Preliminary Announcement

EQUAL Training Course in Mannheim (Germany)

A three days meeting which includes practical activities in the laboratory (revision to the EQUAL-seq Programme) and lectures on:

Applications of Oncology, Inflammation and Predisposition

Venue

Scientific sessions and practical activities
Department for Clinical Chemistry
Faculty of Clinical Medicine Mannheim, University Heidelberg
Theodor-Kutzer-Ufer 1-3
68167 Mannheim/Germany
Date September 21 - 23, 2005
Coordinator Scientific Coordinator
Prof. Michael Neumaier
Dept. of Clinical Chemistry
Faculty of Clinical Medicine Mannheim, University Heidelberg

Coordinators of Practical Activities
Prof. Michael Neumaier
Dr. med. Parviz Ahmad-Nejad
Dr. med. Alexandra Dorn-Beineke
Ulrike Pfeiffer
Dept. for Clinical Chemistry
Faculty of Clinical Medicine Mannheim, University Heidelberg
General Information of the Training Course The programme will include lectures on clinical molecular diagnostics addressed to oncology, inflammation and predisposition and practical activities in laboratory related to the EQUAL-seq programme
Scientific topics The main topics oncology, inflammation and predisposition have been chosen because of the important relevance in clinical and laboratory work. The main effort must be to implement molecular insights of these fields in the clinics. DNA sequencing becomes more and more a useful tool to deal with questions arising in this context. The technical skills and the theoretical background in DNA sequencing are commonly not assessed in EQAs. The course includes sections to improve practical skills and exercises of editing and interpretation of ABI.traces, working sections on PC and troubleshooting. The theoretical part will include lectures about theoretical and technological aspects. The participants will sequence prepared DNA and interpret the results by their own. Afterwards they present the data to other participants and discuss them. Technical and scientific staff will support them during these exercises.
Practical activities

For EQUAL participants only

The main aim of the EQUAL Training Course in Mannheim is the revision of the actions of the EQUAL-seq Programme and the discussion of the results of this survey.

  • 8-10 hours of the Mannheim EQUAL-seq Training Course will be dedicated to laboratory activities.
  • the methodological skills required to improve analytical performance of the EQUAL-seq Programme will be reviewed during the Course and then tested allowing the participants to perform for the second time the EQUAL-seq Programme.
  • comparison of the results after training will be used to judge the efficacy of the Course.
  • a specifically defined questionnaire will be also distributed to the participants at the end of the course.
Scientific Programme
Wednesday, 21 September 2005
 
14.15-17.00
 Check in and Welcome
 
9:15-10 :00
 Lecture I:
Michael Neumaier, Mannheim:
History and basic technology of nucleic acid sequencing
 
Coffee Break
 
10:30-12:30
 Practical activities I:
Pipetting of a sequencing reaction
 
Lunch
 
14:00-14:45
 Lecture II:
Parviz Ahmad-Nejad, Mannheim:
DNA-Sequencing in clinical diagnostics – opportunities and limitations
 
Coffee Break
 
15:15-17:00
 Practical activities II:
Sequencing reaction (ABI PRISM™ 310 Genetic Analyzer)
Thursday, 22 September 2005
 
9:00 – 9:15
 Check in
 
9:15 – 10:00
 Lecture III:
NN:
Editing and interpretation of ABI.Traces
Alignment of sequences
 
Coffee Break
 
10:30-12:30
 Practical activities III:
Analysis and interpretation of participants' sequences (hands on PC)
 
Lunch
 
14:00-14:45
 Lecture IV:
Alexandra Dorn-Beineke, Ulrike Pfeiffer, Mannheim:
Troubleshooting
 
Coffee Break
 
15:15-17:00
 Practical activities IV:
Participants present their results from the sequencing reactions
Friday, 23 September 2005
 
9:00 – 9:15
 Check in
 
9:15 – 9 :45
 Giving feedback :
filling out the questionnaire
 
9:45 – 10:30
 Lecture V:
Peter Findeisen, Mannheim:
Future and technological aspects
 
Coffee Break
 
11.30-12.30
 Critical revision of the theoretical and practical activities:
General discussion
Presenting the results from the questionnaire
Pick up new ideas
 
12.30
 12.30 Closing Remarks
Distribution of the second EQUAL-seq to the participants
End of meeting
Contact us for registration
(no registration fee)
 Ulrike Pfeiffer
Dept. for Clinical Chemistry
Faculty of Clinical Medicine Mannheim, University Heidelberg
Email: ulrike.pfeiffer@ikc.ma.uni-heidelberg.de