III Course on Hybridization and DNA Microarray Analysis

CIAT's Agrobiodiversity and Biotechnology Project will host the III National Course on Hybridization and DNA Microarray Analysis from 7 to 9 May 2008.

The course will be offered free to researchers, professors, last-year undergraduate students, and postgraduate students and will consist of a series of lectures on the principles of microarrangement technology as well as lab sessions during which each participant will perform the hybrization of his/her own microarray and analyze the resulting data.

The Agrobiodiversity and Biotechnology Project will cover the costs of transportation hotel-CIAT-hotel, lunches, and snacks. Each participant must cover the transportation costs from and to his/her city of origin as well as housing during the course.

Those interested in attending the course should send their curriculum vitae and a 400-word essay indicating their research interests and the potential impact that this course could have on their research activities. Documents should be send to: microarreglos.ciat@gmail.com

The deadline to receive applications is 31 March.

Agrobiodiversity and Biotechnology Project participated actively in REDBIO 2007-Chile

Researchers of CIAT's Agrobiodiversity and Biotechnology Project participated actively in the VI Latin American Meeting on Agricultural Biotechnology "REDBIO 2007-Chile", held in Viña del Mar, from 22 to 26 October.

CIAT experts prepared posters and presentations and gave magisterial conferences that addressed topics such as genomics; molecular marker-assisted selection (MAS) in breeding; tolerance to abiotic and biotic stresses; exploration, characterization, and sustainable use of biodiversity; bioinformatics, analysis of public perception and regulatory frameworks, and education in biotechnology, among others.

The International REDBIO Foundation gathers more than 2,300 researchers from 32 countries, leads several activities related to research and capacity building of human resources, and provides technical assistance to governments in topics related to agricultural biotechnology. The Foundation works in close collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The event aimed to:

• Promote the sharing of knowledge, technologies, and biological materials among public and private institutions and organizations of countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, especially Chile.
  
• Promote the teaching, study, and conservation of the region's biodiversity.
  
• Support the development of R&D projects in biotechnology between national and regional institutes, laboratories, and companies with their homologues worldwide.
  
• Sponsor the technical training and capacity building of human resources at all levels in topics related to plant and animal biotechnology.
  
• Advise governments and regional and international organizations to consolidate development strategies in plant and animal biotechnology.
  
• Promote national and regional biotechnology development policies for the productive and agroindustrial sectors.
  
• Advance the safe use of applied biotechnology in national production sectors.
  

Agenda of REDBIO 2007-Chile.

List of posters presented by CIAT researchers.

Seminars to Support the Forthcoming MolConnect Workshop

Researchers of CIAT's Agrobiodiversity and Biotechnology Project offered a series of seminars at the international workshop "Bridging Genomics and Biodiversity", organized by the Universidad Nacional de Colombia and Germany's University of Potsdam.

The workshop was held in Bogotá, Colombia, from 4 to 6 September and formed part of the activities of the MolConnect Initiative, which seeks to establish a communication and information platform at the interface between functional genomics research and biodiversity and ecology research for the subsequent development of joint projects.

The seminars offered by CIAT staff dealt with the understanding of basic concepts and the case analysis of past or ongoing research projects at the Center.

Contact: Gerardo Gallego

Download the schedule of the seminars (in English) (in Spanish)

For more information, visit the MolConnect Web site

Rice Technical Working Group

The Rice Tecnical Working Group meets at least biennially and provides the time and location for the continuous exchange of information among rice scientists, extension personnel, rice growers, representatives of the rice industry, and users of rice products. Since 1960, research scientists and administrators from the U.S. rice industry and representatives from each the five major rice-growing states (Arkansas, California, Louisiana, Mississipi, Texas), and from international agencies and advanced labs, international centres and national rice programs from around the work have participated in the biennial meetings. This exchange of information and experiences has been beneficial to all concerned. This meeting is organized around thematic areas including breeding and genetics, economics and marketing, plant protection, processing, storage and quality, rice weed control and growth regulation. There are also plenary and poster sessions.This year the 31st Rice Technical Working Group Meeting was held in The Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel, The Woodlans, Texas from February 26-March 1, 2006. and was hosted by Texas A&M University.

See poster (241 kb)

Contact: César Martínez

Biotechnology Workshop for High School Students

During 31 March and 1 April of this year, a workshop on biotechnology was held at CIAT. Unlike the usual biotechnology workshop, this one was attended by more than 100 adolescents in their last year of public secondary schooling in Cali. Moreover, it was the first workshop of its kind to be held at the Center.

Dr. Willy Roca, now at CIP and who had established CIAT’s biotechnology group, was very moved to see the students tour the laboratories and discover their interest in many subjects. “I know of the advances in biotechnology being made in principal research centers and I can assure you that CIAT is in the vanguard. For me, it is therefore very important that school children come to this type of event”, Dr Roca said. "Perhaps if this had been done 10 years ago, then progress would have been much greater and we would have had many more professionals in this area”, he added.

This meeting is part of the biotechnology dissemination project among high school students, led by the Biotechnology Research Unit and the Auxiliary Center for Teaching Services of Cali. The project began last year with the launching of the CD entitled Biotechnology in the Classroom.

See CIAT launches an educational tool that brings science closer to the classroom

See the Photo Gallery

Contact: Roosevelt Escobar y/o Claudia Stella Zúñiga
CIAT, Phone: +57 (2) 4450055

• Effect of cooking methods on the bioefficacy of ß-CAROTENE-RICH SWEET POTATO
  Download (170 KB)
• Zinc bioavailability in HIGH-ZINC WHEAT
  Download (141 KB)
• Measuring PLANT FERRITIN levels
  Download (140 KB)

For more information, visit the Harvest Plus Web site

Congress on Biotechnology held in Bogotá
1-2 September 2004

The II Colombian Congress on Biotechnology was held in The Camara de Comercio and Universidad Nacional, Bogotá, from 1 to 3 September 2004. CIAT's Agrobiodiversity and Biotechnology Project participated in the agricultural session of the Congress, giving 4 oral presentations and presenting 14 posters. CIAT also participated in the Pre-Congress event, giving 13 lectures on issues related to genomics and transgenic organisms. The Pre-Congress was open to the general public and more than 500 people attended. CIAT received the following distinctions:

1. Outstanding Presentation in the agricultural session, awarded to Mauricio Soto, Camilo López, Silvia Restrepo, Benoit Piegu, Richard Cooke, Michel Delseny, Joe Tohme, Valerie Verdier; for their presentation on "Microarray analysis of global gene expression during the interaction cassava—Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. manihotis"
2. First Award for best poster, awarded to Rosa González-Torres, Eliana Gaitán, Myriam Cristina Duque, Orlando Toro, Joe Tohme, Daniel Debouck; for the poster "Analyzing gene flow in common bean using molecular markers".
3. Second Award for best poster, awarded to Eliana González, Luisa Fory, Rosana Pineda, Juan José Vásquez, Edgar Corredor, Myriam Cristina Duque, James Silva, Zaida Lentini; for the poster " Caracterización de la Diversidad Genética, Morfológica y Fenológica de Cuatro Poblaciones de Arroz Maleza Colectadas en las Regiones de Huila y Tolima".
   

See the list of abstracts

Reference Book on Biotechnology Now On-line

The book Cultivo de Tejidos en la Agricultura: Fundamentos y Aplicaciones, is now on line. The book, available only in Spanish, is considered one of the most complete and advanced works on biotechnology published in Spanish in Latin America (40 chapters, glossary, and several appendixes).

Since 1985, technical editors William M. Roca and Luis A. Mrogisnski have been compiling the contributions of almost 50 specialists from three continents.

The first 10 chapters describe the principal elements of a plant tissue culture program, covering the establishment of the laboratory and the selection of the culture media through the refined techniques of cell suspension, protoplast culture and hybridization, identification of hybrids using isoenzymes, and biochemical and molecular markers.

The 30 remaining chapters describe the application of tissue culture techniques in numerous agriculturally important species. The book was designed as avant-garde text and reference tool. The 1993 edition is sold out.

Download the book

Cassava Biotechnology Workshop

The Sixth International Scientific Meeting of the Cassava Biotechnology Network (CBN) was held on 8-14 March 2004 at CIAT headquarters in Cali. Participants examined ways in which biotechnology can add value to cassava, for example, by aiding production of disease-free planting material of improved varieties.

Among the topics covered were the role of cassava farmers, processors, and consumers in research planning; cassava and human nutrition; genetic transformation and other options for cassava improvement; and biosafety. Grown mainly by small farmers, cassava is vital to the food security and livelihoods of some 500 million people across the tropics.

Download the abstracts (1000 kb)

For more information, visit the event's Web site.

More News