FEBS Course: Recombinant DNA Technology
septembrie 2, 2001 - septembrie 7, 2001
FEBS Advanced Theoretical and Practical Course:
RECOMBINANT DNA TECHNOLOGY
September 2-7, 2001
Bucharest, Romania
Accomodation & Registration
The participants will be accommodated in double rooms at the Academica Hotel, which is situated in the Center of Bucharest, near the Law Faculty and the Opera House. Registration will take place at the Hotel, in the evening of 1st September, between 5 and 10 pm.
How to reach the Hotel:
From the Otopeni International Airport
The shuttle bus # 783 links the airport with the Center of Bucharest. A card for 2 trips costs 20,000 lei and you can buy it from the driver. You have to get off the bus at the “Universitatii” Station (University Station) and change with one of the trolleys # 69 or 90 or bus # 336. A ticket for one trip with the trolley or the bus costs 5,000 lei and you can buy it from the yellow boxes marked RATB in the stations. You have to get off the trolley or bus at “Facultatea de Drept” Station (Law Faculty Station). The Hotel is right in front of the station, at the end of a short alley.
You can go directly from the Airport to the Hotel by taxi. We strongly advise you to take a yellow taxi belonging to one of the taxi companies: “Cobalcescu”, “Alfa” or “Meridian”. The trip will cost you about 250,000 lei.
From the main railway station “Gara de Nord” ( Northern Railway Station)
You have to take either the bus # 123 or the subway. You can take the bus from the front of the Railway Station. A ticket for one trip with the bus costs 5,000 lei and you can buy it from the yellow boxes marked RATB in the stations. You have to get off at the “Medicina Veterinara” Station (Veterinary Medicine Faculty Station) and cross by foot the Opera Bridge across the Dambovita River. At the other end of the bridge you will see the bus station “Facultatea de Drept” (Law Faculty Station). The Hotel is right in front of the station, at the end of a short alley.
The subway station (Metro – sign “M”) can be easily reached within the Railway Station, by means of descending stairs. A card for 2 trips costs 10,000 lei and you can buy it from the subway station. You have to take the train in direction “Republica” and get off at the “Eroilor” Station (Station of Heroes). You have to leave the station through the “Piata Operei” (Opera Square) exit and cross by foot the Opera Bridge across the Dambovita River and pass the Opera Building. You will see the bus station “Facultatea de Drept” (Law Faculty Station). The Hotel is right in front of the station, at the end of a short alley.
You can go directly from the Railway Station to the Hotel by taxi. We strongly advise you to take a yellow taxi belonging to one of the taxi companies: “Cobalcescu”, “Alfa” or “Meridian”. The trip will cost you about 75,000 lei.
Location of the course:
Institute of Biochemistry of the Romanian Academy, Bucharest, Romania.
The Institute has the necessary laboratory space, equipment and special halls for seminars and lectures. A nice garden surrounding the institute building could be used for walking and social events, eventually.
Participants
Invited lecturers:
Dr. Hans Lenstra, Institute of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Utrecht University, The Netherlands:
Lecture title: “A Decade of Revolution in Molecular Genetics, 1990-2000“
Professor Ami Aronheim, Dept. Molecular Genetics and the Rappaport Family Institute, Faculty of Medicine, Haifa, Israel
Lecture title: “Protein Recruitment Systems for the Analysis of Protein-Protein Interactions“
Dr. Panagiotis Deloukas, Dept. of Human Genetics, The Sanger Centre, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Cambridge, UK
Lecture title: “Towards a Finished Reference Sequence of the Human Genome“
Professor Ralph Dornburg, The Dorrance H. Hamilton Laboratories, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, USA
Lecture title: “Retroviral Vectors in Human Gene Therapy“
Tutors:
Dr. Gabriela Anton, Institute of Virology, Bucharest
Dr. Norica Nichita, Institute of Biochemistry of the Romanian Academy, Bucharest
Dr. Adrian Onu, Cantacuzino Institute, Bucharest
Dr. Dan Otelea, Cantacuzino Institute, Bucharest
Prof. Octavian Popescu, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca
Dr. Rodica Repanovici, Institute of Virology, Bucharest
Dr. Stefan Szedlacsek, Institute of Biochemistry of the Romanian Academy, Bucharest
Students:
20 participants have been finally accepted, of which 13 from abroad are supported by Youth TravelFunds (YTF).
5 Romanian students are partially supported by The Romanian Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.
Most of the participants are Ph.D. students.
Organizing committee:
Aim of the course:
The aim of this course is to help the young biochemists to acquire the basic skills in manipulating DNA, building recombinant DNA and expressing recombinant proteins in the prokaryotic system. This course is intended to offer to participants an introduction to the state-of-the-art techniques in molecular biology.
Final Scientific Programme:
Day 1, Sunday September 2
09.00
Welcome
Introduction to the course
09.30
Tutorials
“Techniques of DNA and RNA isolation” Dr. Gabriela Anton
“DNA electrophoresis” Dr. Dan Otelea
“Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)” Dr. Rodica Repanovici
“Reverse transcription and cDNA libraries” Dr. Gabriela Anton
13.00
Lunch
14.30
Experiments
-Purification of total RNA from B16 cells
-Obtaining cDNA from total RNA using reverse transcription
19.00
Invited lecturer:
Professor Hans Lenstra:
“A decade of revolution in molecular genetics, 1990-2000“
Day 2, Monday September 3
09.00
Tutorials
“Southern and Northern blotting” Dr. Rodica Repanovici
09.30
Experiments
-Southern blot
-RT-PCR (one step)
13.00
Lunch
14.30
Tutorials
“Restriction” Dr. Dan Otelea
15.30
Experiments
-Southern blot (cont.)
-Gel extraction of RT-PCR product
-Hybridization (over night) of Southern blot membrane with DIG-labeled probe
19.00
Invited lecturer:
Prof. Ami Aronheim
“Protein recruitment systems for the analysis of protein-protein interactions”
Day 3, Tuesday September 4
09.00
Tutorials
“DNA ligation” Dr. Norica Nichita
“DNA transformation” Dr. Norica Nichita
10.00
Experiments
-Plasmid purification
-DNA Gel electrophoresis for visualization of RT-PCR product and purified plasmid
-Digestion with restriction enzymes of both RT-PCR product and cloning vector
13.00
Lunch
14.30
Tutorials
“Vectors” Dr. Adrian Onu
15.30
Experiments
-Gel extraction of digested DNA
-DNA Gel electrophoresis
-Ligation (over night 16ºC)
19.00
Invited lecturer:
Professor Ralph Dornburg
“Retroviral vectors in Human Gene Therapy”
Day 4, Wednesday September 5
09.00
Tutorials
“Site-directed mutagenesis” Dr. Adrian Onu
10.00
Experiments
-Transformation by electroporation of ligation product
-Plating out of transformed E.coli
11.30
Tutorials
“DNA sequencing” Professor Octavian Popescu
13.00
Lunch
16.00
Social Event
Day 5, Thursday September 6
09.00
Tutorials
“Exercises on DNA chemistry” Professor Octavian Popescu
10.00
Experiments
-Counting of colony
-Screening by PCR
13.00
Lunch
14.30
Tutorials
“Bioinformatics I” Dr. Stefan Szedlacsek
15.30
Experiments
-Gel electrophoresis for visualization of positive clones
-Overnight culture of positive clones
19.00
Invited lecturer:
Prof. Panagiotis Deloukas
“Towards a finished reference sequence of the human genome”
Day 6, Friday September 7
09.00
Experiments
-Purification of recombinant plasmid
-Visualization of recombinant plasmid in agarose gel
10.30
Discussions with tutors
13.00
Lunch
14.30
Tutorials
“Bioinformatics II” Dr. Stefan Szedlacsek
18.30
Final evaluation, closure
Useful tips
The weatherin Bucharest in September is generally sunny, temperature ranging 15-25 degrees Celsius. However do not forget to take your umbrella, it might be useful.
If you are a student, don’t forget to take your student card(preferably an international student card) with you. You will find that in Romania, students pay smaller prices for some services (e.g. to visit museums).
National currencyof Romania is LEI. The exchange rate is approximately:
1 USD = 30,000 lei
1 Euro = 27,500 lei
1 DEM = 14,000 lei
There are many exchange officesin Bucharest. On the Airport and in the Railway Station you can also find them, but we advice you to avoid exchanging your money in these two places because the exchange rates are unfavorable as compared to other exchange offices in the city.
Romanians are generally considered by foreigners as friendly and ready to help people coming from abroad. So don’t hesitate to ask people’s help whenever you need assistance. Especially the young people can speak English.
Contact
Once in Bucharest, don’t hesitate to contact us if you need any help.
Institute of Biochemistry:
Splaiul Independentei, 296
Phone: 223 90 69
223 90 68
Hotel Academica:
Bd. Regina Elisabeta 34-44
Phone: 310.42.69
Mobile phones:
Vlad Pena
Lucian Moldovan
094 22 31 89
093 98 26 48
Last update: August, 21, 2001
None found
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