Jukka Jernvall

1.1.2010 - 31.12. 2014
University of Helsinki
evolutionary developmental biology

Professor Jukka Jernvall of the University of Helsinki is a well-respected international pioneer in the field of evolutionary developmental biology. Using a model of mammalian dentition, his work has been aimed at discovering the biological principles that underlie the individual’s three-dimensional phenotype. Jernvall’s research team takes a bold and creative approach to bringing together disciplines that traditionally are far removed from one another, from molecular and development biology through medicine to ecology and palaeontology.

The focus of Jernvall’s research is to determine how shape evolution in different organisms can be predicted. He has studied why certain dentition patterns arise several times during the course of evolution, while other patterns occur only rarely. Palaeontological discoveries of a tooth of an ancient human or some other mammal, for instance, can thus be dated according to its shape on the mammal’s evolutionary timeline.

Professor Jernvall has risen to the international forefront of research in evolutionary and developmental biology within a very short space of time. The prestigious science journal Nature described his and his two post doc researchers’ study on dentition evolution as one of the most significant pieces of evolution research of recent years.