The laboratory of A. Palsson and associates

Mechanisms and axes of developmental plasticity and evolutionary divergence. Sarah Steele, Dagný Runarsdottir, Bjarni Kristjansson, Skuli Skulason, Prof Camille Leblanc, Sigridur R. Franzdottir, Zophonias Jonsson, Sigurdur Snorrason, Arnar Palsson.

Why are some species plastic and capable of rapid phenotypic diversification and polymorphism, while others are less flexible at the phenotype level and evolve more slowly? This question has puzzled geneticist and students of evolution for over a century, but new technologies have made it addressable. Here we set out to investigate the developmental and genetic basis of plasticity and polymorphism, applying experimental and molecular methods on the extremely diverse salmonid, Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus). Arctic charr has, in about 10,000 years following the ice age glacier retreat, invaded and adapted to diverse habitats, and in the process small benthic forms evolved in dozens of locations. Arctic charr is phenotypically very heterogeneous, to the extent that morphotypes were originally classified as distinct species, but also show high levels of phenotypic plasticity. We use a combination of genetic crosses, geometric morphometrics and next generation sequencing to characterize the plastic response to benthic or limnetic food. We compared wild stocks and their hybrids, reared in the laboratory, after hatching and while the juveniles are taking food. The results illuminate how we understand of the relationship of ecologically induced developmental plasticity and evolution of ecological specializations.

Marion Dellinger also presented data on behavioral phenotypes of the fishes from this experiment.

Tell me how you eat, I'll tell you who you are: how does feeding modalities affect personality distribution in the Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus)?

Articles about science

The Icelandic biology conference 2019

Arnar Pálsson, 22/01/2020

Late last year the lab took part in the Icelandic biology conference. The conference is biannual, and the largest aggregation of biological researchers in Iceland.

Our lab contributed several works to the meeting, and Im very proud of the students for their contributions.

Here is a list of the projects that they presented:

Can you save a mutant? Expressional rescue of 3 major wing defects in Drosophila melanogaster Baldur Kristjánsson, Dagný Á. Rúnarsdóttir, Sudarshan Chari, Ian Dworkin, Arnar Pálsson

Waddingtons landscapes explored: Expression changes associated with genetic assimilation of crossveinless phenotypes Dagný Ásta Rúnarsdóttir, Baldur Kristjánsson, Sarah Marzec, Ian Dworkin, Arnar Pálsson

Study of the genetic and developmental basis of phenotypic differences between sympatric Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus) morphs Nahal Eskafi, Alexander Guðjónsson, Sylvain Moinard, Lea J. Plesec, Sigurður S. Snorrason, Zophonias O. Jonsson, Arnar Palsson, Sigríður Rut Franzdóttir

Differential expression of transcription factors between Arctic charr morphsLea Jerman Plesec, Alexander Guðjónsson, Sébastien Matlosz, Jóhannes Guðbrandsson, Arnar Pálsson, Sigríður Rut Franzdóttir, Zophonías O. Jónsson

Talks and events

Videos from conference of Bioethics of clinical innovation and unproven methods, Copenhagen, 9 April 2019

Arnar Pálsson, 13/11/2019

Conference organized by the Nordic Committee on Bioethics in collaboration with Centre for Legal Studies in Welfare and Market at the University of Copenhagen. The central questions were:

How are clinical innovations and unproven methods developed and introduced in western Nordic health-care systems?

What is the legal and regulatory environment concerning unproven methods in medicine?

What ethical principles should guide work on emerging treatments and experimentation in hospitals?

These are questions that were addressed in the NCBio-conference in Copenhagen.

Videos of talks from the meeting on bioethics of clinical innovation and unproven methods Copenhagen, 9 April 2019 are available.

I had the great privilege of organizing this event with my colleagues in the Nordic Committee on Bioethics, in collaboration with the Centre for Legal Studies in Welfare and Market at the University of Copenhagen.

Venue: Alf Ross auditorium (room 9A-3-01), Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen, Karen Blixens Plads 16, 2300 Copenhagen S.

Background: Clinical innovation involves development of new techinques, methods, treatments and diagnostics for detecting, alleviating and curing diseases. By nature novel clinical methods and treatments are unproven when first developed. Through the centuries, medicine has advanced by trials and errors of physicians and researchers experimenting with treatments and methods. The failure of certain methods are inseparable from success of others, because a priori it is hard to know what works and what not. The scientific method is the preferred approach to develop cures and treatments, but many current medical practices were not developed by strict scientific testing or trials. Healthcare professionals may try unproven methods, for instance as a last resort in attempt to safe a life. Such unproven methods for clinics and health care, occur at the intersect of basic research and standard health-care and raise number of bioethical issues. Those include the following issues. Do patients have sufficient and equal access to the experimental methods? Are patients protected from harm when unproven methods are tested? Who should make decisions about when to experiment with a treatment? How can society and the health care system best simultaneously promote clinical innovation and protect patients?

The conference is open to all interested, including medical doctors, clinical researchers, health committees in parliments, civil servants and hospital administrators.

General biology