Participant 6. Åbo Akademi University (ABO), Turku, Finland

Åbo Akademi University has an acknowledged position in such research areas as biosciences, material sciences and process chemistry. Cyanobacterial toxins are one of the key research topics at the Biochemistry division at the Department of Biosciences. The research on cyanobacterial toxins includes the development of advanced chromatographic, mass spectrometric and immunological analyses, as well as application of the analyses in ecotoxicological and hygienic studies in order to increase the understanding of the presence, impact and structure-toxicity relationships of the toxins. The research facilities have relevant instruments (owned or co-owned) such as: several analytical and preparative HPLC instruments; triple-quadrupole ESI-MS-MS instruments Micromass Quattro micro and Quattro II; ion trap ESI-MS-MS and APCI-MS-MS instrument Bruker HCT ultra; time‑of‑flight ESI-MS-MS instrument Bruker microTOF-Q; and Wallac Victor 1420 multilabel plate reader. Cyanobacterial culturing facilities are also available. At the Environmental and Marine Biology division at the Department of Biosciences, research is conducted in the fields of marine biology, ecology, behavioural and evolutionary ecology and environmental topics. The research is mainly focused on the environmental problems in the Baltic Sea, especially in the coastal areas of the Archipelago Sea and the Åland Islands.

 Role in the project

• Sourcing and cultivation of cyanobacterial and algal material from the northern Baltic Sea area and recently isolated lakes (WP1)
• Fractionation and preparative isolation of bioactive compounds (WP2)
• LC-MS-MS based chemical characterisation and purity determination (WP2)
• Biochemical assays, such as protein phosphatase inhibition assays (WP3)

Dr. Jussi Meriluoto Ph.D. (Biochemistry)

Adjunct professor in analytical biochemistry. Senior laboratory manager.

Department of Biosciences, Biochemistry

Email: jussi.meiluoto(at)abo.fi

Expertise: Dr. Meriluoto’s expertise covers the fields of analytical chemistry, biochemistry, toxicology and hygienic aspects related to secondary metabolites in cyanobacteria.

Dr. Lisa Spoof Ph.D. (Biochemistry)

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Department of Biosciences, Biochemistry

Email: lisa.spoof(at)abo.fi

Expertise: Dr. Spoof’s expertise includes chromatography, mass spectrometry and microbiology, as well as preparative purification of bioactive compounds.

Kerstin Häggqvist MSc (Environmental Biology)

Research Assistant

Department of Biosciences, Biochemistry

Email: kerstin.haggqvist(at)abo.fi

Expertise: Sourcing and cultivation of microalgae and cyanobacteria.