WP6 LEADER: MICHAELA KRIŠTŮFKOVÁ

Objectives

Dissemination activities will be realized with the aims:

• To inform research community about R&D results achieved during project implementation,
• to inform farmers about benefits, risks and methods of GMO cultivation,
• to provide informational basis to policy makers on national and regional level,
• to inform public about the progress and achievements of MOBITAG project.

Description of work

• T 6.1: Project informative web page creation

  Web page outline was prepared already on March 15, 2009 by a small team (M. Krištůfková, J. Fišerová, P. Novotný) and approved at Kick-off meeting on March 20, 2009. The web was officially launched and made public on April 1, 2009 under the URL address www.bc.cas.cz/MOBITAG.html.

• T 6.2: Publication activities

  Publication activities include patenting, participation in conferences and publication outputs in journals and other printed forms. Publication outputs in international scientific journals are available at http://www.bc.cas.cz/en/MOBITAG.html?other-publications

  Two foreign patent applications were supported by MOBITAG:

  • PCT/IB2010/000880 „NATURAL BIODEGRADABLE ADHESIVE FROM THE SILK“ is based on czech patent 302255.
  • Application No. 2009768811 “Ferritin 2 for the host immunization against ticks” (derived from PCT/CZ2009/000085 and submitted to EPO on 24.1.2011) is based on the Czech patent 302541.

  At national level, there was submitted:

  • The utility design “Appliance for insect extraction from substrates, especially from the organic ones” (submitted on 29.8.2011, registration No. PUV 2011-24770)

  The chart bellow summarizes participations at international meetings since the project beginning including conferences to be attended in future. All participants and their lecture or poster titles are as well included in the overview.

  Year 2009 - Participation at scientific meetings

  name	when	conference attended (place, country)
  Prof. Dr. F. Sehnal Prof. Dr. J. Špak	7. 4.	Research Connections 2009 (Prague, Czech Republic)
  Dr. O. Habuštová	14. 5. - 16. 5.	4th Meeting on Ecological Impact of Genetically Modified Organisms (Rostock, Germany) Poster: Effects of Bacillus thuringiensis Cry3Aa toxin and Galanthus nivalis agglutinin on the efficacy of entomopathogenic nematode Steinernema feltia in the tests with Spodoptera littoralis caterpillars
  Prof. Dr. F. Marec	23. 8. - 29. 8.	The Eighth International Workshop on Molecular Biology and Genetics of Lepidoptera (Kolympari, Greece) Oral presentation: Tracking Sex Chromosome Evolution in Lepidoptera
  Dr. J. Stehlík	1. 9. - 4. 9.	8th International Symposium in the Series „Recent Advances in Plant Biotechnology: New Developments in Green Gene Technology“ (Szeged, Hungary) Poster: Cloning and tissue specificity of promoters regulating expression of crucial factors involved in biosynthesis of medicinal compounds in hop Poster: Hop stunt viroid causes disbalance in the expression of putative transcription factors involved in the biosynthesis of hop medicinal secondary metabolites

  Year 2010 - Participation at scientific meetings

  name	when	conference attended (place, country)
  V. Zázvorková	15. 3. - 17. 3.	Week of Innovative regions in Europe 2010 (Granada, Spain) Poster: Impact of a successful RegPot project on the convergence region
  Dr. R. Sidorov	7. 4. - 11. 4.	51st Annual Drosophila Research Conference (Washington, USA) Poster: The mutation in the adenosine receptor gene influences cell survival in mosaic clones
  Dr. D. Kodrík	31. 8. - 4. 9.	25th Conference of the European Comparative Endocrinologists (Pécs, Hungary) Adipokinetic peptides increase effectivity of insecticides.
  Dr. K. Petrzik	5. 9. - 7. 9.	International Advances in Plant Virology (Arnhem, Netherlands) Poster: Molecular detection of rhabdoviruses in new hosts.

  Year 2011 - Participation at scientific meetings

  name	when	conference attended (place, country)
  Dr. R. Frydrychová	12. 6. - 18. 6.	52nd Annual Drosophila Research Conference (Gubbio, Italy) Oral presentation: TAS deficiency disrupts telomere-telomere associations
  Dr. M. Žurovec	27. 7. - 29. 7.	„Silk: Is it all spin?“, New York Academy of Sciences Oral presentation: Targeted Mutagenesis in Bombyx Mori
  Dr. O. Lenz	12. 9. - 16. 9.	Second IPWG (nternational Phytoplasmologist Working Group) Meeting (Neustadt, Germany) Oral presentation: Discriminating 16Sr groups of phytoplasmas by an oligonucleotide microarray targeting 16S-23S spacer region
  Dr. V. Zabelina	28. 9. - 1. 10.	European Biotechnology Congress 2011, Istanbul, Turkey Poster: Technology of silkworm cloning

• T 6.3: Information for general public

• T 6.5: Information for policy-makers

• T 6.6: Environmentally oriented non-governmental organizations (NGOs)

  This work package is created by many various activities and individual tasks are strongly related among themselves and cannot be fully separated. Activities from T 6.2 are partly filling function of T 6.3 and T 6.5 and there are also other multiple ties and mutual relations fulfilling the aim of WP6 - serving altogether to dissemination and promotion. T 6.6 is also linked very tightly with all tasks mentioned above.

  The main outputs are:

  • The publication “White Book: Genetically Modified Crops“ (prepared in frame of T 6.3) was released 29. 5. 2009 and summarizes Czech experience with genetically modified crops. The book was distributed to all important Czech politicians and respective departments (including Prime minister, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Environment etc.), to the appropriate members of European Parliament, to appropriate members of Czech Parliament, to President of the Agrarian Chamber and other Czech and foreign institutions as well as to the schools or regional deputies. White Book was also provided to EFSA as a scientific opinion to be considered in proposing revisions of the EU legislation on GM crops.
  • Participation at various seminars (some of them organized directly by BCAS), where information is presented to public, policy makers and NGOs.

    Overview of seminars

    • Participation of prof. Dr. F. Sehnal and prof. Dr. J.Špak at the Conference Research Connections 2009 in May 2009 in Prague (MOBITAG project introduced first time to broader public)
    • Seminar during the traditional agricultural fair “Země živitelka” in České Budějovice on 1st September 2009
    • Two press conferences were arranged in České Budějovice and in Prague to assure that information on newly released White book will be widely spread.
    • "Scientific conference for the students working with genetically modified organisms" and seminar "GM myths and legends" for general public with emphasis on NGO´s on April 8-9, 2010 in Brno (spreading information arising from work done by MOBITAG members related to the topic GMO safety)
    • Participation of prof. Dr. F. Sehnal at public assembly called “News in the area of genetic modifications” on April 22, 2011 in Prague where prof. Sehnal also delivered a lecture „Genetic modifications of insect“.
    • Press conference “Genetically modified crops: Threat or opportunity?“ organized on October 12, 2011 at the time of maize harvest as a cross-sectional activity providing agriculture related information to multiple target groups.
    • Participation of Dr. O. Habuštová at meeting of Czech Committee for GMO and GM products on February 28, 2012 in Prague where Dr. Habuštová delivered a lecture „Results of field trials focused on determination of Bt corn influence on non-terget organisms“.

  All activities mentioned substantially contributed to public apprehension of agriculture and land in general and to public comprehension of the benefits and risks of modern technologies.

• T 6.4: Instruction film

  About 20 minutes long instruction film on the ecological impact of GM maize was prepared in Czech and English versions. It has been finished at the end of 2010. DVDs with finished film were sent to EU laboratories working with GM crops and provided for free to the high schools, state authorities, Agrarian Chambers, NGOs, and other interested parties. Various occasions were used to disseminate the film, thus it was distributed also on conferences, seminars and workshops organized in BCAS or during the educational fair Gaudeamus in Brno and Prague. English mutation was presented at international meetings abroad and is available here.