The second Baltic Sea region symposium and postgraduate course organised by the Agro- Biotechnology Focused  on Root- Microbe Sysytems (AB-RMS) Network focusing on Root Infection Biology: Pathogenic Interactions.
Blankenese; February 25 - March 3, 2006.

The event was organised by Prof. Günter Adam at Haus Rissen in the pleasant environment of the Blankenese area at a western edge of the city of Hamburg. Altogether, 66 people (29 PhD students, 37 teachers/senior scientists) from 13 countries attended the minisymposium and Phd course.

The course included lectures, poster sessions and laboratory exercises at University of Hamburg. The next AB-RMS course will have its focus on the practical applications (how to utilise beneficial and prevent harmful root-microbe interactions) and bacterial symbiosis. Prof. Igor Tikhonovich offered to organise it in St. Petersburg, probably in late June or early July, 2007.

MOP-TOP is a research programme for “Enhanced control of Potato mop-top virus in the Nordic and Baltic Sea region” funded by the Nordic countries via NKJ for four years (2005-2008). It is carried out in the same ten countries as AB-RMS. The research consortium held its annual meeting in Haus Rissen prior to the AB-RMS event. Twenty participants of MOP-TOP stayed for the AB-RMS activities.

In Finland, the actitivies of AB-RMS and MOP-TOP are linked to the regional research programme "Agrobiotechnology in Seed Potato Production" carried out under the umbrella of Bioforum Oulu, a member of ScanBalt (see http://www.bioforumoulu.org ).

For more information, contact Prof. Jari Valkonen, co-ordinator of AB-RMS and MOP-TOP.
jari.valkonen@helsinki.fi
http://www.honeybee.helsinki.fi/mmsbl/Kpat/