Friday 27 May 2011

Utö: The Burial Ground for Ships and Training Ground for Membrane Scientists

This is a map and not membrane domain formation on a LB trough

 The Finnish archeapelago has a plethora of islands.  These islands were the battle grounds between Russia and Sweden.  If you are traveling from Turku to Stockholm you would run into the island of Utö. The bare, rocky islands of Utö are the main gateway to the Archipelago Sea. Since the 17th century, it has been a base for pilots, lighthouse keepers, custom officials and soldiers.   So it was a strategic post for war ships.  Many lighthouse operators were there during Swedish, Russian and Finnish rule.  The Finnish military left the island in 2005.

If you fast forward to next week (June 4th-11th) you have a small island with a handful of residents who are going to be bombarded by a different breed of warrior, membrane scientists.  The Molecular Engineering Summer School will take place here.  It will be a place to learn about Biophysics of lipids and lipid-protein interactions: from biomembranes to molecular engineering, drug delivery and imaging.   Check out the program here:

http://www.becs.tkk.fi/mess/index.html