Department of Food Hygiene and Environmental Health organizes its 13th summer school year 2012.   The summer school aims to produce high-quality licentiate theses effectively in three months, to familiarize veterinary students with the fascinating world of science and the field of environmental health and to provide students with understanding of the research activity of the department.

A record number of students applied to the popular summer school this year and next summer a total of 12 veterinary students will work full-time in June, July and August taking course Research in Food and Environmental Hygiene: From research problem to reporting, and conducting research in the Department of Food Hygiene and Environmental Health research groups.   The licentiate thesis projects comprise experimental work, scientific report and seminars.

Year 2012 nine students (Nina Hietala, Mari Jurmu, Heidi Järvimäki, Suvi Marin, Katri Penttinen, Essi Pietilä, Eva-Lina Sandell, Aino-Sofia Sarajärvi ja Enni Suomio) will conduct their research projects in the field of food hygiene, one student (Kaija Sivonen) in the field of environmental hygiene, one student (Reetta Åberg) in the field of food and environmental virology, and one student (Mika Makkonen) in the field of environmental health and food safety control. Mika Makkonen will conduct his research project in the University of Minnesota in USA.

Written by Riikka Keto-Timonen.

Time and place: March 12-16, 2012 , Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Agnes Sjöbergin katu 2, Viikki, Helsinki, Finland

Content: During the course the students get familiar with the principles and theory of molecular detection methods such as real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The course contains lectures, demonstrations, laboratory practice, presentations and writing tasks. The course language is English. Lecturers are invited from Nordic as well as Baltic countries. Preliminary course programme can be seen on NOVA webpage http://www.nova‑university.org/.

Target group: veterinarians, undergraduate and postgraduate students in veterinary medicine and PhD students in NOVA universities.

Course fee: 0 € for the undergraduate students and for the postgraduate students in veterinary medicine. Other participants 450 €/course or 100 €/day.

Course fee and accommodation for NOVA PhD students:
For PhD students registered at any of the NOVA member institutions, NOVA PhD courses are free of charge and includes accommodation and meals. Travel costs are not covered by NOVA.

Registration: Deadline 27.2.2012  by email el-eyhl@helsinki.fi.

Additional information: Leena Maunula, leena.maunula@helsinki.fi

 Number of participants: max. 25 persons.

Emeritus Professor Lars Reinius died on 16 January at the age of 92. He was the founder of Finnish academic teaching and research in the field of food hygiene. He was born on 26.07.1919 and graduated as a veterinarian in 1947 in Royal Veterinary College, Stockholm. He defended his doctoral thesis in 1953 in the College of Veterinary Medicine, Helsinki (nowadays Faculty of Veterinary Medicine), and nominated as a docent in 1955.

After graduating as a veterinarian Reinius worked as a senior assistant both in the College of Veterinary Medicine and Royal Veterinary College as well as a veterinarian in City of Helsinki. Reinius was appointed as the first Professor of Food Hygiene in 1961 and he was responsible for the establishment of the Department of Food Hygiene (nowadays Department of Food Hygiene and Environmental Health) and starting of the food hygiene education and research.

Between 1966-1969 he worked as Rector of the College of Veterinary Medicine and took part effectively in the development of veterinary education in Finland.

In 1970, Reinius moved to work with the health legislation issues related to world′s meat trade, in FAO, Rome. In 1972 he moved to Geneva and later to Berlin, to work for WHO. In WHO he worked as a scientific expert on food hygiene and food poisoning monitoring. Reinius was retired in 1984.

Written by Johanna Seppälä.

Total of 51 scientific posters were presented at the Annual Veterinary Meeting. 16 posters were selected for further reviewing. Three posters were awarded and one of them was made by DVM Sonja Virtanen from Department of Food Hygiene and Environmental Health. Title of the poster was “Piglets are the source of Yersinia enterocolitica on fattening farms.”

The authors of the work “Prevalence and prevention of pathogenic Yersinia on pig farms” were DVM Sonja Virtanen, DVM Laura Laakso, DVM, PhD Riikka Laukkanen-Ninios, Professor Maria Fredriksson-Ahomaa and Professor Hannu Korkeala.
Considerable variation exists in the prevalence of pathogenic Yersinia between different farms. The project is detecting the farm factors affecting the prevalence of pathogenic Yersinia. The aim of this study is to make recommendations, according to the results, on how to prevent pathogenic Yersinia at the farm level. The project started in the summer 2009 and will continue until the autumn 2012.

The project runs in co-operation with the Department of Food Hygiene and Environmental Health and the Association for Animal Disease Prevention. The project leader is Professor Hannu Korkeala and the corresponding researcher is DVM , Sonja Virtanen. The project is funded by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

DVM, Marjo Ruusunen, will give a lecture titled Spore-forming bacteria in dairy products. The lecture belongs to the research seminar series of the Department of Food Hygiene and Environmental Health.

Time: 14.12.2011 at 14.30
Place: Viikki, Agnes Sjöbergin katu 2, Helsinki, EE-building, seminar room B326

Seminar_schedule 2011

DVM, Elias Dahlsten, will give a lecture titled Two-component systems in stress tolerance of Clostridium botulinum. The lecture belongs to the research seminar series of the Department of Food Hygiene and Environmental Health.

Time: 23.11.2011 at 14.30
Place: Viikki, Agnes Sjöbergin katu 2, Helsinki, EE-building, seminar room B326

Seminar_schedule 2011

DVM, PhD, Leena Räsänen, will give a lecture titled Risk management of zoonotic antimicrobial resistance. The lecture belongs to the research seminar series of the Department of Food Hygiene and Environmental Health.

Time: 9.11.2011 at 14.30
Place: Viikki, Agnes Sjöbergin katu 2, Helsinki, EE-building, seminar room B326

Seminar_schedule 2011

PhD, MSc. , Heidi Hyytiäinen, will give a lecture titled Fluoroquinolone resistance in Campylobacter jejuni. The lecture belongs to the research seminar series of the Department of Food Hygiene and Environmental Health.

Time: 26.10.2011 at 14.30
Place: Viikki, Agnes Sjöbergin katu 2, Helsinki, EE-building, seminar room B326

Seminar_schedule 2011