Riin Tamm


Riin Tamm is an Estonian geneticist working at the University of Tartu, and a science popularizer.
She is the director of University of Tartu Youth Academy.
As a student she worked on the action of thiopurine methyltransferase.

Career

Tamm was born in Tartu and grew up in the village of Peri, near Põlva. She is the daughter of two doctors. She attended Miina Harma high school in Tartu between 1997 and 2000. From 2001 to 2005 she was an undergraduate at the University of Tartu studying molecular diagnosis, and from 2005 to 2007 studied for her master's degree, which she obtained in 2007, and began her PhD studies. Her master's thesis, prepared under supervision of Andres Metspalu and Kersti Oselin, was entitled Human thiopurine methyltransferase pharmacogenetics: genotype-phenotype correlation and haplotype analysis in the Estonian population. In 2011 she was chosen as one of 26 scientists to travel around Estonia and take part in events at schools and academic institutions.

Publications and appearances

Tamm has published in scientific journals and presented research to a broader public in other venues, including the newspaper Postimees, Radio Kuku's program Falling Apple, and Eesti Televisioon's program Good Vision. She has been one of the judges in the Estonian science competition show Rakett69.
Tamm has said that doctors are conservative and still have relatively little interest in using genetic information to improve treatment. In a June 2012 interview she said that more work is needed to map out the human genetic structure, but much has been done already. Genetic information may help to determine risk of certain diseases, and may be useful in determining appropriate drug treatments.

Professional service

Tamm is a board member of the Estonian Society of Human Genetics and the Estonian Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics, and Chair of the Scientific Program Committee of the Annual International Gene Forum conference organized by the Estonian Genome Foundation.

Awards

In 2012 she was given second prize for Estonian National Science Communication in the category "Best popularizing scientist, journalist, teacher etc in the field of science and technology".

Publications

Tamm has authored or co-authored various papers on subjects related to human genetics and gerontology, including the following:
According to the Web of Science, her publications have been cited 23 times, giving Tamm an h-index of 3.