Grad school affiliates get acquainted

September 8, 2006 – The CDB held its third Intensive Lecture Program for graduate school affiliates in the Kansai region of Japan on September 6 and 7. This yearly lecture series was established to introduce the CDB and its research programs to students enrolled in local graduate study programs. This year, about 150 students from 8 nearby universities and medical school visited the CDB to participate in lectures, demonstrations and lab visits. Talks on topics ranging from the epigenetics of mammalian development to cadherins in neural morphogenesis were given by eleven CDB research scientists and PIs over the course of the two-day program, which also featured practical demonstrations using embryonic stem cells, various model organisms and the micromanipulator equipment used in such procedures as somatic cell nuclear transfer and the generation of knockout mice.

The CDB has formal affiliations with programs in Kyoto University, Kobe University, Nara Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Kwansei Gakuin University and Osaka University. In these affiliated programs, CDB investigators serve as adjunct faculty at the partner school, and are able to host Ph. D. students in their laboratories as they do the bench work for their doctoral theses. There are 59 grad students doing research study at the CDB at present. The Intensive Lecture Program allows students to get better acquainted with the CDB research facilities, research programs and staff as they ponder careers in science. The evening of the first day of the Program ended with a reception, where students could mingle and chat with CDB staff in the casual setting of the CDB Salon.