Media and news
A big congratulations to our spring semester 2025 graduates!
This spring semester we had three (3!) people finishing their degrees in our group - two Bachelors and one Masters! A very big congratulations to all of our graduates and all the best where ever your path takes you next.
Kristiina wrote about her journey from medicine to science
Our group member Kristiina wrote an article about her journey from medicine to science to laboratory medicine in the Estonian Society of Laboratory Medicine journal 2025 May issue. Click on the photo to read her article!
Marleen wrote about her experiences in Kurglab
Our BSc student Marleen wrote in the Institute of Technology blog about how she joined Kurglab and what her experiences are here thus far. Click on the photo to read her article!
Mihkel presented his poster at the PhD conference
Our PhD student Mihkel presented his poster at the Future Frontiers: PhD student conference on Emerging Technologies at 6-7th May 2025! Good job, Mihkel!
Kristiina was an invited speaker in Milan, Italy
On Tuesday, May 6th 2025, our group member Kristiina was an invited speaker in Milan, Italy for the NEXUS project event 'Extracellular vesicles in liquid biopsies: finding the NEXUS' and gave a talk about 'EV testing from lab to IVD CE'. Good job!
Kristiina introduced her PhD at Telehommik
A week after her PhD defense Kristiina was invited to a national TV station Kanal2 morning show program Telehommik to introduce her thesis to the general public. NB! Click on the photo to see the interview on Youtube!
sTARTUp Day 2025 UniTartu Deep Tech Pitch Match
Kristiina gave a pitch at the sTARTUp Day 2025 to introduce a start up idea she developed during her studies. NB! Click on the photo to see the pitch on Youtube!
Kristiina finished her PhD
Our group member Kristiina defended her thesis on the topic of "Exploring the potential of a liquid biopsy approach for melanoma diagnostics and the role of extracellular vesicles in atherosclerosis development". Congratulations, Kristiina!
Our group members won an award for their biotech idea
Congratulations to our group members Mihkel, Aleksandra and Rando who won the most innovative health idea reward at the i-Days x Care About IT 2024 with their Bactochip idea
Baiba won laureate at Science in 3 minutes competition!
Congratulations to our group member Baiba who won laureate at the final gala of the โ๐๐๐ข๐๐ง๐๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐ฎ๐ญ๐๐ฌโ contest first ever English edition, which was held on 18.10.2024 at the Estonian Academy of Sciences! More info by clicking on the photo!
Scientists night (Teadlaste รถรถ) 2024 Biomedicine workshop
Friday, 27.09.24, the Scientists night (Teadlaste รถรถ) 2024 took place at the Institute of Technology. Our PhD student Kristiina organized the first ever biomedicine workshop, where all curious people got to try their hand at doing the easiest biomedical tests, urine teststrips, and being a doctor for an evening based on those results.
Kurglab autumn event at Alatskivi castle
Kurglab autumn event took place at 27.09.2024 at Alatskivi castle. The group went on a hike around the castle grounds, visited the museum and finished the day with lunch at the restaurant. Pst! Click on the photo to see a short video about our day!
Our PhD student Kristiina won Artur Lind Scholarship
Our PhD student Kristiina won 2nd place at Artur Lind Scholarship competition that took place 24.-25.09.2024 in Geneforum 2024! Congratulations, Kristiina! Pst. You can watch the video by clicking on the photo!
Anneli finished her PhD
Our group member Anneli successfully defended her PhD "Unveiling the characteristics of cancer-testis antigen MAGEA10โ. Congratulations, dr.Samel!
Kristiina participated in the Estonian Science in Three minutes final
Our group member Kristiina participated in the Estonian finals of the 'Science in three minutes' (Teadus kolme minutiga) finals! Watch her speech by clicking on the photo (NB! Be sure to turn on English subtitles!)
Group leader prof.Reet Kurg was re-elected as Director
Our group leader, prof. Reet Kurg, was re-elected as the Director of Institute of Technology for another 3 years!
Startup grant from the Estonian Research Council
Our researcher Margit Mutso received the startup grant from the Estonian Research Council (ETAG) for the project titled "Deciphering the Role of N6AMT1 in Tumorigenesis and Other Pathologies". The research aims to investigate the N6AMT1 role and mechanism in cell cycle regulation, N6AMT1 interactions with cell cytoskeleton and describe the mechanism how N6AMT1 is involved in tumour progression and other diseases connected to N6AMT1. Congratulations, Margit!
Plant EV Technologies top 3 at Delta X 2023
Our PhD student Kristiina introduced our new Plant EV business idea, Plant EV Technologies, at Delta X and got into top3 in the business models category. more info here https://majandus.ut.ee/et/sisu/selgusid-delta-x-voistluse-parimad-0
Baiba wrote an article for Universitas Tartuensis
Our PhD student Baiba wrote an article about her work in November 2023 University of Tartu journal Universitas Tartuensis! You can read it here: https://www.ajakiri.ut.ee/artikkel/4555
Novaator article about 3 minute lecture competition
In September our group member Kristiina took part in the 3 minute lecture competition for PhD students. A month later the Estonian science portal, Novaator, wrote an article about her topic! The lecture video is in Estonian, hopefully subtitles will be added soon, but the text in the article matches the speech and can be translated to English with all translation softwares. https://novaator.err.ee/1609141843/doktorant-nahavahki-saab-tulevikus-diagnoosida-veretilgast
1st MOVE Symposium in Malaga
Prof.Reet Kurg and our group member Kristiina spent 4 days at the 1st MOVE Symposium in Malaga, Spain learning about extracellular vesicles!
Prof. Reet Kurg opened an event
Our group leader prof.Reet Kurg opened the "Women leading industry and technology" conference at Delta! You can listen to the event here or by clicking on the picture! https://tinyurl.com/Deltawosci
Congratulations to Baiba for winning 3rd place!
Baiba achieved 3rd place in the PhD students' 3-minute lecture competition with the lecture titled "TRMT112 โ the mysterious link between different diseases"! You can watch it here (https://www.uttv.ee/naita?id=34746) or by clicking on the picture!
Pst. Our group member Kristiina also participated, you can se her lecture here: https://www.uttv.ee/naita?id=34798
A wonderful 2023 autumn season beginning event
We had a wonderful canoe barge trip at Taevaskoja to open the autumn 2023 season! You can watch a minivideo about it by following this link (https://www.instagram.com/p/Cxab26Gt4Hm/) or by clicking on the picture!
Congratulations to our this year's graduates!
Congratulations to Evgeniia, who did her MSc at our group, and Aleksandra and Lisbeth, who did their BSc in our group, for successfully defending their theses!
Kristiina won co-1st place at PhD students conference
Congratulations to our PhD student Kristiina who was one of three 1st place winners at University of Tartu Institute of Technology PhD students conference with her talk about melanoma diagnostics. Also a big congratulations to her co-1st place winners Ugochi and Houman.
University of Tartu Feasibility fund grant
Prof. Reet Kurg was awarded University of Tartu Feasibility fund grant for her project "Development of purification platform for plant-derived extracellular vesicles". The aim of the project is the development of a platform for the purification of plant extracellular vesicles from Estonian raw materials; to find the best purification method for different plants and vegetables; and to compare the yields and purity as well as chemical, physical and biological stability under different storage conditions. The target groups for this project are companies engaged in drug development and research labs involved in applied sciences. Image by dr. Olavi Reinsalu
Presentation at Institute of Technology Conference 2023
Our PhD student Baiba Brumele gave a presentation "Regulation of cell cycle by methyltransferase N6AMT1" at the Institute of Technology Conference 2023 held in Pรคrnu, Estonia Resort Hotel and Spa at 19.-20.01.2023
Prof.Reet Kurg was awarded the University of Tartu medal
The University of Tartu medal is awarded to members of the University of Tartu for long-term substantial contribution to the development of the university.
Talks at BSEV and COMBIVET joint conference
Reet and Olavi gave talks at the Baltic extracellular vesicle society (BSEV) and ERA Chair of Comparative Medicine under the Institute of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences at the Estonian University of Life Sciences (COMBIVET) joint conference on extracellular vesicles. Reet talked about blood-derived EVs as a source of biomarkers while Olavi presented his work about cancer-testis antigen MAGE-A4 carrying EVs. More info about COMBIVET can be found at their website combivet.ee
Kristiina won 2nd place with her poster
Congratulations to our PhD student Kristiina who won second place with her poster about melanoma patient extracellular vesicles at the international conference XVI Baltic Congress in Laboratory medicine in Tallinn, Estonia
Olavi Reinsalu defended his PhD!
Congratulations to our PhD student Olavi, who successfully defended his PhD titled โCancer-testis antigen MAGE-A4 is incorporated into extracellular vesicles and is exposed to the surfaceโ. Read more about the thesis: http://dspace.ut.ee/handle/10062/82891
Baiba Brumele won 1st place at PhD students conference
Congratulations to our PhD student Baiba who won 1st place at University of Tartu Institute of Technology PhD students conference with her talk about RNA methyltransferases!
Prof. Reet Kurg inauguration lecture
Prof. Reet Kurg had her inauguration lecture on 17th February 2022. The whole lecture can be viewed in full by clicking on the poster. NB! The lecture is in Estonian!
Institute of Technology 20th anniversary conference
On the 17th of August 21, Institute of Technology celebrated its 20th anniversary with an anniversary conference titled "Through science towards technology". Our very own team leader prof.Reet Kurg opened the event as the current director of the institute. The whole event was in Estonian and can be watched at UT Institute of Technology home page (click on the poster to get there!).
Bachelor and Master graduates 2020/2021
During this school year, we had a record of four (4!) Bachelor students who successfully defended their thesis and one Masters student as well. We wish the best to all our graduates and we will be welcoming our Masters thesis defender Baiba as our new PhD student in September 2021! For info about all our graduates, be sure to check out our Facebook and Instagram accounts where each of them got a dedicated post.
CHANGES TO OUR GROUP
We have good news! Starting from 1st of February 2021, dr.Reet Kurg has officially started in her new role as the professor of Molecular Biomedicine. Our group also has a new member, MSc Fred Vรครคrtnรตu, who has joined us as a specialist.
POPULAR SCIENCE ARTICLE IN KODUTOHTER
PhD student Kristiina Kurg published a popular science article in the Estonia Magazine Kodutohter. She writes about her PhD topic, melanoma diagnostics, to a wider audience to draw attention to what are the the new ways we could diagnose skin cancer from just blood.
TEAM LEADER REET KURG TO BE THE NEW PROFESSOR OF MOLECULAR BIOMEDICINE
Reet Kurg was elected a Professor of Molecular Biomedicine. She will start in her new position in February 2021.
TARTU UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY INTRODUCTION VIDEO
Tartu University Institute of Technology is bridging science and technology. We are one of the most ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ข๐๐ข๐ฌ๐๐ข๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐๐๐ซ๐๐ก institutions in the University of Tartu. Therefore, we are ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ก๐จ๐ฆ๐ ๐จ๐ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ฅ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐๐๐ซ๐๐ก๐๐ซ๐ฌ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐๐๐ข๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฌ laying the foundation to innovative solutions and technology. View the introductory video to hear team leader Reet Kurg talking about all of this in depth!
SCIENCE COMMUNICATION VIDEO
This video was created by PhD student Kristiina Kurg to promote her PhD project about skin cancer diagnostics. Read more about it from a Research in Estonia article created for the same project by clicking on the button below.
ONE HUNDRED FACES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TARTU
The book, One hundred faces of the University of Tartu, is based on the photo exhibition โGet ready! One hundred faces of the University of Tartuโ, which was dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Estonian national university. In 2017, one of the best known portrait photographers in Estonia, Birgit Pรผve took photos of one hundred outstanding researchers and professors of the university with an object reflecting their work. Team leader Reet Kurg was chosen to represent Tartu University Institute of Technology.