Molecular Ecology and Systematics Laboratory - MES

History of the MES-lab

In the fall of 1995 a small group of scientists from the Finnish Museum of Natural History and the Department of Ecology and Systematics (today the Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences) at the University of Helsinki joined forces to found a molecular laboratory. The initial funds for the project were obtained from a successful dinosaur exhibition at the Zoological Museum.

In early spring 1996 the laboratory was opened in the Zoological Museum complex in downtown Helsinki.

The first automated sequencer was obtained in 1997, bringing the lab into the era of modern molecular biology. This event opened new avenues for the scientists who were now able to study their organisms at a more detailed level using DNA sequence data. This has subsequently attracted a growing number of scientists to the laboratory.

The Laboratory moved to the Biocenter 3 building in the Viikki campus in 2002.

Today the joint facility is used by approximately 20 research groups and more than 70 students and research staff. Three permanent employees, a coordinator and two technicians, are responsible for the everyday function and upkeep of the facilities. The professor of population genetics at the Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences is the head of the laboratory.