Doctoral Researcher
martin.grethlein@oulu.fi
My project focuses on monitoring the wellbeing of the Baltic Sea ecosystem. To detect changes early, I aim to use the bay mussel as the basis of a monitoring system. Using epigenetic markers, the goal is to detect and monitor signs of stress as early as possible.
Additionally, I plan to use historic mussel samples as an environmental DNA time capsule to look back and retrace ecosystem changes using the mussel’s gut content. This helps us understand the impact of environmental changes through time and may help in conservation efforts by providing early warning signs.
Keywords
Current Projects
Grants & Fundings
2025 – 2026, personal grant, Onni Talas Foundation
One year of full time research work for PhD studies, working on the Baltic Baywatch project
2024, travel grant, Nordplus
Travel grant for travelling to Svalbard and exploring joint teaching opportunities with UNIS
About me
I studied Biosciences (B.Sc.) at the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg and continued my studies in Ecology and Evolution (M.Sc.) at the Goethe University Frankfurt.
My research interest started out solely focused on aquatic ecology. Studying ecosystems however always needs to take the human impact into account. Over the course of my studies, I learned combined aquatic ecotoxicology with a multitude of genetic methods to serve the overall goal of assessing the health, composition and resilience of ecosystems in a world shaped by human activity.
Publications
2025
Peer-reviewed Publication: Ferreira da Silva, M. J., Colmonero‐Costeira, I., Djaló, S. L., Camará, T., Sá, R. M., Minhós, T., Kiebler, A., Grethlein, M., Pikkarainen, N. & Prost, S. (2025). Using miniaturized laboratory equipment and DNA barcoding to improve conservation genetics training and identify illegally traded species. Conservation Biology, e70165. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.70165Peer-reviewed Publication: Winter, S., Meißner, R., Grethlein, M., Wehrenberg, G., Kiebler, A., Silva, A. X., Escobar, N. R., Quesada Calderón, S. M., Suescún, A. V., Guzman Belmar, L., & Prost, S. (2025). Chromosome-Level genome assembly and transcriptome analysis of the ural owl, Strix uralensis PALLAS, 1771. Journal of Heredity, esaf038. https://doi.org/10.1093/jhered/esaf0382024
Preprint: da Silva, M. J. F., Colmonero-Costeira, I., Djaló, M., Fernandes, N., Camara, T., Sá, R. M., Minhós, T., Kiebler, A., Grethlein, M., Pikkarainen, N., & Prost, S. (2024). Miniaturised laboratorial equipment as a solution to implement conservation genetics tools and education in West African countries with limited infrastructures: an application to the study of illegal wildlife trade in Guinea-Bissau. bioRxiv, 2024-09. https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.09.30.6158302022
Peer-reviewed Publication: Grethlein, M., Pelikan, L., Dombrowski, A., Kabus, J., Oehlmann, J., Weigand, A. & Jourdan, J. (2022). Small-scale population structuring results in differential susceptibility to pesticide exposure. Environmental Sciences Europe, 34(1), 113. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12302-022-00690-42020
Peer-reviewed Publication: Prost, S., Petersen, M., Grethlein, M., Hahn, S.J., Kuschik-Maczollek, N., Olesiuk, M.E., Reschke, J.O., Schmey, T.E., Zimmer, C., Gupta, D.K. & Schell, T. (2020). Improving the chromosome-level genome assembly of the Siamese fighting fish (Betta splendens) in a university master’s course. G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics, 10(7), 2179-2183. https://doi.org/10.1534/g3.120.401205Peer-reviewed Publication: Loerracher, A.K., Grethlein, M. & Braunbeck, T. (2020). In vivo fluorescence-based characterization of cytochrome P450 activity during embryonic development of zebrafish (Danio rerio). Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, 192, 110330. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoenv.2020.110330Outreach
coming soon
