
The International Society for Transgenic Technologies (ISTT) has agreed to co-sponsor another CARD Cryopreservation Course. This time, for the first time, the CARD methods will be taught in North America: the CARD-RPCI Mouse Sperm and Embryo Cryopreservation Practical Course will be held at Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) in Buffalo, NY USA. The course will be held September 15th-19th, 2014, and will be a hands-on intensive workshop.
The course is organized by Naomi Nakagata (CARD-Kumamoto University, Japan, Coordinator of CARD), Aimee Stablewski (Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY, USA, Co-Director of the Gene Targeting and Transgenic Resource) and Jan Parker-Thornburg (MD Anderson, Houston, TX, USA, Director of the Genetically Engineered Mouse Facility).
This course is open to anyone interested. Pre-application will be required, including, at least, a recent CV, completion of this application questionnaire, 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: buffalo_card_cryocourse@transtechsociety.org
The maximum number of participants attending this course will be 18, distributed among countries and institutions, and according the documentation provided and the interests expressed. Pre-applications will be accepted starting April 1st, 2014 and will close on May 31st, 2014. The review and selection of participants will be done by the Organizers from June 1st-15th, 2014. Registrations and payments for selected participants will be accepted from June 16th, 2014 to August 31st, 2014. If required, an ordered waiting list will be prepared and any cancellation or unpaid registration by August 31st, 2014 will be readily substituted by the first available person from this waiting list, starting on September 1st, 2014.
The course registration fee is $1300 USD (with a reduced fee of $1100 USD 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 hotel on Roswell Park Cancer Institute’s 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.
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 17.
Hands-on topics that will be covered during this cryopreservation course:
- Isolating unfertilized mouse oocytes
- Isolating and cold storage/shipping of mouse cauda epididymis
- Isolating and cold storage of embryos
- Freezing/thawing mouse sperm and IVF using CARD frozen sperm and legacy sperm
- Fresh mouse sperm and IVF
- Cold Storage sperm and IVF
- Freezing/thawing 2-cell IVF-derived mouse embryos
- Vitrification of mouse oocytes and embryos
- IVF of vitrified mouse oocytes
- Ovary transplantation/ovary freezing
- Embryo transfer techniques in mice (oviduct, uterus via NSET)
Additional lectures on the following topics:
- Historic and Scientific perspectives of embryo and sperm cryopreservation
- Comparing current embryo and sperm cryopreservation methods
- Vitrification of oocytes and their use for IVF
- New US Guidelines for the use of animals in research/IACUC
- Cold storage and transport of germplasm
- Large archiving and distribution centers- challenges and solutions
- Shipping mice, refrigerated and frozen material
- CRISPR/Cas9
- Freezing and transplantation of ovaries
- NSET: non-surgical embryo transfer
- Breeding strategies for cohort generation of GEM’s
- CARD
Instructors:
- Naomi Nakagata (CARD-Kumamoto University, Japan)
- Toru Takeo (CARD-Kumamoto University, Japan)
- Shuuji Tsuchiyama (CARD-Kumamoto University, Japan)
- Kiyoko Fukumoto (CARD-Kumamoto University, Japan)
- Yukie Haruguchi (CARD-Kumamoto University, Japan)
- Tomoko Kondo (CARD-Kumamoto University, Japan)
- Yumi Takeshita (CARD-Kumamoto University, Japan)
- Yuko Nakamuta (CARD-Kumamoto University, Japan)
- Tomoko Umeno (CARD-Kumamoto University, Japan)
- Jan Parker-Thornburg (MD Anderson, Houston, TX, USA)
- Aimee Stablewski (Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY, USA)
- Dawn Barnas (Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY, USA)
- Amar Dasani (Taconic, Germantown, NY, USA)
- Andrea Dunn (Taconic, Germantown, NY, USA)
- Kristy Williams (USA)
- Barbara Stone (ParaTechs, Lexington, KY, USA)
- Jorge Sztein (Barcelona, Spain)
Additional lectures by:
- Naomi Nakagata (CARD-Kumamoto University, Japan)
- Toru Takeo (CARD-Kumamoto University, Japan)
- Sandra Sexton (Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY, USA)
- Jorge Sztein (Barcelona, Spain)
- Barbara Stone (ParaTechs, Lexington, KY, USA)
- Lluis Montoliu (CNB-CSIC, Madrid, Spain)
- Carlisle Landel (Transposagen Inc., Lexington, KY, USA)
- Amar Dasani (Taconic, Germantown, NY, USA)