Tuomas Aivelo

M.Sc., Ph.D Student

Tuomas Aivelo -at- helsinki.fi Twitter

As an evolutionary biologist, I’m interested in multidisciplinary and broad research themes. That’s why I find this group right one for me. I did my master thesis in Team on the onset of immune response in wood ant Formica exsecta. In spring 2010 I started my PhD under the supervision of Jukka Jernvall and Juha Laakkonen. The life history aspects – and immunology – stays though I changed the animals to bigger and fluffier

Broadly, my research revolves around aging. My data set is the microchipped wild brown mouse lemurs (Microcebus rufus) in Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar. I’m mostly interested in what kind of changes there are in the individual lemurs’ intestinal parasite community. Other aspects I might be investigating are the differences between sexes, genetical basis of immune response, survival, social interactions and the considerations in conservation biology.

Apart the research, I’m dividing my time between coaching the team members for International Biology Olympics, teaching IB Diploma Biology in SYK , developing FANC’s net site Ikkuna Suomen luontoon, assisting in radio program Luontoilta and doing occasional guidances in Korkeasaari Zoo.