Our first short course completed June 2011

We are pleased to announce successful completion of our first offering of the Pollen RCN short course "Basic Methods in Pollen Research."

The Laboratory Manual for the course is available here.

The course was held June 8 to June 12, 2011 at Brown University, Providence, RI. Mark Johnson (Brown University) and Sheila McCormick (PGEC and UC Berkeley) organized and taught the course. Alexander Leydon and Kristin Beale (both of Brown University) were the teaching assistants. 

The National Science Foundation, via the Integrative Pollen Biology Research Coordination Network, provided funding. Alice Cheung, UMASS-Amherst, serves as the Pollen RCN Principal Investigator.

Fourteen students from eight countries participated. Participants gained experience in a number of essential techniques for pollen cell biology. The topics ranged from the most fundamental such as in vitro pollen tube growth analysis to live cell imaging, to analysis of pollen tube guidance in vivo and in vitro. Genetic, biochemical (including pollen collection) and bioinformatic methodologies were covered and course participants shared their research goals in lively evening discussion sessions.

We thank Stanley Thornburn (Micro Video Instruments, Nikon distributor), Tom Diglio and John Wailes (Zeiss) for providing demonstration microscopes. Thanks also to Robbert Creton and Geoff Williams of the The Leduc BioImaging Facility at Brown University for training and access to microscopes. 

Participants:

Instructors:

Sheila McCormick USDA PGEC, UC Berkeley USA

Mark Johnson Brown University USA

Teaching Assistants:

Kristin Beale, Brown University USA

Alexander Leydon, Brown University USA