{"id":1593,"date":"2026-06-09T15:29:59","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T15:29:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uni.hi.is\/apalsson\/?p=1593"},"modified":"2026-06-09T15:29:59","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T15:29:59","slug":"ms-student-galore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uni.hi.is\/apalsson\/2026\/06\/09\/ms-student-galore\/","title":{"rendered":"MS student galore"},"content":{"rendered":"

This past May several MS students completed their projects and examinations. These are completed by talks at the Mastersday in natural sciences, which this year had many biology related projects.<\/a><\/p>\n

First and foremost, Ruhila Goswami with her thesis on Evolutionary Divergence in Dental Variation and Sex Chromosome Architecture in Icelandic Brown Trout and Arctic Charr.<\/p>\n

Cosupervisor was Gu\u00f0bj\u00f6rg \u00d3sk J\u00f3nsd\u00f3ttir. The abstract of Ruhilas thesis:<\/p>\n

Evolutionary divergence stems from populations adapting to different niches, which
\nchange phenotypic traits and underlying genes. Over generations, this results in
\ndistinct forms and new species. Niche availability is often shaped by geological events
\nover long timescales. A relatively recent deglaciation event created new freshwater
\nhabitats in the northern hemisphere, for example in Iceland. These were colonized by
\ncold-adapted, sea-run species, including Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus) and Brown
\ntrout (Salmo trutta). The resulting populations underwent rapid diversification leading
\nto many morphs of Arctic charr, by colonizing different niches with different prey types.
\nThis can affect dentition, which this dissertation focused on. The Vomer bone showed
\nthe greatest differences in tooth numbers by species, the allometric relationships did
\nnot vary much by groups, but dentition patterns correlated with divergence of charr
\nmorphs.
\nThe second part of the thesis focused on sex chromosome evolution in charr and trout.
\nThe male sex determining gene (sdY<\/em>) has a history of translocation in salmonids, to
\navoid Y chromosome degeneration. Ecological opportunity may lead to phenotypic
\ndiversification and changes in associated genes. Indirectly, this may lead to genomic
\nrestructuring, possibly causing reproductive isolation that may involve sex linked
\nchromosomes. The sdY<\/em> gene was mapped in Brown trout and did not vary by populations.
\nHowever, the results demonstrate higher heterogeneity in sdY<\/em> location among
\nArctic charr populations and sympatric morphs, consistent with earlier findings. This
\ncould suggest sex chromosomes may correlate with diversification and speciation in
\nsalmonids.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

markers on chromosome<\/p><\/div>\n

Other students that we cosupervised and also completed this spring were:<\/p>\n

Bj\u00f6rgvin \u00c6gir Elisson -\u00a0 Can transcriptional enhancers mediate ibrutinib resistance in Waldenstr\u00f6m Macroglobulinemia? (Main supervisor Erna Magn\u00fasd\u00f3ttir)<\/p>\n

Sandra D\u00f6gg Georgsd\u00f3ttir -\u00a0 Physiological and behavioural responses of the lugworm, Arenicola marina, to contaminated sediment: A potential bioindicator for pollution in Iceland (main supervisor Halld\u00f3r P. Halld\u00f3rsson)<\/p>\n

\u00c1rni Valdason - The spread of self-seeded lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta DOUGLAS EX LOUDON) in South and West Iceland (main supervisor Pawel Wasowicz)<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This past May several MS students completed their projects and examinations. These are completed by talks at the Mastersday in natural sciences, which this year had many biology related projects. First and foremost, Ruhila Goswami with her thesis on Evolutionary … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13970],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-graduate-students"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uni.hi.is\/apalsson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uni.hi.is\/apalsson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uni.hi.is\/apalsson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uni.hi.is\/apalsson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/132"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uni.hi.is\/apalsson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1593"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/uni.hi.is\/apalsson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1593\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1595,"href":"https:\/\/uni.hi.is\/apalsson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1593\/revisions\/1595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uni.hi.is\/apalsson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uni.hi.is\/apalsson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uni.hi.is\/apalsson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}