The CSIR Synthetic Biology Emerging Research Area, with the support of the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO), is hosting a practical course entitled Microscopy: from genome scale to the single molecule at the CSIR Knowledge Commons from 31 May to 12 June 2010. The course has received financial support from the national Department of Science and Technology and the French Embassy in Pretoria.

Dr Spencer Shorte, Director of the Imagopole at the Institut Pasteur, Paris, France, will deliver the keynote address at the official opening of the course at 09:00 on 31 May 2010 at the CSIR International Convention Centre.

According to Dr Musa Mhlanga, CSIR Research Group Leader, Synthetic Biology Emerging Research Area, the obtaining of EMBO workshops is highly competitive and prestigious. Aimed at advanced PhD and post-doctoral students, the main objective of the course is to introduce high-throughput microscopy and imaging technologies to identify key genes involved in infection. It covers new and emerging techniques in high-throughput biology and light microscopy.

"Participation in the course is by competitive selection and eighteen students from Africa, North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australia have registered. This is the second EMBO workshop awarded to South Africa and endorses the CSIR as one of the leading scientific and technology research development and implementation organisations in Africa," he explains.