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2008 Annual Research Meeting
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16th-20th September 2008
Theme: Products and impacts
The Annual Research Meeting (ARM) is an excellent forum for scientists in GCP projects to meet with their project teams and other GCP scientists, share their research results and jointly plan for the upcoming year. Scientists from around the world will be invited to attend, to discuss and plan GCP activities.
Participation: By invitation only
Registration: Each invitee should register via the personalised web link sent to them in their letter of invitation. Please note that the deadline for registration has been extended to Friday 8th August.
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Theme and subthemes
With approximately 16 projects coming to a close in 2008, this year’s theme is ‘Products and impacts’ with the meeting scheduled to include the following sessions:
GCP perspectives
Stakeholder perspectives
Impact pathways
Gene discovery
Marker development and breeding applications
Cross-thematic topics
Reference collections
Genomic resources
Tropical Legumes I
Molecular Breeding Platform
Sub-theme 3 & 4:
- Marker development and breeding applications
- Support services and enabling delivery
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Venue
Rama Gardens Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand
9/9 Vibhavadi Rangsit Road, Laksi, Bangkok 10210 Thailand
Tel: (66 2) 561-0022, Fax: (66 2) 561-1025, 561-3416
Rama Gardens Hotel is a tranquil and resort-like hotel located in the convenient area of Vipavadee Rd. (superhighway) and surrounded by Kasetsart University and residential areas. Hotel map. The hotel is located about 40 km (1-1.15 hour drive) from downtown Bangkok.
Venue facilities
All function rooms/open area/ guest rooms are equipped with internet access with WIFI capabilities. The charge is:
1 hr = 100 THB
3 hr = 200 THB
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Hosts
GCP wishes to thank BIOTEC Thailand for hosting the 2008 Annual Research Meeting.
Contacts: Udomrat Vatanakun and Duangkaew Chongkachornphong
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2008 ARM Proceedings - Guidelines for Extended Project Abstracts
As was agreed at last year’s ARM, in departure from previous ARM proceedings, this year’s proceedings will be based on extended abstracts, and not on the mid-year (May 15) project reports, which were eliminated.
Guidelines for Project Abstracts
Mode of submission: To view the link for submitting Extended Project Abstracts, please revisit the email sent by Antonia Okono on 4th June 2008.
Compliance: The ARM proceedings are expected to reflect the full spectrum of all of GCP’s research activities in 2008. It is therefore vital that all ongoing research be reported. We request that you kindly respect this obligation on your part as we do not wish to have blank sections in the proceedings. Please also note that the term ‘ongoing research’ includes projects on no-cost extension as of 2008, as well as projects initiated in 2008. The guidelines above provide for both of these special cases [section A)II for projects on no-cost extensions and Section B)6 for new projects].
Deadline for submission: Please be sure to observe the deadline of July 6 2008. THE LINK FOR SUBMISSION WILL BE DEACTIVATED AFTER THIS DATE.
Problems or queries: should you encounter any problems with the links, or should you have queries on the fields, please contact Kate Durbin c.durbin@cgiar.org
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2008 ARM Poster session and poster abstracts submission process
All ARM participants are invited to present a poster on GCP work, or on work related to GCP’s mission for non-GCP scientists. A maximum of two posters per GCP project is permitted. Please note that in case you hadn’t indicated you’d be presenting a poster when filling in your registration form but you would now like to present one (especially after you read this!), it is not too late: you only need to email Griselda Marquez and Kate Durbin by 25th July to let them know your decision.
Thanks to our good presenters, those of you who attended ARM last year will agree that the poster session was one of the high points of the ARM and we look forward to an equally, if not more, rewarding poster session this year.
Just as last year, ‘Say it succinctly in sixty seconds’ continues: each and every presenter will have the opportunity to briefly introduce their poster at plenary to the audience. The 60 seconds are to be taken literally: each poster will be introduced by the presenter in a timed one-minute presentation—not a second more! You probably vividly recall the fate of presenters who went beyond the 60-second mark. This 60-second slot is your ‘display window’ to tell the audience what your poster is about, and why they should come to view it. Presenters may use only one old-fashioned transparency—but absolutely no PowerPoint slides. Beyond this, we’re leaving attract you use your minute entirely up to you for you to employ any means you deem necessary to lure an audience to your poster. Please give your creativity and imagination free rein.
Posters will be grouped by the following four subthemes, derived from the overall theme for this year ‘Products and impacts’:
1. Exploiting allelic diversity
2. Genomic resources and gene/pathway discovery
3. Marker development and breeding applications
4. Support services and enabling delivery (incorporating training and capacity-building)
The idea is for communication and fun as we share information. The scope of the posters will be exciting results from GCP projects, or non-GCP work which is however related to GCP’s mission. Striking concepts and methodologies are also welcome.
Just as last year, winners will be determined by a public vote: participants will cast a vote for the best poster for each of the four subthemes. Winners will be further recognised and rewarded with a non-monetary token for the best poster for each subtheme. Submitting a PDF of your poster alongside your abstract before 31st August 2008 will earn you bonus votes (see ‘Submission’ below).
Below are additional details on the abstracts and posters:
Deadlines and submission
Mode of submission: SUBMISSIONS BY EMAIL ARE NOT ADMISSIBLE: the online link includes fields for vital information on your poster. Do NOT submit abstract or PDF via email since we cannot manage information of this magnitude efficiently or accurately by email. We might even just consider penalising ‘offenders’ who ‘abuse email’ by skimming off some of their public votes! This particularly applies to ‘serial offenders’. No need for details: you know yourselves from interactions on project abstracts…(wide grin!)
Problems or queries: should you encounter any problems with the links, or should you have queries on the fields, please contact Kate Durbin
Acknowledgement: All poster abstracts received will be duly acknowledged. Therefore, if you do not receive an acknowledgement of receipt of your abstract within three working days, please contact Kate Durbin c.durbin@cgiar.org
Submissions of both abstract, and, where available, PDF of the poster are to be made online at the following link: http://www.ohmedia.ca/clients/gcparmposters/ Remember you can submit your abstract without a PDF of the poster.
Submission and format
a) Abstracts in MS-Word
- Scope: research results or striking concepts and methodologies
- Format: MS-Word (.doc)
- English style: UK English. Please edit your work carefully since abstracts will be published as is, without editing, other than overage on the word limit (see Abstract text below)
Requirements in this next section are illustrated in the hypothetical abstract:
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Font, point size and style
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Abstract title: Arial, bold, 11 points
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Authorship: Times New Roman; italics, 11 points
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For all text except footnotes, use Normal style throughout. This is the default style for MS-Word. Other than the footnote which MS-Word will render in Footnote style, do not use/assign any other style in your abstract, as this creates immense problems when we collate the multi-authored abstracts into a single uniform document
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Authorship
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Authorship line to be indented from left margin
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Lead author name and institution, with institution of lead author indicated below authorship line and denoted by asterisk in authorship line.
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Lead author’s email to be included
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Co-author name(s) WITHOUT institutional affiliation
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Abstract text: single paragraph, maximum 200 words. Text beyond this word limit will be deleted.
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Project affiliation: All posters on GCP project must also include the following details, as a footnote embedded in the project title. MS-Word provides options for bottom of page or bottom of text footnotes. Choose ‘below text’. Footnote text: Times New Roman, italics, 10 points. Required details are:
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Subprogramme (abbreviated, ie, SP 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5)
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Project code number
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Project title
This requirement only applies to posters on ongoing GCP projects. Guest posters from other organisations or concepts and methodologies that fall outside ongoing GCP projects are exempted from this requirement. In such cases, please fill ‘N/A (not applicable)’ in these mandatory fields
b) Poster PDFs
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Poster size: 70cm x 110cm in either portrait or landscape format
- Format: PDF only
- Bonus points: Remember submitting a PDF of your poster by 31 August 2008 will automatically earn you bonus votes! All poster PDFs submitted by this date, will be included in the presentations CD to be distributed to all ARM participants on the last day of the ARM. To qualify for these PDF bonus votes, you must also have submitted your abstract within the deadline.
- Late submission: Details on PDF submission after the ARM will be communicated to presenters at the time.
We look forward to your participation and support to make the poster session a success. Remember, the idea is communication and fun!
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World Café
The World Café – What it’s all about?
The World Café session is to take place on the morning of day three of the ARM, on Thursday 18th September.
For those of you who may not be familiar with the concept, the World Café is a simple yet powerful method for creating meaningful and cooperative dialogue around questions participants perceive to truly matter. More
Conversations link and build on each other as people move between groups, cross-pollinate ideas, and discover new insights into the questions or issues that are most important in their life, work, or community.
As a process, the World Café can evoke and make visible the collective intelligence of any group, thus increasing people’s capacity for effective action in pursuit of common aims.
To learn more about the main principles and history of The World Café, please visit The World Cafe website or Wikipedia
How will the session work?
Each table will focus on a different topic, and each table will have a host (further details on this below), with the host to serve as an institutional memory for the group. The host will suggest several questions for discussion at the outset of the conversation and will loosely facilitate the discussion – essentially, World Cafe is by design intended to be a fairly loose and informal process. After 30 minutes, a ‘time’s up’ bell will be rung, at which point participants should move to another table of their choice to talk about a different topic. When the second group arrives at the table, the table host will provide a quick summary for the new arrivals on what was discussed by the previous group. The new group will then build on that conversation in whatever direction they deem interesting (people may agree, disagree, or talk about a different question). Then, after 30 minutes, the bell will sound again, and people will move again to the next table of their choice. The same process will be repeated - the host will report on the previous two rounds of conversation and the third group will build on the previous discussion. And so the process continues, until the 2 hour session is over, allowing participants to potentially participate in at least four debates.
A key factor of the World Café technique is the relaxed informal environment – groups are small and participatory, and as such, we hope that your wisdom and creativity will roam free, allowing you, together, to confront even the most difficult challenges facing the world of international agriculture today.
What about reporting back?
No formal reporting-back to plenary will be expected. However, we request the hosts to submit a one-page sum-up of key outcomes of the discussions, for distribution to all ARM participants.
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Side event
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SP2-SP4 organised workshop on Data analysis for Candidate Gene Discovery, 14-15th September 2008. Open to ARM participants only. More information
Contact person: Guy Davenport
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Field trip
Following on from feedback from PIs on ways to improve on last year's ARM, and to accommodate all views, the open afternoon on Thursday, 18th September includes an optional half-day field trip: some participants were keen on catching up on research and field realities in Thailand during this afternoon.
ARM invitees looking to take advantage of the field trips, which are kindly coordinated by our hosts BIOTEC Thailand, will be asked to choose from one of following four options:
OPTION 1: Kasetsart University, Kampaengsaen Campus, Nakhon Pathom Province
(Around 1.5 hr drive from Bangkok)
This trip will include visits to the following three research units:
• Rice Gene Discovery Unit (RGDU)
RGDU was established in 2001 through the close collaboration between BIOTEC and Kasetsart University's Kamphaengsaen Campus. This unit focuses on the use of genomic technologies to develop genomic tools to discover genes that reveal important characteristics of rice, as well as making use of genes in molecular breeding programmes. More
• Center for Agriculture Biotechnology (CAB)
Located here is the Plant Molecular Genetic Laboratory. Research projects focus on the improvement of biological yield of field crops, the reduction of farming’s dependence on synthetic chemicals, and the increase of production efficiency. More
• Plant Research Group
The unit was established in 1985 as a result of a collaboration between BIOTEC and Kasetsart University Kamphaengsaen Campus. The unit has been assigned to carry out basic and applied research in plant biotechnology and genetic engineering.
OPTION 2: BIOTEC Central Research Unit
(Around 45 mins. drive form Bangkok)
Located in the Thailand Science Park, this is BIOTEC’s largest in-house research unit, and has a core research programme focusing on food biotechnology, plant and animal biotechnology, tropical diseases and bio-resources assessment and utilisation. This tour will include visits to the following research institutes and laboratories:
• Genome Institute: Genome Institute was established to focus on post-sequence, functional genomic questions. The major technical platforms of high-throughput sequencing, high-throughput proteomics, bioinformatics, and HPC (High-Performance Computing Service) are integrated with programmes in molecular and cellular biology, and computational biology. Genome Institute houses Sequencing Laboratory, Proteomics Laboratory and Biostatistics and Informatics Laboratory, as well as providing DNA sequencing and related services through the Bioservice Unit and servicing genomic data through HPC and the Genomics Database Laboratory. Genome Institute currently houses the following genomic databases: Rice, Shrimp, Cassava, Spirulina and Thai SNP. It also plans to cover oil palm genome in the coming year.
• Plant Molecular Biology Laboratory Starch Biosynthesis: The research projects in this lab focus on two important aspects of starch production in cassava: the sucrose partitioning pathway and the biosynthetic pathway of storage starches.
• Plant Physiology and Biochemistry Laboratory: The aim of research here is to develop innovative technologies for novel products. The core research disciplines are physiology, biochemistry, tissue culture, cell culture and molecular genetics. More
OPTION 3: Nakhon Sawan Field Crop Research Centre, Nakhon Sawan Province, Department of Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperation
(Around 2 hrs drive from Bangkok)
This research station is located in the upper central region of Thailand. The research station harbours agricultural research, an experimental field and facilities for researchers working on corn and other related crops. The research station also carries out specific research projects needed by the country.
OPTION 4: Pacific Seeds (Thai) Ltd., Saraburi province
(Around 1.5 hrs drive from Bangkok)
‘Pacific Seeds (Thai)’ was established in 1975 as a member of the Advanta group of companies. As a business unit of continental grain, hybrid corn, sorghum, forage sorghum and sunflower were introduced from Pacific Seeds in Australia. Quality, targeted research over many years has resulted in the breeding, production and marketing of seeds, which fulfill the needs of farmers, industry and food manufacturers. Those products were evaluated to identify elite hybrids for Thai market. More
Participants will be asked to kindly register online (link to be sent by email shortly) by latest Friday, 15th August 2008, 1700hrs Mexican time. Registration should take less than a minute of your time, literally, since (as you will see) you only need to tell us who you are, and click your choices for field visits. However, whether you intend to join the GCP-organised field tip or make your own plans, we kindly ask you to let us know your decision via the online registration form, before the date specified above.
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Logistics information
Logistics coordinator: Griselda Marquez
Arrival
Please arrange to arrive in Bangkok by the evening of Monday 15th September.
Airports in Bangkok
Bangkok has two airports: Don Muang Airport for domestic flights within Thailand, and Suvarnabhumi International Airport for international flights:
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Don Muang Airport currently operates non-connecting domestic flights by three airlines: Thai Airways, Nok Air, and One 2 Go airlines.
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Suvarnabhumi International Airport operates connecting domestic flights and international flights. Distance from Suvarnabhumi Airport to Rama Gardens hotel: 60 km (approx. 1-1.5 Hour drive)
Please check with your travel agent carefully when making any travel reservations which involve domestic flights within Thailand.
What to do on arrival at Suvarnabhumi International Airport
All international passengers will arrive at the 2nd floor of Concourse Building of the Suvarnabhumi International Airport. Passengers will need to pass through the immigration procedure and collect baggage from the baggage claim area, before entering the hallway.
From here, passengers should follow the 'Taxi' signs in order to reach the Taxi Service area located on the curb outside the building. Here passengers will find a queue for the Taxi Service Counter. Passengers are asked to kindly inform the Taxi Counter assistant of the hotel name using the map and instructions provided (please print a copy of these instructions prior to departure and carry it with you on your journey). Passengers will then be escorted to the assigned taxi.
Estimated fares from Suvarnabhumi International Airport to Rama Gardens Hotel in a metered taxi: 400 Baht, plus a 50 Baht airport surcharge and an express way fee (around 65 Baht) = approx. 515 baht in total (see details on Currency and exchange rate further below).
An alternative option to a metered taxi for transferring from the airport to Rama Gardens hotel is a limousine service, available from both Don Muang Airport and Suvarnabhumi International Airport. The limousine option is more expensive (approx. 1,600 Baht). In both airports, limousine operator desks are present inside the terminal buildings.
Visas
1. Generally, a foreign citizen who wishes to enter the Kingdom of Thailand is required to obtain a visa from a Royal Thai Embassy or a Royal Thai Consulate-General. However, nationals of certain countries do not require a visa if they meet visa exemption requirements as follows:
(a) they are nationals of countries which are exempted from visa requirements when entering Thailand for tourism purposes. Such nationals will be permitted to stay in the Kingdom for a period of not exceeding 30 days. For more information, please see Tourist Visa Exemption.
(b) they are nationals of countries which hold bilateral agreements with Thailand on the exemption of visa requirements. For more information, please see List of Countries which have Concluded Agreements with Thailand on the Exemption of Visa Requirements.
2. Nationals of certain countries may apply for visa upon arrival in Thailand. Travelers with this type of visa are permitted to enter and stay in Thailand for a period of not exceeding 15 days. For more information, please see Visa on Arrival.
Please consult the Visa Section of the Royal Thai Embassy in your country for any specific questions you may have.
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Information for travellers to Thailand
Geography: Thailand has a land area of around 512square km bordered by Malaysia (South), Myanmar (West and North), Laos (North and East) and Cambodia (Southeast).
Climate: Average temperature is about 29 degrees C; humidity ranges from 66% to 82%. Seasons: Hot (March to May), Rainy (June to October) and Cool (November to February).
Population: Around 63 million, of which 9% live in Bangkok.
Language: Thai is the national language. English is widely spoken in the cities.
Religion: Buddhists 94.2%, Muslim 4.6%, Christian 0.8%, other 0.4%.
National flag: The red, white and blue bands symbolises the nation, Buddhism and the monarchy respectively.
Currency: The national currency is the Thailand Baht (THB). Exchange rate on 21st July 2008: 100THB = 2.99USD (information taken from the website www.xe.com)
Clothing: Thin cotton is the best. Jackets or sweaters may be necessary during the cool season, especially in the mountainous areas on the North or Northeast.
Electricity: 220 volts 50 cycles throughout the country.
Local time: GMT + 7 hours.
Business hours: Most offices open from 8:30 am-5:00 pm, Monday to Friday. General banking hours are Monday to Friday 8:30 am-3:30 pm.
Credit Cards: Major credit cards (American Express, Visa, Mastercard and Diners Club) are accepted at most hotels, restaurants, shops, malls and travel agencies. ATMs are also abundant.
Telephones: Cell phones are everywhere in Thailand. Handsets may be rented at the airport. For those bringing their own, SIM cards may be purchased to allow users to call within Thailand at local rates. Public phone booths are also plentiful.
Useful websites
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