The event was opened and led by Professor Arne B. Huseby, Acting Center Director of dScience – the Centre for Computational and Data Science at the University of Oslo.
Professor Jakobsen presented Norway’s contributions to the Earth BioGenome Project (EBP), a global non-profit initiative aiming to sequence and catalog the genomes of all 1.5 million currently described eukaryotic species over the next decade. EBP-Nor, the Norwegian arm of the project, is led by Jakobsen and represents a collaboration among Norway’s major universities (UiO, NMBU, UiB, NTNU, Uni Nord, and UiT), the research institute SINTEF, and non-academic organizations such as REVOcean, The Life Science Cluster, and ArcticZymes Technologies. EBP-Nor’s ambitious goal is to sequence and catalog all 45,000 eukaryotic species found in Norway.
Jakobsen noted that EBP-Nor aims to complete the genome sequencing of 150 species by 2025, with plans for significant expansion in the years ahead. He also highlighted opportunities for collaboration with public resource management, environmental programs, and industries such as bioproduction, energy, and biotechnology.
Anne Maria Eikeset, representing the Oil Fund, discussed the importance of managing climate and nature risks for institutional investors, including the fund itself. She addressed existing knowledge gaps, highlighted investment opportunities, and illustrated how innovative projects like EBP-Nor are relevant for long-term financial sustainability and responsible investment strategies.
The seminar concluded with an engaging Q&A session and networking opportunities for participants.
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Photos: Christoffer Hals, dScience, UiO.
Speakers
Anne Maria (Mia) Eikeset is the Lead Researcher at Norges Bank Investment Management. In this role, she develops analyses and scenarios to manage the fund's exposure to climate and nature-related risks across various asset classes, and advises internal investment teams on integrating these risks and opportunities into investment decisions. Her expertise extends to financial analysis, where she sources and develops investment cases in equities and renewable infrastructure, spanning sectors such as energy, industrials, heavy industries, basic materials, and life sciences. Previously, Mia served as a Research Professor at the University of Oslo, specializing in ecology, evolution, and economics, and was a postdoctoral researcher at Princeton University. Mia holds an MBA in Finance and is a Certified Portfolio Manager. She serves on a portfolio board of the Norwegian Research Council, responsible for climate and environment, and on Scientific Advisory Boards, such as EBP-NOR.
Kjetill S Jakobsen is professor in evolutionary genomics at Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo. He heads Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis (CEES), the Norwegian Sequencing Centre at CEES and is PI for EBP-Nor. Previously, Jakobsen has multidisciplinary initiatives at UiO including “Endringsmilj?” (Centre for Computational Inference in Evolutionary Life Sciences) and Convergence Environment (Comparative Immunology of Fish and Humans). His research interests are broad within genomics and to a large extent transdisciplinary bringing together ecological-, evolutionary disciplines with genomics, molecular biology, bioinformatics and biostatistics. Jakobsen has also a tack record for collaborations with industry and start-up companies.
About the seminar series
Once a month, dScience will invite you to join us for lunch and professional talks at the Science Library. In addition to these, we will serve lunch in our lounge in Kristine Bonnevies house every Thursday. Due to limited space (40 people), this will be first come, first served. See how to find us here.
Our lounge can also be booked by PhDs and Postdocs on a regular basis, whether it is for a meeting or just to hang out – we have fresh coffee all day long!