Scottish Oceans Institute
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East Sands KY16 8LB Saint Andrews Scotland - United Kingdom http://soi.st-andrews.ac.uk |
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The University of St Andrews was founded by Papal Bulls in 1411 and 1413 and is the third oldest seat of learning in the English speaking world. Marine Biology was established within the University by William Carmichael McIntosh FRS with the formation of the St Andrews Fisheries Laboratory in 1884 and the Gatty Marine Laboratory in 1895. The NERC Sea Mammal Research Unit joined in 1996 and in 2009 the Gatty Marine Laboratory was merged with all the marine science activities across the University to form the Scottish Oceans Institute (SOI). The SOI comprises more than 200 researchers from the Schools of Biology, Geography and Geosciences and Mathematics and Statistics.
Research themes: Marine Mammal Biology, Coastal Ecology, Marine Genomics, Fish Physiology, Biogeochemistry, Biomineralisation in relation to climate change, Biodiversity, Behaviour, Evolution and Development, Virology, the estimation of population abundance and statistical modeling.
Laboratories: SOI has the largest experimental facility for marine mammal research in Europe and extensive saltwater and freshwater aquaria in its coastal facility on the East Sands, St Andrews Bay. The SOI is an integral part of a research intensive University with state-of the-art laboratories in biology, chemistry, geosciences and physics.
Platforms: The University houses the Scottish Structural Proteomics Facility with world class facilities for structural biology including X-ray diffraction, mass spectroscopy, NMR etc. There are also excellent analytical and imaging facilities.
Marine facilities: Several in shore boats are operated mostly in support of marine mammal research.
Main marine model organisms: Grey and Common Seals, Atlantic salmon, Pomatocerus, Corals.
Supervisory bodies: Scottish Funding Council, NERC, BBSRC
