Profile for Prof. Helena Nevalainen

Research interests are focused on (molecular) biology and enzymology of biotechnologically important filamentous fungi, in particular Trichoderma reesei. T. reesei offers a powerful system for efficient expression of foreign gene products originating from other micro-organisms, plants and animals. Other research interests include biological roles of cell walls in fungi and molecular prospecting of the environment for novel bioactivities.

The research topics are:

1. Development of vectors and hosts for efficient expression and secretion of gene products from T. reesei. Expression of thermophile enzyme genes in Trichoderma.
2. Proteomes of Trichoderma. Mapping of cell wall-associated proteins in Trichoderma by 2-D electrophoresis. Emphasis is on the identification of proteins related to secretion and heterologous gene expression.
3. Molecular prospecting of the environment. Screening of novel enzyme activities and their genes from Antarctic fungi and unculturable microorganisms.

Professor Nevalainen has over 120 publications in refereed journals; 50 of which were published in the last 5 years. The ten most significant publications of the last 5 years are given below:

1. B. R. Herbert, J. Grinyer, J. T. McCarthy, M. Isaacs, E. J. Harry, H. Nevalainen, M. D. Traini, B. Schulz, M. Laver, A. R. Goodall, J. Packer, J. L. Harry and K.L. Williams. Improved 2-DE of micro-organisms after acidic extraction. Electrophoresis 27: 1630-1640, 2006.
2. K. M. H. Nevalainen V. S. J. T'eo and P. L. Bergquist. Heterologous protein expression in filamentous fungi. Trends in Biotechnology 23: 468-474, 2005.
3. M. Penttilä, C. Limon and H. Nevalainen. Biotechnology of Trichoderma . Handbook of Fungal Biotechnology (Mycology Series 20), D.K. Arora, P.D. Bridge, D. Bhatnagar (eds), Marcel Dekker, NY, pp. 413-427, 2004 .
4. H. Nevalainen, V. Te'o, T. Pakula and M. Penttilä. Heterologous gene expression in filamentous fungi-a holistic view. In : Applied Mycology & Biotechnology. An International Series. Volume 5, Genes and Genomics. D.K. Arora and G.G. Kchachatourians (eds), Elsevier Science B.V., Netherlands . pp. 211-237, 2005.
5. J. Grinyer, M. McKay, H. Nevalainen and Ben R. Herbert (2004). Fungal Proteomics: initial mapping of biological control strain Trichoderma harzianum . Current Genetics 45: 163-169.
6. J. Grinyer, M. McKay, B. Herbert and H. Nevalainen. Fungal Proteomics: mapping the mitochondrial proteins of a Trichoderma harzianum strain applied for biological control. Current Genetics 45:170-175, 2004.
7. A. Khan, K. Williams, M. Molloy and H. Nevalainen. Purification and characterization of a serine protease and chitinases from Paecilomyces lilacinus and detection of chitinase Activity on 2D gels. Protein Expression and Purification 32: 210-220, 2003.
8. P. Bergquist, V. Te'o, M. Gibbs, A. Cziferszky, F. P. de Faria, M. Azevedo and H. Nevalainen . Expression of
9. D. Lim, P. Hains, B. Walsh, P. Bergquist and H. Nevalainen. Proteins associated with the cell envelope of Trichoderma reesei : a proteomic approach. Proteomics 1: 899 - 910, 2001.
10. M. D. Gibbs K. H. M. Nevalainen and P. L. Bergquist. Degenerate oligonucleotide gene shuffling (DOGS): A method for enhancing the frequency of recombination with family shuffling. Gene 271: 13 – 20, 2001.

Competitive Grant Funding in last 5 years:

Grant Source	Applicant	Title	Years	K$
ARC Discovery	Nevalainen et al	DP0557601 Role of proteasome in eradication…	2005-7	215
ARCRes Networks	Goldys et al	RN0460002 Fluorescence applications in...	2005-9	1800
ARC LIEF	Goldys et al	LE0453608 Multifunctional confocal laser…	2003	579
ARC Linkage	Nevalainen et al	LP0349278 Enhanced biocontrol options…	2003-5	230
ARCSpecRes Initit	Halbert et al	SR0354630Fluorescenceapplicationsin…	2003	20
ARC Linkage	Bergquist et al	LP0347861 Genetic modification…	2003-5	190
ARC Linkage	Bergquist et al	LP0215935 Enhanced biocatalysis...	2002-3	270
ARC Discovery	Gillings et al	DP0211559 Bacterial innovation...	2002-4	231
ARC LIEF	Scott et al	LE0232455 The molecular analysis…	2002	545
ARC RIEF	Trent et al	R00107920 Sydney Gene Analysis Facility…	2001	515
ARC SPIRT	Nevalainen et al	C00107189 Heat-stable dextranase…	2001-3	217
ARC SPIRT	Bergquist et al	C00107398 Thermophilic DNA polym…	2001-3	225
ARC Large	Nevalainen et al	A00105749 What cell envelope…	2001-3	181
Res. Contracts	Nevalainen et al	With European companies on fungi	2001-6	200

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