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The American Society for Microbiology, the Institute of Microbial Technology, Chandigarh, and the Soil and Water Science Department, University of Florida, USA, will offer a laboratory-based workshop on classical and molecular approaches to characterize and monitor biodegradative strains in the environment.

This workshop is intended for students currently working in an area of biodegradation of environmental pollutants, but with limited practical experience in molecular approaches to analysis of biodegradative strains. Students should be familiar with fundamentals of bacterial molecular genetics.

 Topics to be covered include:

·  Isolation of biodegradative bacteria

·  DNA extraction, PCR and molecular cloning of biodegradative genes

·  DNA fingerprinting: T-RFLP and DGGE

·  DNA phylogenetic analysis

 Registration fee will be Rs 7,500 for participants from universities and Rs 15,000 for participants from industries.  Space is limited to 15 students who will be selected on the basis of potential impact. Faculty, students, and participants from industry are invited to apply.

 To apply, send a current curriculum vitae and letter of interest (including how the information learned in the workshop will enhance your research projects and training, and/or your relationship with research projects that will be enhanced by your participation), and names and addresses of three references to Dr. Andrew Ogram via email (Biodegradation@mail.ifas.ufl.edu) or fax (+001-352-392-3902) by September 15, 2004.  Participants will be notified of acceptance by October 15, 2004.

Instructors:                                      

This workshop will be presented as part of an Indo-US Professorship awarded by the American Society for Microbiology (http://www.asm.org), and will be conducted by faculty in the Soil and Water Science Department of the University of Florida, USA (http://soils.ifas.ufl.edu/) and the Institute of Microbial Technology in Chandigarh (http://www.imtech.res.in). The instructors include Drs. Andrew Ogram and. Hector Castro of the Soil Molecular Ecology Laboratory, University of Florida. Drs. Ogram and Castro have had extensive experience in various aspects of molecular microbial ecology and biodegradation. Dr. Ogram received his PhD from the Center for Environmental Biotechnology at the University of Tennessee in 1988, and has been on the faculties of Washington State University and the University of Florida, where his lab has conducted basic and applied research on various aspects of soil microbial ecology and environmental microbiology. Dr. Castro received his PhD in 2003 from the University of Florida, and has specialized in the molecular ecology of carbon cycling in freshwater marshes.   For more information on the activities of the Soil Molecular Ecology Lab, please see the lab website (http://molecol.ifas.ufl.edu). Dr. Rakesh Jain, deputy director of IMTECH (http://www.imtech.res.in), will coordinate the workshop. Dr. Jain received his PhD in 1985 from Monash University, Australia, and has been working as scientist at IMTECH since 1987.  He has received numerous awards for his work on the biochemistry and genetics of contaminant degradation.