BONJOUR L'ESTONIE

Estonian probiotic gains EU approval

A lactic acid bacterium discovered by Estonian scientists has passed muster with the European Food Safety Authority, paving the way for use throughout the EU.

Estonia is notable for the probiotic bacteria in yogurt, but this particular strain, Lactobacillus plantarum NCIMB 30236, is used in animal feed to ferment silage.

Discovered by the Bio-Competence Centre for Healthy Dairy Products (TAK), it is one of the first microorganisms in the EU to be granted European Commission permission and entered in the registered list of feed additives.

The director of TAK, Ene Tammsaare, credited scientists from the University of Life Sciences, University of Tartu and the Estonian Research Institute of Agriculture, and the company Starter ST, who had done years of work.

"To this point Estonia has imported silage preservatives but now we have a domestic one with high export potential," she said.

The product could be marketed by next spring, said the chairman of the board of Starter ST, Üllas Jaaska.

The bacterium was isolated on southern Estonian grasslands. The lactic acid produced keeps harmful bacterial growth in check.

Tallinn will get a novel medicine and biotechnology business centre

Tallinn Science Park Tehnopol in cooperation with OÜ Astlanda Ehitus launched the construction of a science and lab centre or technomedicum in Tallinn, that should be completed in the first half of 2012, LETA/Postimees Online reports.

The aim of the centre is to create a unique environment in the Baltic States supporting science-based and technical businesses. The 12,000 sq metres complex will be built with energy-saving construction models. The total investment in the building will be 150 mln kroons.

Technopol’s board member Alar Tamkivi said that top-level science firms for whom it is important to be near universities will start operating in the new centre. The Mustamäe city district where the new centre will be is the home of Tallinn Technical University.

Juhan Tere

Tartu University Gene reserve gets a 20 mln kroons grant from the EU

The Tartu University Estonian Gene Reserve received a 20 mln kroons science grant from the European Commission, Estonian National Broadcasting/LETA reports.

This one of the biggest science grants that Estonia has received and it enables the Gene Reserve to acquire new equipment, a gene analysis device that costs more than 6.5 mln kroons, and invite renowned scientists to Estonia so that they would create their lab or research group here. The wider meaning of the grant is to open the Estonian Gene Reserve up for European scientists.

The grant, that is meant for three years, can also be used to send Gene Reserve’s own scientists to study in European research centres for up to six months, said Estonian Gene Reserve director Andres Metspalu.

Metspalu said that the grant shows that the Gene Reserve, that last week acquired its 40,000 gene donor, has importance in the whole of Europe, having over the past six months been connected with around 30 different international projects.

Juhan Tere

This Week in Genome Biology

In Genome Biology this week, University of Tartu scientists present MEM, or Multi-Experiment Matrix, a web-based tool to search for co-expressed genes across many microarray datasets. Unique features include "automatic detection, characterization and visualization of datasets that includes the strongest co-expression patterns." MEM is available for free.

In a new methods paper, scientists search for genetic interactions in Saccharomyces cerevisae. Igor Ulitsky and Ron Shamir at Tel Aviv University and the University of California, San Francisco's Nevan Krogan have developed a novel method that combines genetic interaction and genomic data to find the approximately 40 percent missing interactions in this model organism. Their results showed almost 190,000 novel interactions.

Scientists led by Jacobs University Bremen's Albert Jeltsch have studied the effect of DNA methylation on autosomal chromosomes and its subsequent effect on phenotypic differences. Looking at methylation of CpG islands on chromosome 21 in white blood cells from healthy people, they saw "novel cases of pronounced differential methylation of alleles," and that this allele-specific methylation is likely to affect about 10 percent of all genes and contribute to allele-specific expression and monoallelic gene silencing, they say.

Have a look inside your body

By Ella Karapetyan

TALLINN - Our bodies are our most important possession. They are intricately developed machines; more complex and wondrous than all the computers and gadgetry we surround ourselves with today. Yet, many of us do not know what makes us tick - how we function, what we need to survive, what destroys us, what revives us.
For nearly 35,000 years, since the first known depiction of the human form, we have been fascinated by our own bodies. Through the ages artists have sought to represent the body through sculptures, paintings, prints and sketches. The “Bodies Revealed” exhibition  now presents the real thing!

From Nov. 13 to Feb. 28, Tallinn is hosting the world-known international exhibition called “Bodies Revealed,” which is a phenomenal exhibition about the amazing and complex machine we call the human body. This is an opportunity for those that don’t understand the science behind a lot of the exhibits to learn about the body.
Tallinn’s Solaris Center welcomes all its visitors and guests to take part in this exhibition, organized by Dr. Roy Glover, a former anatomy professor at the University of Michigan, and Premier Exhibition, Inc. The exhibition features real human bodies and organs that have been donated to medical science.

Dr. Heiti Paves : Art and Science in a small world (2009 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition)

The winner from the "2009 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition" : Dr. Heiti Paves

First Place: Dr. Heiti Paves
Affiliation: Tallinn University of Technology
Location: Tallinn, Estonia
Subject/Magnification: Arabidopsis thaliana (thale cress) anther (20x)
Technique: Confocal
Photo: Heiti Paves