Rate My Professor Suvi Ruuskanen

Suvi Ruuskanen is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biological and Environmental Science at the University of Jyväskylä, Faculty of Mathematics and Science, where she leads the Environmental Physiology Lab. She earned her PhD from the University of Turku (2007-2010). Her academic career includes postdoctoral researcher positions at the University of Turku (2010-2012), Academy of Finland postdoctoral fellow at the Netherlands Institute of Ecology and University of Groningen (2012-2015), and Academy of Finland research fellow at the University of Turku (2015-2020). She previously served as Assistant Professor at the Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyväskylä, before her promotion to Associate Professor.

Ruuskanen's research focuses on the mechanisms underlying organismal adaptation to environmental changes within and across generations and species, integrating environmental sciences, ecotoxicology, physiological, behavioral, and molecular ecology. Key areas include physiology of stress and energetics, epigenetic and microbiome-mediated mechanisms, and eco-endocrinology with emphasis on thyroid hormones. She has led numerous funded projects, including an ERC Consolidator Grant (2024-2029) investigating the gut microbiome as a mechanism in host responses to environmental variation in birds, Academy of Finland grants on microbiome adaptations and winter physiology in wild populations, and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions postdoctoral projects on microbiome-mitochondria interactions and paternally-transmitted epigenetic alterations due to heavy metal exposure.

Her influential publications encompass 'Ecosystem consequences of herbicides: the role of microbiome' (Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 2023), 'Endocrinology of thermoregulation in birds in a changing climate' (Journal of Experimental Biology, 2021), 'Towards an evolutionary theory of stress responses' (Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 2021), 'Classification of the glyphosate target enzyme (5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase) for assessing sensitivity of organisms to the herbicide' (Environmental Pollution, 2021), and 'Glyphosate-based herbicides influence antioxidants, reproductive hormones and gut microbiome but not reproduction: A long-term experiment in an avian model' (Environmental Pollution, 2020). Ruuskanen contributes editorially as Subject Editor for Oecologia and Journal of Avian Biology. Her research impacts fields of evolutionary physiology, ecotoxicology, and microbiome ecology, elucidating phenotypic plasticity and non-genetic inheritance in response to anthropogenic and climatic stressors.