Prof. D. Bamford has been involved for decades in molecular virology, virus purification and crystallization methods as well as in work where viral structures have been solved using EM and X-ray diffraction. He has been awarded twice both the esteemed Academy Professorship and the Centre of Excellence in Virus Research funded by the Academy of Finland. He is an EMBO member and has several positions of trust in scientific and administrative organizations. Prof. Bamford has published ~400 articles in international peer-reviewed journals in virology, microbiology, biochemistry and molecular biology. About half of the primary articles are published with international collaborators showing high international integration.
Professor M. Romantschuk prepared his PhD thesis in molecular virology, in particular, early steps in virus penetration using the bacteriophage phi6 as the model organism. During a post doctoral period he switched to the study of molecular plant-microbe interaction, with Pseudomonas syringae as the main target organism. Later on, the MPMI work has continued but was complemented with environmental biotechnology as holder of a professorship at the University of Helsinki in this area. He now leads a group of ca 10 scientists. He is a member of The Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters, and he has published almost 150 articles in international peer-reviewed scientific periodicals.
Docent Nina Atanasova is a visiting researcher at University of Helsinki and senior scientist at Finnish meteorological Institute. She is a microbiologist specialized in virology, atmospheric microbiology and microbiology of extreme environments.
Email: nina.atanasova@helsinki.fi and nina.atanasova@fmi.fi
MSc Svetlana Sofieva is currently a PhD student at the University of Helsinki in Doctoral Programme of Integrative Life Sciences (ILS) starting from May 2020 and a visiting researcher at University of Helsinki (Finnish Meteorological Institute). She has a Master degree in Genetics and a Bachelor degree in Molecular Biosciences from University of Helsinki. From November 2018 she has been employed by Finnish Meteorological Institute to work on atmospheric aerosols of biogenic origin.
Email: svetlana.sofieva@helsinki.fi and svetlana.sofieva@fmi.fi
Research Associate (University of Helsinki)
Msc Rasmus Malmgren is a graduate of the master’s programme in microbiology and microbial biotechnology at the University of Helsinki. He is currently working on his phD focusing on aerosol transmission of viruses.
Julija Svirskaite completed her PhD in general microbiology at University of Helsinki, Dennis Bamford group. She also has a Master degree in applied biochemistry and Bachelor degree in biology and environmental sciences. From the middle of December 2020, she has joined Aerovirology group as a visiting scientist at University of Helsinki and Finnish Meteorological Institute.