[Previous Newsletters can be found on the 'ARCHIVE' page of this website]
SLTB Newsletter
Welcome to the 1st newsletter of the Two thousand tens (as they will apparently be known) and Happy New Year to you all!
More than 80 scientists from 15
countries participated in the meeting held in Hannover, 7th – 9th September
2009, which was organised by the Institute of Multiphase Processes of the
Leibniz University Hannover in collaboration with the Leibniz Institute of
Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK) Gatersleben. The meetings focus
was on "Application of Cryopreservation from Human Tissue Engineering to
Plant genebank Integration" with many oral and poster contributions from
REBIRTH research groups Biomedical Process Technology and Biothermodynamics.
Ralf Spindlers contribution (JRG Biothermodynamics) "Interaction of
dimethyl sulfoxide and ethylene glycol with cells during freezing" was
awarded with the prize for the best oral presentation. The poster of Inga
Bernemann (JRG Biothermodynamics) and Navid Manuchehrabadi (collaborative
project with Prof. John Bischof / USA) "Dimethyl sulfoxide diffusion in
tissue-engineered collagen scaffolds visualized by computer tomography"
obtained the Best Poster Award. Wim Wolkers (Biomedical Process Technology)
presentation about "Membrane phase behavior of mammalian cells:
implications for biopreservation" as well as Thomas Müllers (SU Embryonic
Stem Cells) talk about "Cryoconservation in stem cell research: an
underestimated area in translational medicine" could initiate very excited
discussions. The last part of the meeting was dedicated to plant
cryopreservation. It was introduced by an interesting keynote lecture by Dirk
Hincha (Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Potsdam-Golm, Germany)
about the role of LEA proteins on membrane stability in regard to cold hardening.
The meeting ended with a tour to
the medieval town Quedlinburg at the northern rim of the Harz mountains
including an enjoyable afternoon stroll around the picturesque city with its
half-timber-style houses and a delightful dinner at the Romantik-Hotel am
Brühl, before the bus arrived to take the non-COST meeting participants back to
Hannover.
The next morning saw the start of
the meeting for the Working Group 2 of the COST Action 831 “Cryopreservation of
Crop Species in Europe" with the special topic “Integration of
Cryopreservation in Genebank Strategies" held at the IPK Gatersleben. The
meeting consisted of 5 sessions held over 2 days, covering plant
cryopreservation topics of: international aspects of organising
cryopreservation, routine cryopreservation, national and regional developments
in cryopreservation, woody plant cryopreservation and finishing with a session
on genetic, epigenetic and physiological aspects of applied cryopreservation.
The meeting was attended by 40 participants of 16 countries. I, for one,
present only as an observer found the meeting to be most interesting and
informative.
On behalf of the whole committee,
I would like to say a big thank you to Birgit Glasmacher and Joachim Keller for
bringing these two conferences together. Links to photos can be found on the
SLTB website.
This year the Society for
Cryobiology will be holding their AGM Cryo2010 in Bristol, UK.
As in previous years when this
meeting has been held in Europe, we are concerned that holding a separate SLTB
AGM may not attract sufficient members, as many members will be using their
limited travel budgets to attend Cryo 2010. Under the SLTB constitution
(Article 17) if 10 members put this concern in writing to us then a Special
General Meeting can be held during Cryo 2010. This meeting would cover the
business affairs normally dealt with during the AGM.
We are also discussing the
possibility of holding a joint meeting with COST in Poland. Details will follow
on the website.
47th Annual Meeting of the Society for Cryobiology
The meeting will be held in Bristol, UK, and will focus on environmental and natural systems, applied cryobiology, and state of the art analytical techniques. Calls for abstracts are expected anytime now and a link can be found on the SLTB website
(http://www.sltb.info/announcements.html)
We have had a
number of new members joining our society this year. Three of whose pen drives
are below, more to follow in the next newsletter.
Gayle Volk
Dr. Gayle Volk,
Plant Physiologist at the National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation in
Ft Collins, Colorado, U.S.A., has a research program focused on improving the
efficiency of conserving vegetatively propagated plant species. A key component
of her research program is to identify conservation targets for preservation,
realizing that specific genetic combinations may be best conserved using
dormant buds, summer buds, or shoot tips, but seeds and pollen often capture
the most alleles. Her lab has ongoing projects focused on improving the
preservation efficiency of each of these conservation targets. She is
currently evaluating the ultrastructural, biophysical, and genetic (RNA
expression) changes that occur during the shoot tip cryopreservation process
(either by slow cooling, vitrification, or encapsulation-dehydration) using Arabidopsis,
mint, and garlic as model systems. Other key genera of interest are Malus,
Carya, Juglans, Citrus, Fraxinus, and Populus. Dr. Volk also has an
extensive program aimed at identifying the genetic diversity of wild Rosaceae
species and the development of ex situ core collections. She is
particularly interested in database documentation methods for genetic,
geographic, sampling, and phenotypic data types.
H.H. Kim
Dr H.H. Kim is
a leader of the research group for preservation of plant genetic resources in
the National Agrobiodiversity Center, Republic of Korea. The main activity of
the group is focused on the establishment and management of plant genetic
collections for the important crops, horticultural and medicinal plants. The
research interests include low temperature conservation of plant germplasm,
cryoprotection, biophysics, cryotherapy and post-storage stability assessment.
Elena V. Popova
Obtained her PhD from the Institute of Plant Physiology in Moscow, Russia, in 2006.
She is currently working in the National Agrobiodiversity Center, Republic of Korea.
Area of expertise includes plant stress physiology, management and
preservation of plant biological diversity. Research interests are focused on
cryopreservation of cultured plant tissues with the emphasis on orchids and
medicinal plants.
During the AGM in Hannover, our
Chairman, Hugh Pritchard, presented a draft strategy for the Society following
consultation with the committee. After a constructive discussion at the AGM,
minor modifications have been made and it is being presented now for comments
by members. The strategy will provide a framework for activities to enable to
Society to fulfil its "objectives" agreed with the Charity
commission.
These objectives are:
1) to advance the education of the public in the science of low temperature biology;
2) to advance the science of low temperature biology;
3) to promote research into the science of low temperature biology and disseminate the useful results to the
public.
The website is a logical place to
start with informing the public. Therefore, we ask that any members who make
presentations to the public please inform us so we can put this information on
the website on a page dedicated to low temperature news. We are also
considering having a database of members and their interests and current
projects to increase communication and awareness among the society. This will
be an opt in database so only people who agree will have their details posted.
Please contact the committee with any comments or concerns
As part of our strategy for becoming more proactive, we ask members to nominate the paper that they believe has had a large effect on the field of low temperature biology in the last decade and a short paragraph explaining why. Nominations can be anonymous or signed and these will be posted on the website to encourage further discussion. Please send all nominations and follow up comments to Jon Green at: j.e.green@uel.ac.uk