Another year past, another opportunity to intake some glögi and chosen treats from the folks of Kaarniranta Lab and the Histology crew! As usual, conversations and merriment were aplenty. This time there was a chance to try on some upside down goggles and complete a small hand-eye coordination trial. The lucky (or skilled?) winner got some treats and curiosities for herself to enjoy. In the evening, there was an opportunity to go for a nice Indian meal at Sanskriti.

To make sure we’re not dull boys and girls, we make sure to have the occasional breather to play some tabletop games or even brave the great outdoors (in the form of minigolf or such) for some fresh air. This year was no different, with multiple get togethers to strengthen our camaraderie.

We wish to extend our heartfelt congratulations to Maria Hytti for achieving something few can say they could do: she has received the title of a docent, celebrating her significant achievements in scientific publishing and education! Bravo, bravo!

Our group once again took part in the annual European Association for Vision and Eye Research (EVER) congress, presenting posters on our recent research on topics such as secretory autophagy, ultrastructural analysis, and serum RNA markers. The presentations were interesting and many ideas were shared among the participants.

Some exciting news have reached our ears from the outside world. According to a recent bibliometric analysis study (ext. link), our leader, Kai, has been found to have been the most influential author amongst the researchers who published articles in the field of oxidative stress in the retina during the years 2013-2023! We were quite impressed with how convincingly the first place was gotten in both the number of appearances and number of citations. We will continue to strive to publish good quality, interesting articles in the retinal functions fields!

We were happy to learn that our teammate Szabi received a grant towards the advancement of dental education through the use of 3D printing and VR-haptics. He is quite proud of this achievement and is excited for the future prospects of the project. Congratulations to Szabi from all the rest of us!

Link to the UEF news article.

We are very happy to declare that our group member Iswariyaraja Sridevi Gurubaran has successfully defended his doctoral dissertation titled “Mitochondrial Damage and Clearance in Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cells, Relevance to Age-Related Macular Degeneration“! The amicable examination was followed with the traditional congratulations, coffee, and cake. In the evening, a karonkka was held at the Lumberjacks’ Lodge, a quaint restaurant with great service and authentic Finnish cuisine. Everyone was jolly and we thank Raja for the great day!