The NIBB Laboratory Course and Workshops for Physcomitrella patens 2009

Report
Ever since the first NIBB International Practical Course, held in 2007, NIBB has continued to provide young scientists from around the world with opportunities to practice cutting-edge skills and to spend valuable time learning from experts in the field. For twenty years prior to 2007 NIBB held Bioscience Training Courses to offer these same opportunities, however they were attended mostly by the students of universities and institutes in Japan. The International Practical Course program was initiated to bring these goals to the world stage and offer the opportunities available at the Bioscience Training Courses to future researchers without regard to nationality. The Fourth International Practical Course was held from June 29th to July 3rd, 2009, focusing on techniques used in the biology of the moss Physcomitrella patens, an important model organism in plant biology.

Seventeen students participated in the course, from Japan, Israel, Germany, Belgium, The Czech Republic, France, Sweden, Singapore, and India. They worked on learning new techniques and capitalized on the many chances to enjoy discussions with established researchers throughout the five days of the course.

The course provided basic techniques including cultivation, observation of developmental processes at the cellular level, gene targeting, bioimaging, and bioinformatics. The course was taught, with the help of laboratory technicians, by Drs. Andrew C. Cuming (Univ. Leeds), Yasuko Kamisugi (Univ. Leeds), Tomoaki Nishiyama (Kanazawa Univ.), Tetsuya Kurata (JST), Yoshikatsu Sato (JST), Yuji Hiwatashi (NIBB), Minoru Kubo (JST), Takashi Murata (NIBB), Mitsuyasu Hasebe (NIBB). In-addition many postdoctoral fellows working at NIBB introduced the research they are perusing using P. patens and shared detailed research procedures with the participants.

The laboratories used were provided by NIBB and equipped with the necessary instruments and tools as well as a good supply of material moss. We hope that the techniques and knowledge provided in this course will prove useful in the future work of all of the participants.