WP5 LEADER: OXANA HABUŠTOVÁ

Objectives

To upgrade research skills of BCAS scientists by the exchange of knowledge and exposure of the research results to the criticism by peers.

Description of work

Two types of meetings on the biotechnologies for agriculture will be organised at the regional and at the international level, respectively:

• T 5.1: Half-day seminars

  Seminars on the advance of agricultural biotechnologies are organized regularly (4 times per year). All staff of BCAS and the students of adjacent University of South Bohemia are always invited to participate. Seminar lectures are delivered by eminent foreign experts as well as key Czech officials. Overview of seminars that have already been carried out or are planned for the future is summarized in the chart bellow.

  date	lecturer / seminar title	number of participants
  23.4.2009	Prof. Dr. Gerhard Steger Bioinformatics and analysis of viroids	N/A
  12.5.2009	Prof. Dr. Angharad Gatehouse The Role of Biotechnology in Crop Protection - Towards Sustainability	23
  21.5.2009	Dr. Hari C. Sharma Bio-safety of Transgenic Crops to Non-target Organisms in the Environment	17
  18.6.2009	Dr. Mauro Mandrioli Unravelling the Wolbachia evolutionary role: the reprogramming of the host genomic imprinting	N/A
  6.10.2009	Ing. Ivan Branžovský, CSc. Current Status of the Czech Agriculture	22
  10.11.2009	Ing. Karel Bláha, CSc. Czech Legislative Framework on Genetically Modified Organisms	15
  4.3.2010	Ing. Naďa Koníčková Procedures for formulation of the calls and evaluation of project proposals to FP7	21
  15.4.2010	Prof. Dr. Detlev Riesner Prions: Infectious molecules with impact to Science and Economy	37
  20.5.2010	Prof. Dr. Denis De Keukeleire Advances in the Application of Medicinal Hops	23
  12.1.2011	Prof. Dr. Hugh Loxdale Generalism as an ecological force in nature with special reference to insects. Is it a myth?	36
  27.1.2011	Prof. Dr. Andreas Vilcinskas Insect Biotechnology in Germany	26
  31.3.2011	prof. Ing. Josef Soukup, CSc. Current methods of weeds regulation from the view of agroecosystem sustainability	25
  28.4.2011	RNDr. Jiří Hejnar, CSc. Prospects and Challenges of Retroviral Vectors	18
  11.7.2011	Dr. Gerd Gade The importance of small peptide hormones for regulation of energy metabolism in insects	20
  21.9.2011	Dr. Arne Heyerick et al. Seminar block: Modification and in planta production of bifunctional nucleases and analysis of their anticancerogenic and biological activities; Recent results, new prospects of experimental work and new perspectives of collaboration. Lecture: Reliable Cancer Therapies – Gap Funding for Clinical Research.	17
  27.9.2011	Dr. Johannes Jehle Biological control of codling moth using baculoviruses	17
  13.10.2011	RNDr. Jaroslava Ovesná, CSc. Genetically modified organisms in the mirror of contemporary science and legislation	20

• T 5.2: International meetings organised by BCAS

  As part of the project it was envisaged to organise 2 international meetings. The meetings should provide platforms for the presentation of MOBITAG results and enable their exposure to criticism by the international scientific community. Information exchange at the meetings contributes to the built-up of ERA.

  In May 2009, preparatory activities for the international meeting “Invertebrate reproduction and development in the age of genetically modified organisms“ began. The meeting was finally organized by BCAS and held in the conference center „Krystal“ in Prague on August 16-20, 2010.

  “International Conference on Invertebrate Reproduction and Development in the Age of Genetic Modifications” (ICIRD 2010) was organized by the Biology Centre of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic in frame of WP 5, T 5.2. According to the project schedule, 1st international meeting should have been accomplished in project month 24. However, ICIRD 2010 was realized earlier, in fact just before the end of first reporting period and was of a big success. Event took place in Prague from 16th August to 20th August 2010. Few persons cancelled their attendance shortly before conference beginning, nevertheless final number of conference participants reached 119 scientists plus 30 accompanying persons. Conference attendants arrived from 24 countries across all over the world (Germany, Israel, Japan, Mexico, Sweden, South Africa etc.). The conference was thematically structured into 7 sessions to cover broader scientific area. Detailed information on ICIRD 2010 is available on the conference webpage.

  For 2011, organization of a meeting on GMOs in Integrated Plant Production was planned. First steps concerning organization were taken in February 2011. Event 5^th EIGMO meeting was held on June 22-25, 2011 in České Budějovice (Czech Republic) as a joint undertaking with the Working Group on Ecological Impact of Genetically Modified Organisms (EIGMO) of IOBC (International Organization for Biological Control of Noxious Animals and Plants – see http://www.iobc-wprs.org/). The event aimed at various aspects of genetically modified organisms and participants appreciated that the event except for its scientific assets created suitable conditions for networking, sharing new ideas and searching solutions to the contemporal agricultural problems. More details are available in section “seminar, workshops and conferences” as well as on the conference webpage.

• Other activities

  BCAS also succeeded in other activities, one of which was related to the BioPlex instrument bought during the 1st reporting period. A methodological workshop “Luminex´s xMAP multiplexing technology for detection of biological markers“ was organized on February 2, 2012 as an opportunity for meeting of all users of this modern analytical technology in the Czech Republic. The seminar disclosed ways for more efficient exploitation of instrument serving for multiplex analysis and detection of several different plant pathogens, genes, or gene products at once.

  The other meeting organized shortly before MOBITAG termination (February 9-10, 2012) concerned preparation of a proposal for the ITN Marie Curie program. The idea was based on deepened cooperation with Hungarian partners developed in frame of WP2. The goal was to enable meeting of interested parties and decisions on pertinent questions related to project proposal concerning G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) as education of more scientists in this research area would be beneficial for ERA. Meeting of 14 experts from eight european countries led to to the selection of coordinator and discussion on project outlines and goals.