University of Tartu – leading institution
Systems and synthetic biology group (UT)
PI Prof. Mart Loog (www.looglab.com); synthetic biology for cellular signalling circuits; molecular systems biology for engineering yeast and mammalian cells.
Training, Curricula and Career Development Unit (UT)
Assoc. Prof. Ilona Faustova (www.looglab.com); creative solutions in synthetic biology, iGem competition Estonian Team PI; molecular systems biology for engineering yeast cells; synthetic biology for cellular signalling circuits.
Plant signaling & synthetic biology group (UT)
PI Prof. Hannes Kollist; signaling of plant abiotic stress; plants with improved resilience to changing climate.
Applied virology group (UT)
PI Prof. Andres Merits; molecular mechanisms of RNA viruses; novel synthetic biology tools.
Antimicrobial technologies group (UT)
PI Prof. Tanel Tenson; molecular mechanisms of antibiotic action and resistance; bacterial phenotypic differentiation.
Microbial genetics group (UT)
PI Prof. Maia Kivisaar; molecular mechanisms of bacterial evolution and responses to environmental stresses.
Intelligent computer vision group (UT)
PI Prof. Gholamreza Anbarjafari; applied machine learning; applications of artificial intelligence.
Peptide-mediated transporters group (UT)
PI Prof. Margus Pooga; peptide-mediated delivery of macromolecules (drugs); cell-penetrating peptides; nanoparticles.
Molecular biomedicine group (UT)
PI Prof. Reet Kurg; cancer antigens as biomarkers and therapeutic targets; RNA methyltransferases in cell growth.
ERA Chair GasFermTEC (UT)
PI Assoc. Prof. Kaspar Valgepea; gas fermentation technologies; systems and synthetic biology of gas-fermenting bacteria.
Biomedicine group (TALTECH)
PI Sn. Researcher Pirjo Spuul; microbial pathogens and their interplay with host cells and host microbiota.
Bioinformatics group (TALTECH)
PI Asst. Prof. Olli-Pekka Smolander; plant and microbial genomics (pathway discovery); integration of multimodal sets of omics data, computational modeling, and machine learning.
Food Tech and Bioengineering laboratory (TALTECH)
PI Assoc. Prof. Petri-Jaan Lahtvee; synthetic biology of non-conventional oleaginous yeasts; bioprocess optimization; enzyme-constrained metabolic modelling.
The Laboratory of Structural Biology and Lignin Biochemistry (TALTECH)
PI Sn. Researcher Tiit Lukk; cell-free bioengineering; engineering of enzymes involved in biomass conversion and detoxification of xenobiotic compounds.
Microbiome group (TALTECH)
PI Sn. Researcher Kaarel Adamberg; systems biology-level understanding of gastro-intestinal tract microbial consortia to be used as transplantation material or next generation probiotics.