Young Researcher Award 2011: Noora Kotaja

Noora Kotaja, Turku, Finland was granted our newly established Young Researcher Award for outstanding researchers in our field during our meeting in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Noora has defended her thesis 2003, did a postdoctoral fellow first in Paolo Sassone-Corsi\’s group in France and then in Jorma Toppari\’s group in Turku. She is a docent of Physiology since 2007 and already has her own group. She is faculty appointed supervisor of 4 PhD students and her research is focused on small non-coding RNAs and the chromatoid body – mediated RNA regulation in male germ cells. Noora has an impressive publication list with articles in e.g. PNAS and Nature Methods.

Our award included invitation to our meeting and the possibility to present her research in the lecture “Control of spermatogenesis by miRNAs and piRNAs”.

In addition, our award includes the nomination for the Young Andrologist Award of the International Society of Andrology (ISA) that will be awarded during the upcoming ICA (see below).

From now on, our Young Investigator Award will be handed out every other year alternating with the Best Speaker Award during the European Testis Workshops.