application 

was submitted. This got excellent marks (6) 

Håvard Kauserud applied for a ERC starting grant 

The Microlab facilitiy opened in 2011 

33 SOP was written in 2011 compered to none in 

2010. Showing increase focus on HSE 

There seem to be the same involvement in 

teaching. 

4 

Negative trends 

• Number of popular scientific presentation 

has dropped drastically from 21 to 5. 

• Number of poster and congress lecture has 

also dropped from 2010 to 2011 

• There were no PhD dessitation in 2011 

versus 2 in 2010 

• There were 3 master graduations in 2011 

versus 6 in 2010.


Entered activities 

1.1. PUBLICATION: Scientific publication 

1 Boltovskoy, Demetrio; Kling, Stanley A.; Takahashi, Kozo; Bjørklund, Kjell Rasmus. WORLD ATLAS OF 

DISTRIBUTION OF RECENT POLYCYSTINA (RADIOLARIA). Palaeontologia Electronica 2010 Volum 13(3):1- 

230 

2 Kruglikova, S.B.; Bjørklund, Kjell Rasmus; Dolven, Jane K.; Hammer, Øyvind; Cortese, G. High-rank 

polycystine radiolarian taxa as temperature proxies in the Nordic Seas. Stratigraphy 2010 ;Volume 7.(4) s. 265- 

281 

3 Shalchian-Tabrizi, K, Røberg, K. R, Ree, D. K, Klaveness, D. and Bråte, J. 2011. Marine-freshwater 

colonizations of haptophytes inferred from phylogeny of environmental 18S rDNA sequences 

4 Klaveness, D. & Lindstrøm,E-A. 2011. Hydrurus foetidus (Chromista, Chrysophyceae): A large freshwater 

chromophyte alga in laboratory culture. Phycological Research 59 (2), xx-yy 

5 Nilsson RH, Tedersoo L, Lindahl BD, Kjøller R, Carlsen T, Quince C, Abarenkov K, Pennanen T, Stenlid J, 

Bruns T, Larsson K-H, Kıljalg U, Kauserud H. 2011. Towards standardization of the description and publication 

of next-generation sequencing datasets of fungal communities. New Phytologist, 191, 314-318. 

6 Kumar S, Carlsen T, Mevik B-H, Enger P, Blaalid R, Shalchian-Tabrizi K, Kauserud H. 2011. CLOTU: An online 

pipeline for processing and clustering of 454 amplicon reads into OTUs followed by taxonomic annotation. 

BMC Bioinformatics, accepted. 

7 Buntgen U, Kauserud H, Egli S. 2011. Linking climate variability to mushroom productivity and phenology. 

Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, available online 

8 Strand DA, Holst-Jensen A, Viljugrein H, Edvardsen B, Klaveness D, Jussila J, Vrålstad T. 2011. Detection and 

quantification of the crayfish plague agent in natural waters: direct monitoring approach for aquatic 

environments. Diseases of Aquatic Organisms 95: 9-17 

9 Orr, R.J.S, Stüken, A, Rundberget, T, Eikrem, W, Jakobsen, K.S, Improved phylogenetic resolution of toxic 

and non-toxic Alexandrium strains using a concatenated rDNA approach. Harmful Algae In Press, Corrected 

Proof. 

10 Krabberød, A. K, Bråte, J, Dolven, J. K, Ose, R. F, Klaveness, D, Kristensen, T, Bjørklund, K. R. and Shalchian- 

Tabrizi, K. Radiolaria divided into Polycystina and Spasmaria in combined 18S and 28S rDNA phylogeny. 

2001. PLoS ONE 

11 Dittami, S.M, Riisberg, I, John, U, Orr, R.J.S, Jakobsen, K.S, Edvardsen, B, Analysis of Expressed Sequence 

Tags from the Marine Microalga Pseudochattonella farcimen (Dictyochophyceae). Protist In Press, Corrected 

Proof. 

12 Skrede I, Engh IB, Binder M, Carlsen T, Kauserud H, Bendiksby M. 2011. Evolutionary history of Serpulaceae 

(Basidiomycota): molecular phylogeny, historical biogeography and evidence for a single transition of 

nutritional mode. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 11: 230. 

13 Kauserud H, Kumar S, Brysting A, Norden J, Carlsen T. 2011. High consistency between replicate 454 

pyrosequencing analyses of ectomycorrhizal plant root samples. Mycorrhiza, in press 

14 Eastwood et al. The Plant Cell Wall‚ - Decomposing Machinery Underlies the Functional Diversity of Forest 

Fungi. Science 333, 762 (2011) 

15 Stüken A, Orr RJS, Kellmann R, Murray SA, Neilan BA, et al. (2011) Discovery of nuclear-encoded genes for 

the neurotoxin Saxitoxin in dinoflagellates. PLoS ONE 6. 

16 Murray SA, Wiese M, Stüken A, Brett S, Kellmann R, et al. (2011) A quantitative molecular assay based on the 

gene sxtA to identify saxitoxin-producing harmful algal blooms in marine waters. Appl Environ Microbiol. 77 

(19): 7050-7 

17 Shalchian-Tabrizi K, Reier-Røberg K, Ree DK, Klaveness D, Bråte J, Marine- Freshwater Colonizations of 

Haptophytes Inferred from Phylogeny of Environmental 18S rDNA Sequences, J Eukaryot Microbiol. 2011 Jul- 

Aug;58(4):315-8. 

18 Anders K. Krabberød, Jon Bråte Jane K. Dolven, Randi F. Ose, Dag Klaveness, Tom Kristensen, Kjell R. 

Bjørklund, Kamran Shalchian-Tabrizi, Radiolaria divided into Polycystina and Spasmaria in combined 18S and 

28S rDNA phylogeny . PLoS ONE. ISSN 1932-6203. 6(8) . doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0023526 

5


19 Guifré Torruella, Romain Derelle, Jordi Paps, B. Franz Lang, Andrew J. Roger, Kamran Shalchian-Tabrizi and 

Iñaki Ruiz-Trillo Phylogenetic relationships within the Opisthokonta based on phylogenomic analyses of 

conserved single copy protein domains, Mol Biol Evol (2011) first published online July 18, 2011 

20 Hans K. Kotlar, Anna Lewin, Jostein Johansen, Mimmi Throne-Holst, Thomas Haverkamp, Sidsel Markussen, 

Asgeir Winnberg, Philip Ringrose, Trine Aakvik, Einar Ryeng, Kjetill Jakobsen, Finn Drabløs, Svein Valla High 

coverage sequencing of DNA from microorganisms living in an oil reservoir 2.5 kilometres subsurface. 

Environmental Microbiology reports 

21 Othilde Elise Håvelsrud, Thomas HA Haverkamp, Tom Kristensen, Kjetill S Jakobsen and Anne Gunn Rike A 

metagenomic study of methanotrophic microorganisms in Coal Oil Point seep sediments. BMC Microbiology 

2011, 11:221 

22 Gjessing MC, Davey M, Kvellestad A, Vrålstad T. 2011. Exophiala angulospora causes systemic inflammation 

in Atlantic cod Gadus morhua L. Diseases of Aquatic Organisms 96: 209-219 

23 Vrålstad T. 2011. ITS, OTUs and beyond - Fungal hyperdiversity calls for supplementary solutions. Molecular 

Ecology 20: 2873-2875 

24 Vrålstad T, Johnsen SI, Fristad R, Edsmann L, Strand D. 2011. Potent infection reservoir of crayfish plague 

now permanently established in Norway. Diseases of Aquatic Organisms 97: 75-83 

25 Håkan Berglund, Jenni Hottola, Reijo Penttilä, Juha Siitonen 2011. Linking substrate and habitat requirements 

of wood-inhabiting fungi to their regional extinction vulnerability. Ecography 34: 864-875. 

26 Eidesen, P.B, Gulden, G, Høiland, K. 2011. Sopptur i busens fotspor. Agarica 31: 35-40. 

27 Gabrielsen, Tove M; Minge, Marianne Aastebøl; Espelund, Mari; Tooming-Klunderud, Ave; Patil, Viswanath; 

Nederbragt, Alexander Johan; Otis, Christian et al. (2011). Genome Evolution of a Tertiary Dinoflagellate 

Plastid. PLoS ONE. ISSN 1932-6203. 6(4), s e19132 . doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0019132 

28 Torruella, Guifré; Derelle, Romain; Paps, Jordi; Lang, B. Franz; Roger, Andrew J.; Shalchian-Tabrizi, Kamran & 

Ruiz-Trillo, Iñaki (2011). Phylogenetic relationships within the Opisthokonta based on phylogenomic analyses 

of conserved single-copy protein domains. Molecular biology and evolution. ISSN 0737- 

4038. 29(2), s 531- 544 . doi: 10.1093/molbev/msr185 

29 Klaveness, Dag; Bråte, Jon; Patil, Viswanath; Shalchian-Tabrizi, Kamran; Kluge, Ragnhild; Gislerød, Hans 

Ragnar & Jakobsen, Kjetill Sigurd (2011). The 18S and 28S rDNA identity and phylogeny of the common lotic 

chrysophyte Hydrurus foetidus. European journal of phycology. ISSN 0967-0262. 46(3), s 282- 291 . doi: 

10.1080/15287394.2011.550564 

30 Kozubikova, Eva; Vrålstad, Trude; Filipova, Lenka; Petrusek, Adam. 2011. Re-examination of the prevalence of 

Aphanomyces astaci in North American crayfish populations in Central Europe by TaqMan MGB real-time 

PCR. Diseases of Aquatic Organisms 97: 113-125 

1.2. PUBLICATION: Popular scientific publications 

1 Livets opprinnelse, en uløst gåte? Populærforedrag for elevene i 7. klasse ved Uranienborg skole, Forskerne 

kommer, Uranienborg skoles 125 års jubileum, og UiOs 200 års jubileum. Klaus Høiland 

2 Blogginnlegg: Cryptomycota, - en ny stor soppgruppe? Håvard Kauserud, Klaus Høiland 

3 Blogginnlegg: Kan vi forvente bedre soppsesonger i Norge med endret klima? Håvard Kauserud 

4 Ekte trøffel i Norge? Sopp og Nyttevekster 2: 12-15. Holst-Jensen, A and Vrålstad T. 2011. 

5 Menneskegenomet - et tiårsjubileum. argument #3 (2011). Krabberød, A.K. 

6 Rørsopper og Skivesopper under mikroskopet av Gro Gulden. Tor Carlsen 

7 Livets opprinnelse, en uløst gåte? Populærforedrag for elevene i 7. klasse ved Uranienborg skole, Forskerne 

kommer, Uranienborg skoles 125 års jubileum, og UiOs 200 års jubileum, 8. april 2011, Klaus Høiland 

8 Livets opprinnelse, en uløst gåte? Åpen dag, Universitetet i Oslo, 10. mars 2011, Klaus Høiland. 

9 Livets opprinnelse, en uløst gåte? Åpen dag, Bjørknes privatskole, 14. april 2011, Klaus Høiland. 

1.3 PUBLICATION: Book publications / Book chapter 

1.4 PUBLICATION: Reports 

1 Annual report 2010 for Bioportal submitted MLS. Kamran Shalchian-Tabrizi 

2 Oral presentation of MERG at Biofagevaluering meeting with the Research Council of Norway, Oslo Plaza, 1 

April 2011. Kamran Shalchian-Tabrizi 

6


1.5 PUBLICATION: Posters 

1 Evolutionary history of an endemic alpine plant, Cardamine nipponica (Brassicaceae), at the range periphery 

of arctic-alpine sister species, Cardamine bellidifolia. Poster at ESEB2011. Tor Carlsen 

2 Radiolaria Divided into Polycystina and Spasmaria in Combined 18S and 28S rDNA Phylogeny. NoMi-11, 2nd 

Norwegian Microbiology meeting, Hemsedal 14.-16. sept. Anders K. Krabberød, Jon Bråte, Jane K. Dolven, 

Randi F. Ose, Dag Klaveness, Tom Kristensen, Kjell R. Bjørklund and Kamran Shalchian-Tabrizi 

3 Fungal - bacterial - plant associations and interactions in the ectomycorrhizal plant Bistorta vivipara. NoMi-11, 

2 nd Norwegian Microbiology meeting, Hemsedal 14-16 Sept. Vik, Unni; Carlsen, Tor; Brysting, Anne Krag; 

Økstad, Ole Andreas; Kolstø, Anne-Brit; Kauserud, Håvard 

4 Changes of genetic diversity within a Planktothrix community, NoMi-11, 2nd Norwegian Microbiology meeting, 

Hemsedal 14.-16. sept. Hanne Ballestad, Thomas Rohrlack, Karin Lagesen, Ave Tooming-Kunderud, Kjetill S. 

Jakobsen. 

1.6 PUBLICATION: Congress lecture 

1 MSA 2011 Invited talk, Phylogeography and speciation of boreal wood-inhabiting fungi Tor Carlsen, Kristian 

S. Seierstad, Renate M. Fossdal, Inger Skrede, Ingeborg B. Engh, Otto Miettinen, Karl-Henrik Larsson, and 

Håvard Kauserud 

2 Presentation of Bioinformatics applications at Biomarks EU network meeting in Barcelona 28 March 2011. 

Kamran Shalchian-Tabrizi 

3 Alge-symposiumet 2011, Oslo, 28-29 September. Oral presentation on closing the gaps in Tree of Life. 

Kamran Shalchian-Tabrizi 

4 Discovery of nuclear-encoded genes for the neurotoxin saxitoxin in dinoflagellates: Lecture at the International 

Conference on Modern and Fossil Dinoflagellates, Liverpool, UK, by Anke Stüken on 2nd Sept. 2011: Anke 

Stüken, Russell J.S. Orr, Ralf Kellmann, Shauna A. Murray, Brett A. Neilan, Kjetill S. Jakobsen 

5 Discovery of nuclear-encoded genes for the neurotoxin saxitoxin in dinoflagellates Lecture at the 2nd 

Norwegian Microbiology Meeting, Hemsedal, Norway, by Anke Stüken on Sept. 16th, 2011: Anke Stüken, 

Russell J.S. Orr, Ralf Kellmann, Shauna A. Murray, Brett A. Neilan, Kjetill S. Jakobsen 

6 Discovery of nuclear-encoded genes for the neurotoxin saxitoxin in dinoflagellates: Lecture at the 

Algaesymposiet, Oslo, Norway by Anke Stüken und Sept. 28th, 2011. Anke Stüken, Russell J.S. Orr, Ralf 

Kellmann, Shauna A. Murray, Brett A. Neilan, Kjetill S. Jakobsen 

7 Improved phylogenetic resolution of toxic and non-toxic Alexandrium strains using a concatenated rDNA 

approach, Harmful Algae, Volume 10, Issue 6, September 2011, Pages 676-688, ISSN 1568-9883, 

10.1016/j.hal.2011.05.003. Russell J.S. Orr, Anke Stüken, Thomas Rundberget, Wenche Eikrem, Kjetill S. 

Jakobsen, 

8 How does ecological stress influence Planktothrix microdiversity over time, Hanne Ballestad, CEEs conference 

2011 

9 Uttalt systemisk betennelse hos torsk forårsaket av en hittil ubeskrevet sopp i gruppen Exophiala. Frisk Fiskkonferansen 

2011 i regi av Norges Forskningsråd. Radisson Blu Hotel, Tromsø, 19- 20.01.2011. Gjessing, 

Mona Cecilie; Davey, Marie; Kvellestad, Agnar; Falk, Knut; Vrålstad, Trude. 2011. 

10 Radiolaria divided into Polycystina and Spasmaria in combined 18S and 28S rDNA phylogeny, 2011, VI 

European Congress of Protistology, Berlin, Germany, Jon Bråte 

1.7 PUBLICATION: Internal presentation/lecture and popular contribution 

1 Frokost med Kristine foredrag. Biol. Inst. 8. feb. 2011 Jon Bråte. 

2 Talk about 'Fungi and climate change' on Vintersopptreffet 5th of February, Håvard Kauserud 

3 Tuesday lunch seminar at MERG 16.03.2011 1) Anke Stüken Convergent Evolution or Horizontal Gene 

Transfer? 2) Update on the Saxitoxin project, Anke Stüken Russell Orr Kjetill Jakobsen 

4 Talk: Habitat fragmentation and pathways to extinction in dead-wood dependent fungi, Jenni Norden 

5 Blog posting about the dry rot fungus genome, Håvard Kauserud 

6 Blog posting about HTS of fungi, Håvard Kauserud 

7 Internal presentation at UWS, Carlsen 

8 Ekskursjon, "Lista rundt", veiledet om plantene langs strendene på Lista 6. juli, Klaus Høiland 

9 Foredraget "Evolusjonen baklengs" holdt i "Den biologiske fadderuken 2011", Klaus Høiland 

10 Tuesday seminar, 23 august, Inger Skrede 

7


11 Life Science Strategy Meeting for the MN-faculty at Voksenåsen, Tuesday 11 January 2011, Kamran 

Shalchian-Tabrizi 

12 Presentation of MERG at Life Science strategic meeting at MN-faculty - collaboration with University of 

Minnesota, 14 June 2011, Kamran Shalchian-Tabrizi 

13 Ledet opptur arrangert av biologisk fagutvalg på Bygdøy 3. september 2011, Klaus Høiland 

14 Velferdsutvalget ved UiO sin sopptur til Slattum i Nittedal 8. september 2011, Trond Schumacher og Klaus 

Høiland 

15 Sopptur arrangert av Biologisk institutt til Finnerud i Nordmarka, Oslo, 12. september 2011, Trond 

Schumacher og Klaus Høiland 

16 Ledelse av sopptur arrangert av NFR til Sandbakken i Østmarka, Oslo/Enebakk, 14. september 2011, Klaus 

Høiland 

17 Slørsopptur arrangert av Neslekremla til Vettakollen i Nordmarka, Oslo, 17. september 2011, Klaus Høiland 

18 Sopp på sanddyner. Foredrag holdt på Høstsopptreffet på Sola, Rogaland, 10. september 2011, Klaus 

Høiland 

19 Forskningstorget, UiO presentasjon, Biologisk institutt. På stand 14. september 2011, Klaus Høiland 

20 Radiolaria revealed as a reservoir for Marine alveolates. VI European Congress of Protistology, Berlin, 

Germany, Jon Bråte 

21 Frokost hos Kristine 12. april 2011: Biologi og Beatles, Klaus Høiland 

22 Frokost hos Kristine 7. september 2011: Er det liv er det sopp, Klaus Høiland 

23 Frokost hos Kristine 26. oktober 2011: Sopper på sanddyner på Lista, Klaus Høiland 

24 Søndagsforedrag 30. oktober 2011, Zoologisk museum NHM: Norsk furupanel, barndommens 

jordbærmarker, valmuene i Penny Lane, biologi og Beatles, Klaus Høiland 

25 Høiland, K. 2011. Lykken er ei varm rifle (Biologi og Beatles). Biolog nr. 2 2011: 14-15. 

26 Plantene i kulturlandskapet på Lista, foredrag i ”Mannsforeningen” på Lista, 12. oktober 2011, Klaus Høiland. 

27 Sopptur “Lista rundt”, til Husebyparken, Farsund, 15. oktober 2011, Klaus Høiland. 

28 Høiland, K. 2011. Sopper i sanddyner. Sopp og nyttevekster nr. 3 2011: 18-? 

29 Høiland, K, Ryvarden, L. 2011. Sopp og sex – hvor mange kjønn? Sopp og nyttevekster nr. 4 2011: 21-? 

30 Departmental talk, Department of Biochemistry and molecular biology, Dalhousie University, October 2011. 

Oral presentation on Closing the gaps in Tree of Life. Kamran Shalchian-Tabrizi 

31 Oral presentation of BLASTGrabber program, Department of Biochemistry and molecular biology, Dalhousie 

University, October 2011, Kamran Shalchian-Tabrizi 

32 Mykorrhiza. Populærvitenskapelig foredrag for 2. videregående på Oslo Katedralskole 30.09.2011 

2.1 GRANT APPLICATION: Send a large grant application (NFR/EU/network) 

1 The evolution of ectomycorrhiza - a comparative genomics approach (EvoEcto). NFR FRIMEDBIO, Inger 

Skrede, Håvard Kauserud, Tom Kristensen, Kamran Shalchian-Tabrizi 

2 Land- Mycorrhizal fungi associated with introduced Picea sitchensis - indigenous or introduced? (Researcher 

project - MILJØ2015), Carlsen Kauserud 

3 NFR application to the program NORKLIMA entiteled "Climate change effects on arctic fungal communities ? a 

metagenomic approach (ArcFun)", Håvard Kauserud, Thomas Haverkamp 

4 Centre of Excellence Proposal to Research Council of Norway, Submitted June 2011, Many 

5 Research proposal to MLS for a PhD position, Ralf Neumann, Maria Sviland, Kamran Shalchian-Tabrizi 

6 Proposal for a core facility named MicroLabs. Proposal submitted MLS 2 September 2011, Kathrine Schou, 

Cecilie Mathiesen, Dag Klaveness, Håvard Kauserud, Kamran Shalchian-Tabrizi, 600.000 NOK 

7 Research proposal submitted HAVKYST call from Research Council of Norway 31 August 2011, Dag 

Klaveness, Rakel Blaalid, Kamran Shalchian-Tabrizi 

8 Research proposal submitted Research Council of Norway call FRIMEDBIO, June 2011, Anders Krabberød, 

Jon Bråte, Kjell Bjørklund, Tom Kristensen, Kamran Shalchian-Tabrizi 

9 Research proposal submitted Research Council of Norway call HAVKYST, Anders Krabberød, Kjell Bjørklund, 

Tom Kristensen, Jon Bråte, Kamran Shalchian-Tabrizi 

10 ERC starting grant application, Håvard Kauserud, 

11 Bråte, J. Regulatory RNA and the origin of multicellularity. FRIMEDBIO NFR, Bråte, J. Shalchian-Tabrizi, K. and 

Neumann, R. 

12 Likestillingsmidler 2012, Cecilie Mathiesen, Kathrine Schou, Kamran Shalchian-Tabrizi, Håvard Kauserud 

585.000 NOK 

8


13 High throughput cell sorter for microorganisms, AVIT 2012, Cecilie Mathiesen, Kathrine Schou, Kamran 

Shalchian-Tabrizi, Håvard Kauserud 4.000.000 NOK 

14 Application form for advanced user support (2011) Notur, Kamran Shalchian-Tabrizi, 

15 X-CELL - DAG 

2.2 GRANT APPLICATION: Send a small grant application 

1 Norden, Jenni. Distribution and ecology of wood-inhabiting corticioid fungi. MERG. 14.1.2011, Jenni Norden 

2 Areal innspill 2012: Samlokaliseringsgruppa, Kamran Shalchian-Tabrizi, Cecilie Mathiesen, Kathrine Schou 

3 A grant application to Kapten Carl Stenholms Donationsfond for studying the history of forestry in our study 

sites. MERG. April 27, 2011, Jenni Norden 

4 NOTUR computational resources application for the Bioportal 24 January, Kamran Shalchian-Tabrizi 

5 NOTUR advanced user support for integrating Galaxy in the Bioportal, Ralf Neumann, Kamran Shalchian- 

Tabrizi 

6 Barcoding Marine Life conference at UiO 2012. Proposal submitted Research Council of Norway, Rakel 

Blaalid, Anders K. Krabberød, Kathrine Schou, Kamran Shalchian-Tabrizi 

7 PROTIS2012 conference at UiO 2012. Proposal submitted Research Council of Norway for financial support, 

Kathrine Schou, Ralf Neumann, Jon Bråte, Sen Zhao, Kamran Shalchian-Tabrizi 

8 Frode Olsens Minnepris call from MN-faculty, Håvard Kauserud, Kamran Shalchian-Tabrizi 

9 MLS – application for research stay abroad – Unni Vik 

2.3 GRANT APPLICATION: Funding of large grant application 

1 Funding from Norges Forskningsråd for the project: Larsson, K-H, Norden, J, Kauserud, H, Ovaskainen, O et 

al. Habitat fragmentation and pathways to extinction in dead-wood dependent fungi Location: NHM, MERG 

25 March 2011. Funding period 1.1.2011-31.12.2013, Jenni Norden, Håvard Kauserud 

2 Proposal for a PhD position was granted by MLS, UiO, Ralf Neumann, Maria Sviland, Kamran Shalchian- 

Tabrizi 

3 Bråte, J. Regulatory RNA and the origin of multicellularity. FRIMEDBIO NFR, Bråte, J, Shalchian-Tabrizi, K. and 

Neumann, R. 

4 X-CELL - DAG 

2.4 GRANT APPLICATION: Funding of small grant application, 

1 Skrede, The Leiv Eiriksson mobility programme. Travel grant for three months stay at Harvard University, USA, 

Inger Skrede 

2 Skrede, Kristine Bonnevie likestillingsstipend. Travel grant for three months stay at Harvard University, USA, 

Inger Skrede 

3 Skrede, Inger, Fulbright Fundation, Travel grant for stay at Harvard fall 2011, Skrede, Inger 

4 A grant from the Kapten Carl Stenholms Donationsfond: Impact of forest history on wood-inhabiting fungi. 

MERG. June 21, 2011, Jenni Norden 

5 MLS – application for research stay abroad – Unni Vik, 14500 

6 NOTUR computational resources application for the Bioportal, Kamran Shalchian-Tabrizi 

7 NOTUR advanced user support for integrating Galaxy in the Bioportal, Ralf Neumann, Kamran Shalchian- 

Tabrizi 

3.1 EDUCATION: Graduation of Master 

1 Julkunen, Jari. Metsien hvimisen ja pirstoutumisen vaikutukset metsäluonnon monimuotoisuuteen. (Effects of 

forest loss and fragmentation on forest biodiversity.) University of Helsinki. February 2011, Julkunen, Jari 

(masterstudent), Jenni Norden (medveileder) 

2 Christiane Skogli. 2011. Diversitet og artssammensetning av soppendofytter i timotei (Phleum pratense) under 

ulike dyrkningsregimer. Masteroppgave, Universitetet i Oslo, Biologisk Institutt, Microbial Evolution Research 

Group, Christiane Skogli (masterstudent), Trude Vrålstad (hovedveileder), Håvard Kauserud (medveileder) 

3.2 EDUCATIONS: PhD dissertation 

none 

9


4.1 COURSES / WORKSHOPS: Organise lab/computer lab 

1 Organization of "Write-it-right" scientific writing course given by Gadi Rothenburg and Christopher Lowe. 

January 27-28th, 2011 @MERG, Anke Stüken 

2 Bio 1200 botany lab 15.04, Unni Vik 

3 Bio 1200 lab botany 29.04, Unni Vik 

4 Bio 1200 lab botany 20.05, Unni Vik 

5 Alge-symposiumet 2011, Oslo, 28-29 September, Kathrine Schou, Kjetill S. Jakobsen, Kamran Shalchian- 

Tabrizi 

6 Bioportal workshop at Ås, Russell Orr 

7 AB201 at UNIS Computer lab - Molecuilar data analyses - Carlsen 

8 AB201 - Supervision of semester research project - Bistorta vivipara root associated fungi - Carlsen 

4.2 COURSES / WORKSHOPS: Lecture 

1 Lecture about microbial diversity and detection on the course 'Kurs i mikroskopering av jordorganismer', 


2 Lecture on the course 'Kurs i mikroskopering av jordorganismer', Dag Klaveness 

3 Four lectures given at Bio4260, Håvard Kauserud 

4 Parasitic and pathogenic fungi and oomycetes. Bio 4260 double lecture, May 10th 2011, Trude Vrålstad 

5 Krabberød, A.K. "Biologiens idehistorie". Lecture at Bio5000, Anders Kristian Krabberød 

6 Phylogenetic inferences, Laboratory School at Depatment of Biology Course for Teachers, at UiO 13 April 

2011, Kamran Shalchian-Tabrizi 

7 Oral presentation of Tree of Life and the Bioportal computational resources at NOTUR conference at UiO, 24 

May 2011, Kamran Shalchian-Tabrizi 

8 Presentation of MERG at workshop organized by Laboratory School at Department of Biology, UiO, 30 

September, Kamran Shalchian-Tabrizi 

9 14 lectures given at Bio1000, Kamran Shalchian-Tabrizi. 

10 Parasittiske og patogene sopp og eggsporesopp. Bio 1200 dobbelforelesning, 22.09.2011, Trude Vrålstad 

11 AB201 at UNIS Lectures - Arctic alpine mycology – Tor Carlsen 

12 BIO1200 - Lecture -Endophytes – Tor Carlsen 

4.3 COURSES / WORKSHOPS: Courseleder 

1 Two days workshop on fungal ecology and phenology with 13 participants, Håvard Kauserud 

2 One day workshop on 'How to publish and report' environmental NGS data and metadata. 8 participants, 


3 Workshop 'Bioinformatics for metagenomics analyses' 4-8 April, Håvard Kauserud, Kathrine Schou og Thomas 

Haverkamp 

4 Course leader/organizer for Bio4260, Håvard Kauserud 

5 Bio1200 Finse, Unni Vik 

6 Bio1200, Finse, Unni Vik 

7 Bio 1200 Finse, Unni Vik 

8 Field course Bio1200, Vik, Carlsen 

9 One week mycology field course in Drøbak (Bio4260/9260), Håvard Kauserud 

10 Research project run on the course bio2150, Håvard Kauserud 

11 Field course Tomb Bio1200, Hanne Ballestad 

4.4 COURSES/WORKSHOP: Training/Education of new students or new employees in lab-procedures 

1 Supervising in field and lab - Synnøve, Unni Vik 

2 Fieldwork and lab for Fang, Håvard Kauserud, Unni Vik 

3 Hjelpelærer på BIO1200, H2011, Synnøve Botnen 

4 Fieldwork and training Ella - Iceland – Tor Carlsen 

10


4.5 COURSES/WORKSHOP: Further education (kompetanseheving) 

1 Workshop 'Probabilistic taxonomic classification of NGS reads'. Seili (Finland), May 22-26, Jenni Norden 

2 4 months research stay abroad at UWS, Australia, Carlsen 

3 3 months research stay abroad at Pringle laboratory, Harvard, US, Inger Skrede 

4 Long term conservation of Marine microbial resources, C. Mathiesen 

5 Long term conservation of Marine microbial resources, K. Schou 

6 Research stay at Lund University, Sweden, to do genome measurements on dinoflagellates and start cooperation 

with Rosa I. Figueroa, Anke Stüken 

7 2 weeks at the Alfred-Wegener Institute in the group of Uwe John in January/ February 2011 to 

start/investigate collaboration possibilities, Anke Stüken 

8 Microbial Genomics and metagenomics workshop, JGI, Walnut Creek, Hanne Ballestad 

9 Basic course in first aid – Tor Carlsen, Kathrine Schou, Cecilie Mathiesen 

5.1 MEDIA: Radio / Television 

1 NRK P2, programposten "Ekko", om trøfler og annen sopp. En dag i august. Klaus Høiland, 100 

2 NRK P2, programposten "Ekko", om radioaktivitet i sopp, 15. mars 2011, Klaus Høiland. 

3 9-timen NRK1, Botanikk og Beatles, 3. november, Klaus Høiland 

6.1 REFEREE (inkl. internal and external) 

4 External referee of research paper for Molecular Ecology. January 2011, Trude Vrålstad 

5 External referee of research paper for Veterinary Microbiology. January 2011, Trude Vrålstad 

6 External referee of manuscript for Knowledge and Management of Aquatic Ecosystems (KAME), feb. 2011, 

Trude Vrålstad 

7 Journal of Plankton Research Scientific paper review, Anke Stüken 

8 Silva Fennica, Jenni Norden 

9 Review job for Molecular Ecology, Håvard Kauserud 

10 Referee for the journal Fungal Ecology, May 2011, Håvard Kauserud 

11 External referee for the journal Veterinary Microbiology, April 2011, Trude Vrålstad 

12 Referee job for Molecular Ecology, Håvard Kauserud 

13 Referee job for Molecular Ecology, Håvard Kauserud 

14 Referee for research paper. Molecular Ecology, Inger Skrede 

15 for scientific paper. Fungal Biology. June 2011, Inger Skrede 

16 Agarica, Unni Vik 

17 Review of paper for Taxon, Carlsen 

18 Second review, Fungal Biology, Inger Skrede 

19 Internal sensor at master course exam, Carlsen 

20 External sensor for Bachelor level course at UMB, Carlsen 

21 Review for Protist (April 2011), Russell Orr 

7.1 OHS: Internal publications (web) of method/protocols 

1 Translation of HSE into English, Cecilie Mathiesen, Bodil Pedersen, Translation Company, Cecilie Mathiesen 

2 I-SOP-001-Fumehood (1972), C. Mathiesen, K. Schou 

3 I-SOP-002.Dorrexdryer, C. Mathiesen, K. Schou 

4 I-SOP-003-Fumehood-Energysaver, C. Mathiesen, K. Schou 

5 I-SOP-004-Esco-ClassII-BSC, C.Mathiesen, K. Schou 

6 S-SOP-001-HCl, C.Mathiesen, K. Schou 

7 S-SOP-002-MEA, C. Mathiesen, K. Schou 

8 S-SOP-003-LB, C. Mathiesen, K. Schou 

9 S-SOP-004-Mycoantib, C.Mathiesen, K. Schou 

10 S-SOP-005-PDA, C. Mathiesen, K. Schou 

11 P-SOP-001-Ecoonline, C. Mathiesen, K. Schou 

12 P-SOP-002-DatabladEcoonline, C.Mathiesen, K. Schou 

13 P-SOP-003-knusekuler, C. Mathiesen, K. Schou 

11


14 P-SOP-004-DNeasy, C. Mathiesen, K. Schou 

15 P-SOP-005-TOPOkloning, C. Mathiesen, K. Schou 

16 P-SOP-006-DNAisoCTAB, C. Mathiesen, K. Schou 

17 P-SOP-007-Isolatoin av røtter, C. Mathiesen, K. Schou 

18 P-SOP-008-PCR, C. Mathiesen, K. Schou 

19 P-SOP-009-soil-DNA-purif, C. Mathiesen, K. Schou 

20 P-SOP-010-Fungistorage, C. Mathiesen, K. Schou 

21 I-SOP-005-Termaks, Cecilie Mathiesen, Kathrine Schou 

22 I-SOP-008-Autoclave, Cecilie Mathiesen, Kathrine Schou 

23 S-SOP-012-Epifloresence microsope Partec, Cecilie Mathiesen, Kathrine Schou 

24 S-SOP-005-BG11, Xi Xiang, Kathrine Schou 

25 S-SOP-005-5M NaCl, Emelita Nerlie, Kathrine Schou 

26 P_SOP_011_454nested_E_v4, Tor Carlsen, Cecilie Mathiesen 

27 P_SOP_012_SeqPrep_Norm_E_v4, Tor Carlsen, Cecilie Mathiesen 

28 P_SOP_013_Culturing_Cyanobacteria_E_v1, Xi Xiang, Kathrine Schou 

29 P_SOP_014_QiaAMP_Blood_E_v1, Cecilie Mathiesen, Kathrine Schou 

30 P_SOP_015_Alexandrium_E_v1, Russell Orr, Emelita Nerlie, Kathrine Schou 

31 P_SOP_016_ Nucleospin_N_v0 copy, Anders Aas, Cecilie Mathiesen 

32 P_SOP_017_ Wizard_N_v0, Anders Aas, Cecilie Mathiesen 

8. OTHERS: 

1 Intern opponene ved master eksamen for Lars Nersveen (marin biologi), Håvard Kauserud 

2 Ordering new Fume cupboards for renovated labs at Department of Biology, in collaboration with Hege Bakke 

at CEES, Bodil k Pedersen HMS, TA John Helge Stensrud, MN-innkjøp Arne Hauglund, Kathrine Schou 

MERG, Cecilie Mathiesen Ledene verneombud, Kathrine Schou, Cecilie Mathiesen 

3 Arbeidsmilø 2011, MN seminar for all Department at the Faculty; Cecilie Mathiesen, Trond Schumacher, 

Kathrine Schou, Camilla Tømta, Bodil K. Pedersen, Cecilie Mathiesen, Kathrine Schou 

4 Evaluation of the Biology courses at UNIS, Svalbard. 24 and 25 March 2011, Håvard Kauserud 

5 Evaluation committee work for PhD position, Håvard Kauserud 

6 Evaluation commitee work for post doc position, Håvard Kauserud 

7 Den gyldne pekestokk? 2010, Tor Carlsen 

8 2nd Norwegian Microbiology Meeting (NoMi-11) Organizing committee: Thomas Haverkamp (MERG / CEES) 

Raimonda Viburiene (Department of Molecular Biosciences) Eric de Muinck (CEES) Espen Brudal (LaMDa / 

NSVS) Solveig Fossum-Raunehaug (Institute for Cancer Research / LaMDa) Ingvild Odsbu (Institute for 

Cancer Research / LaMDa) http://www.cees.uio.no/calendar/open-events/seminars/nomi-11.html, Thomas 

Haverkamp 

9 Opening of MicroLabs 2011, Kathrine Schou, Cecilie Mathiesen, Kamran Shalchian-Tabrizi, Håvard Kauserud, 

Dag Klaveness, Klaus Høiland, Tor Carlsen, mm 

10 New webpages MERG 2011, Kathrine Schou, Cecilie Mathiesen, Kamran Shalchian-Tabrizi, Håvard Kauserud, 

Jon Bråte 

11 Ledet SOP forprosjeket 2011, Cecilie Mathiesen 

12 Ledet Teknikkerforum 2011, Kathrine Schou 

13 Arrangert Teknikkerforum tur 2011, Kathrine Schou 

14 Arbeid med risikovurdering av fremmede storsopper i Norge for Artsdatabanken, Klaus Høiland. 

15 Opponent for Martin Kolisko’s PhD dissertation, Dalhousie University, Canada, Kamran Shalchian-Tabrizi 

12



APPENDIX 3: Staff 





MERG staff 

“Utviklingsmiljøet” MERG has 8 professors, 3 associate 

professors, 4 engineers, 6 Post Docs, 17 PhDs and 6 Master 

Students representing 8 countries. The gender balance is 44% 

females. 

Name Supervisor / contact Position 

Bente Edvardsen Professor 

Dag Klaveness Professor 

Kjell Bjørklund Professor 

Kjetill S. Jakobsen Professor 

Klaus Høiland Professor 

Tom Andersen Professor 

Tom Kristensen Professor 

Trond Schumacher Professor 

Håvard Kauserud Associate Professor 

Kamran Shalcian-Tabrizi Associate Professor 

Trude Vrålstad 

Cecilie Mathiesen 

Randi Ose 

Anders Bjørnsgaard Aas 

Associate ProfessorII 

Engineer 

Engineer 

Project engineer 

Kathrine Schou Project manager 

Emelita Nerlie Research technician 

Anke Stüken K. S. Jakobsen Post doc 

Inger Skrede T. Schumacher Post doc 

Marie Davey H. Kauserud Post doc 

Thomas Haverkamp K. S. Jakobsen Post doc 

Tor Carlsen H. Kauserud Post doc 

Jenni N ordén H. Kauserud Post doc (External) 

Ralf Neumann K. Shalchian-Tabrizi PhD 

Anders Krabberød K. Shalchian-Tabrizi PhD 

David Strand T. Vrålstad PhD 

Hanne Ballestad K. S. Jakobsen PhD


Jon Bråte K. Shalchian-Tabrizi PhD 

Ketil Stoknes K. Høiland PhD 

Marit Bjorbekmo K. Shalchian-Tabrizi PhD 

Othilde Håvelsrud T. Kristensen PhD 

Rakel Blaalid H. Kauserud PhD 

Russell Orr K. S. Jakobsen PhD 

Sen Zhao D. Klaveness PhD 

Sudagar Balasundaram H. Kauserud PhD 

Surenda Kumar K. Shalchian-Tabrizi PhD 

Øyvind Stensrud T. Schumacher PhD 

Unni Vik H. Kauserud PhD 

Xi Xiao K. S. Jakobsen PhD 

New PhD T. Andersen PhD 

Kristian Seierstad H. Kauserud PhD (External) 

Teppo Rämä H. Kauserud PhD (External) 

Fang Yao H. Kauserud Master student 

Helga Kristiansen H. Kauserud Master student 

Mariell Negård T. Vrålastad Master student 

Nina Værøy D. Klaveness Master student 

Rune Heimdal H. Kauserud Master student 

Sarasvati Jacobsen Bjørnaraa H. Kauserud Master student 

Synnøve Botnen H. Kauserud Master student 

3

MERG - Universitetet i Oslo

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