[WDCM]symposium in Feb 16, 1999

[SUGAWARA Hideaki]

Dear TAXAXCOM members,

The WFCC-MIRCEN World Data Centre for Microorganisms (WDCM) will organize
an international symposium on the microbial resources centers on Feburary 16ht,
1999. I post the announcement in the following and waiting for your active
participation.

Sincerely yours,
Hideaki SUGAWARA
Director
WDCM
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                        WDCM symposium
   Microbial Resources Centers in the 21st century: New Paradigms
                   Kudankaikan, Tokyo, Japan
                      February 16th, 1999
                   (as of  October 1st, 1998)


Organized by:   WFCC-MIRCEN World Data Centre for Microorganisms (WDCM)

Sponsors:       Inoue Foundation for Science
                Kato Memorial Bioscience Foundation
                The Naitou Foundation

Endorsed by:    Asia-Pacific Bioinformatics Network (APBioNet)
                Japan Society for Culture Collections (JSCC)
                Japan Society for Information & Knowledge (JSIK)
                MESSC National Institute of Genetics, Center for
Information Biology

Supported by:   United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
                Science and Technology Agency, Japan
                Ministry of International Trade and Industry, Japan
                Human Science Foundation of Japan

Organizing Committee

Dr. Jan De Brabandere (Belgium)
Dr. Raymond H. Cypess (United States)
Dr. Alan Doyle (United Kingdom)
Dr. Dirk van der Mei (The Netherlands)
Dr. Erko Stackebrandt (Germany)
Prof. Hideaki Sugawara (Chair, Japan)
Dr. Makoto Watanabe (Japan)

Introduction

The WFCC-MIRCEN World Data Centre for Microorganisms (WDCM) is pleased to
invite you to participate in their symposium  $B%a (JMicrobial Resources Centers in
the 21st century: New Paradigms $B%b (J. Based on the presentations of its
international  participants, the symposium will develop a world-wide vision
for culture collections in this age of genomics and biodiversity.

The WDCM is a component of the World Federation for Culture Collections
(WFCC) and also a center in the UNESCO Network of  Microbial Resources
Centers (MIRCEN). The Centre was founded at the University of Queensland,
Australia in the 1960s and is now hosted by the National Institute of
Genetics, Japan with its website, at http://wdcm.nig.ac.jp/, providing
on-line databases on culture collections/their holdings and a search engine
named AHMII for distributed databases on the Internet.

The WDCM has also developed software $B!! (Jpackages for data management and
analysis for microbial data and welcomed some trainees in the field of
bioinformatics. This international symposium is a new aspect of the WDCM
activities, which are also within the framework of the UNESCO MIRCEN.

Major topics

The symposium will be mainly structured around different institutional
presentations. However, the following major topics will be discussed:

Research and development: linkage with academia, linkage with industry,
systematics, rapid identification procedures, databases/informatics,
capacity building

Scope of holdings: effects of genome projects and biodiversity projects,
unculturable strains, evaluation of genomics, symbiotic species,
micro-arrays/chip technology

Quality control: quality assurance and management, standardization of
methodology, standardization and minimum requirements of data, ISO series
requirements

International coordination: mechanism for institutional networking, computer
networking, redundancy, load-balance and safe deposit, postal, quarantine
and safety regulations

Program
(The timetable and the titles may be slightly changed)

Opening (9:10 - 9:20)  Professor Hideaki Sugawara $B!J (JDirector, WDCM)
Session I       Chair: Dr. David Smith
  9:20 - 9:50   Summary of Collections in Japan and Asia, Professor
Kazuo Komagata
Session II      Chair: Dr. Erko Stackebrandt
10:00 - 10:30   ATCC: a Self-supporting Collection , Dr. Raymond H. Cypess
10:30 - 11:00   NRRL, a Government Supported Culture Collection, Dr. Cletus
P. Kurtzman
(11:00 - 11:30  Break)
Session III     Chair: Dr. Jennie C. Hunter-Cevera
11:30 - 12:00   DSMZ: a Collection Supported by the Government, Dr.
Erko Stackebrandt
12:00 - 12:30   Impact of Genomics to Taxonomy, Professor Takashi Gojobori
(12:30 - 13:30  Lunch)
Session IV      Chair: Professor Hideaki Sugawara
13:30 - 14:00   Aims at a Center of Excellence on Taxonomy, Dr. Dirk van
der Mei
14:00 - 14:30   BCCM: a network of publicly financed
not-for-profit collections, Dr. Jan Brabandere
(14:30 - 15:00  Break)
Session V       Chair: Dr. Makoto Watanabe
15:00 - 15:30   The New Arrangement to Coordinate UK Collections and the
CABRI Project,
        Dr. Alan Doyle
15:30 - 16:00   IMI: an International Organization, Dr. David Smith
(16:00 - 16:30  Break)
Summary and recommendations  (16:30 - 17:30)  Chair: Dr. Lindsay Sly
Get-together  (18:00-20:00)

Contact points

URL address:    http://wdcm.nig.ac.jp/prog.html
E-mail address: yfujisaw at genes.nig.ac.jp
FAX:            +81-(0)559-81-6896
//