The International Society for Transgenic Technologies (ISTT) has agreed to co-sponsor the CARD-CNB Mouse Sperm and Embryo Cryopreservation Practical Course that will be held at the National Centre for Biotechnology (CNB-CSIC), in Madrid, CSIC, during one week, on 7-11 October 2013, organized by Naomi Nakagata (CARD-Kumamoto University, Japan, Coordinator of CARD) and Lluis Montoliu (CNB-CSIC, Madrid, Spain, Coordinator of the Spanish EMMA node).
This course is open to anyone interested. Pre-application will be required, including, at least, a recent CV and a letter prepared by the intended participant describing how the applicant will benefit by attending this course and how relevant is the course material to his/her work. Additional documents are welcome, at the discretion of participants, including supporting letters by supervisors (where appropriate), reference letters, etc… Pre-applications should be submitted by email to cryocourse@cnb.csic.es by 31 May 2013.
The maximum number of participants attending this course will be 20, distributed among countries and institutions, and according the documentation provided and the interests expressed. Pre-applications will be accepted until 31 May 2013. The review and selection of participants will be done by the Organizers from 1 to 15 June 2013. Registrations and payments for selected participants will be accepted from June 16, 2013 to August 31, 2013. If required, an ordered waiting list will be prepared and any cancellation or unpaid registration by 31 August 2013 will be readily substituted by the first available person from this waiting list, starting on 1 September 2013.
The course registration fee is 800 Euros (with a reduced fee of 750 Euros for ISTT Members). This fee includes participation in the entire course, all materials and reagents, lunches over the 5 days and one course official dinner. Hotel costs are not included in the registration fee but booking assistance will be provided, if required, at a convenient nearby hotel, close to CNB Campus, where all instructors and lecturers will be also lodged, hence further promoting interaction from breakfast to dinner. The official language of the course will be English.
COURSE INFORMATION: Recent developments from the laboratory of Prof. Naomi Nakagata (CARD-Kumamoto University, Japan) have boosted the mouse cryopreservation field with improved methods for fresh and frozen sperm techniques and associated optimized IVF methods that have resulted in unparalleled increased efficiencies for the cryopreservation and rescue of relevant mouse lines. At the CNB-CSIC in Madrid, hosting the Spanish EMMA node, these new CARD cryopreservation methods have been successfully implemented and, moreover, a fruitful collaboration has been established with the laboratory of Prof. Naomi Nakagata, eventually resulting in the signature of an institutional cooperation agreement between the CSIC and the University of Kumamoto, under the framework of which this cryopreservation course is organized. The aim of this course is to introduce the new CARD methods to researchers and technicians involved in managing mouse archiving and/or transgenic facilities and willing to implement these new methods, directly taught by the team which devised them. Each participant will have one stereomicroscope and the entire set of tools, reagents and animals required to learn and practice all the methods included in the program of this course. In addition to practical sessions, the course will also include several lectures of related interesting topics for the participants delivered by experts in each field. The number of instructors and lecturers appointed is 20.
Hands-on topics that will be covered during this cryopreservation course
- making pipettes and practising embryo handling
- isolating unfertilized mouse oocytes
- isolating and cold storage/shipping of mouse cauda epididymis
- freezing/thawing mouse sperm and IVF
- fresh mouse sperm and IVF
- freezing/thawing 2-cell IVF-derived mouse embryos
- vitrification of mouse oocytes and embryos
- embryo transfer techniques in mice
- vasectomy of male mice
- demonstration of ICSI
Additional lectures on the following topics
- new EU Directive on the protection of animals for experimentation
- new US Guidelines for the use of animals in research
- epigenetic effects of in vitro culture on mouse embryos
- databases for handling information in cryopreservation facilities
- shipping mice, refrigerated and frozen material
- safety issues handling liquid nitrogen in a cryopreservation facility
- EMMA and Infrafrontier-I3
- MMRRC
Instructors
- Naomi Nakagata (CARD-Kumamoto University, Japan)
- Toru Takeo (CARD-Kumamoto University, Japan)
- Kiyoko Fukumoto (CARD-Kumamoto University, Japan)
- Tomoko Kondo (CARD-Kumamoto University, Japan)
- Yukie Haruguchi (CARD-Kumamoto University, Japan)
- Yumi Takeshita (CARD-Kumamoto University, Japan)
- Yuko Nakamuta (CARD-Kumamoto University, Japan)
- Shuji Tsuchiyama (CARD-Kumamoto University, Japan)
- Raul Fernández (INIA, Madrid, Spain)
- Lluis Montoliu (CNB-CSIC, Madrid, Spain)
- Julia Fernández (CNB-CSIC, Madrid, Spain)
- María Jesús del Hierro (CNB-CSIC, Madrid, Spain)
- Marta Castrillo (CNB-CSIC, Madrid, Spain)
- Isabel Martín-Dorado (CNB-CSIC, Madrid, Spain)
- Kristy Kinchen (Mouse Biology Program, UC Davis, CA, USA)
Additional lectures by
- Naomi Nakagata (CARD-Kumamoto University, Japan)
- Toru Takeo (CARD-Kumamoto University, Japan)
- Shuji Tsuchiyama (CARD-Kumamoto University, Japan)
- Alfonso Gutiérrez-Adán (INIA, Madrid, Spain)
- Kent Lloyd (Mouse Biology Program, UC Davis, CA, USA)
- Belén Pintado (CNB-CSIC, Madrid, Spain)
- Jesús Martínez Palacio (CIEMAT, Madrid, Spain)
- Javier Guillén (AAALAC, Pamplona, Spain)
- Lluis Montoliu (CNB-CSIC, Madrid, Spain)
