Last modified: March 2, 1999
The WFCC-MIRCEN World Data Centre for Microorganisms (WDCM) is pleased to invite you to participate in their symposium "Microbial Resources Centers in the 21st century: New Paradigms". 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 WFCC (World Federation for Culture Collections) and also a center in the UNESCO MIRCEN (Microbiological Resource Centers) network. 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 and their holdings.
The WDCM has also developed software packages for data management and
analysis of 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 Network of Microbial
Resources Centres (MIRCENs).
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 |
Contact points
Fax: +81-559-81-6896
E-mail: yfujisaw@genes.nig.ac.jp