AB-RMS PhD courses and symposium

We are pleased to welcome you to a scientific symposium and postgraduate course arranged in south-eastern Saimaa Lake district of Finland, in the town of St. Michel (Mikkeli). The conference venue is the Mikkeli University Consortium.

The aim is to highlight how the data gained via modern research in agrobiotechnology, including plant and microbial biotechnology, can be used to meet the challenges of climate change in agriculture and horticulture in the Baltic Sea region. Biotechnology-based solutions are foreseen in mitigation of negative impacts such as changes in soil microbiology, leakage of nutrients, and increasing pressure by plant diseases and insect pests. Biotechnology also provides possibilities to utilize those new opportunities which are created by the climate change.

Leading scientists of the respectively study fields and postgraduate students will present their latest data. Some applications are demonstrated in the field.

Registration has been closed on April 20, 2010 .

Only active participants giving an oral presentation or presenting a poster will be accepted. Students will be requested to present a poster on a topic related to their thesis studies.

Organisers will retain a possibility to make selection of participants should the number of those who have registered exceed the number of participants that can be hosted.

There is no registration fee. Travel costs will covered according to the lowest rate (economy class flights, etc).

The overall schedule of the course will be as follows:

	Morning	Afternoon	Evening
Monday, July 12		Arrival, registration, scientific program	Settling in, get-together
Tuesday, July 13	Scientific program	Scientific program	Reception
Wednesday, July 14	Field excursion	Scientific program	Evening free
Thursday, July 15	Scientific program	Scientific program	Cultural excursion
Friday, July 16	Scientific program	Scientific program	Social program
Saturday, July 17	Scientific program	Departure

Accommodation:

Single and double rooms will be available (Suomen nuoriso-opisto, at a walking distance from the railway and bus station). Ca. 10 rooms are available on Sunday night (July 11) for those who need to arrive before Monday. After the course, accommodation is available (at a very economical cost) for those who wish to stay an extra night until Sunday, July 18.

Additional information:

For information about the AB-RMS network and previous minisymposia and courses, see:
http://www.mm.helsinki.fi/mmsbl/english/research/Kpat/AB-RMS/index.htm

Mikkeli is easy to reach by train and express busses from Helsinki and St. Petersburg directions. Transportation by bus from and to Helsinki airport will be organised on Monday morning and Saturday afternoon, respectively, as needed.

Further information (click the link to move to the corresponding homepage):

Town of St. Michel (Mikkeli): www.mikkeli.fi
Region and its attractions: www.esavo.fi/region
Mikkeli University Consortium: http://www.hse.fi/EN/mikkeli/community/muc/
Helsinki airport: http://www.helsinki-vantaa.fi/home
Finnish Railway: http://www.vr.fi/eng/

Chairman of the organizing committee:

Academy professor Jari Valkonen
Department of Agricultural Sciences
PO Box 27 (Latokartanonkaari 7)
FI-00014 University of Helsinki, FINLAND
Tel: +358-40-7432 479
Fax: +358-9-1915 8727
e-mail: jari.valkonen [at] helsinki.fi

Co-organisers:

Prof. Ewa Lojkowska
University of Gdansk, Poland
e-mail: lojkowsk [at] biotech.ug.gda.pl

Prof. Andrzej Legocki
The Polish Academy of Science (PAS)
Warsaw, Poland
e-mail: Andrzej.Legocki [at] pan.pl

Prof. Igor Tikhonovich
The Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences (RAAS)
St. Petersburg, Russia
e-mail: contact [at] arriam.spb.ru

Past courses:

The First Baltic Sea Region SYMPOSIUM and postgraduate COURSE AGRO–BIOTECHNOLOGY FOCUSED on ROOT–MICROBE SYSTEMS 20-27 May, 2005, Kaunas , LITHUANIA

The Second Baltic Sea Region Symposium and Postgraduate Course ofAB-RMS: "Root Infection Biology: Pathogenic Interactions". February 25 - March 3, 2006. Hamburg, Germany.

The Third Baltic Sea Region Symposium and Postgraduate Course"Applied and fundamental aspects of responses, signalling and developmental process in the root-microbe systems" . June 25 - July 2, 2007. St. Petersburg, Russia.

The Fourth Baltic Sea Region Symposium and Postgraduate Course"Novel technologies for management of the beneficial and harmful microbes in the root system" . November 30 - December 5, 2008 Greve, Denmark.

More information on the past courses can be found from the old AB-RMS homepage