Period: March 4 until March 16, 2007
Venue: Leiden University Medical Center, The Netherlands
Organizers: Dr. Eric Snijder and Dr. Peter Bredenbeek, Molecular Virology Laboratory Department of Medical Microbiology; Leiden University Medical Center
Target group: Junior researchers of the VIZIER network
Description
In the context of VIZIER’s training activities, the Molecular Virology Laboratory (Department of Medical Microbiology) of the LUMC in Leiden, the Netherlands has organized a 2-week state-of-the- art course in Molecular Virology. The course took place in March 2007 in Leiden and included a combination of practical work and theory (work groups and seminars) mainly concerning RNA viruses and their mechanisms of replication. The target groups for the course were PhD students and young post-docs from VIZIER partner labs. In addition, the course was used for filming and planning in the context of VIZIER’s initiative to produce educational DVDs on RNA viruses and antiviral drug development.
An extensive practical program was combined with a (re-)introduction into the theoretical aspects of molecular virology. The practical program was based on experiments with relatively “innocent” viruses, i.e. viruses that only infect specific animal hosts and could thus safely be used by relatively inexperienced researchers. Nevertheless, the course gave a broad introduction into the concepts and techniques of modern (molecular) virology, which are applicable to research on plant, animal, and human viruses.
The course focused on various virus groups, in particular RNA viruses, in order to illustrate the key aspects of their replication cycle. Participants were made familiar with detection and quantification techniques and with techniques to study viruses, such as virus purification by ultracentrifugation, cDNA synthesis and cloning, protein analysis, expression of a heterologous gene using RNA virus- based expression vector, and electron and immunofluorescence microscopy. Special attention was also given to the general handling of viruses, cells, genetically modified organisms, and to handling radioisotopes used for metabolic labeling.
Participants
Sixteen participants representing 12 different VIZIER partner labs from Sweden, Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom attended the course.
 VIZIER Molecular Virology course participants and LUMC staff posing in front of LUMC’s new
research building, which provided the laboratory facilities for the experimental work in the course.
|
List of Participants
| Participant | Institute |
| Mirko Bergmann | University of Dresden, Germany |
| Justyna Wojdyla | EMBL Hamburg, Germany |
| Barbara Selisko | AFMB Marseille, France |
| Sam Wright | Oxford University, U.K. |
| Jinzhi Tan | University of Lübeck, Germany |
| Susanne Pfefferle | Bernard Nocht Institute, Germany |
| Gherici Hassaine | Bioxtal, Lausanne, Switzerland |
| Sylvain Blois | University of Cagliari, Italy |
| Margherita Pezzullo | University of Cagliari, Italy |
| Anna Jansson | University of Uppsala, Sweden |
| Nadège Brisbarre | University of Marseille, France |
| Eloise Mastrangelo | University of Milano, Italy |
| Michela Bollati | University of Milano, Italy |
| Fransesca Falchi | University of Dresden, Germany |
| Carina Andersson | Swedish Institute for Infectious Diseases, Stockholm |
Report on the VIZIER Molecular Virology Course 2007
