UBC Instructors go to Africa for the Molecular Biology Techniques Workshop

From May 29 - June 11, 2006, Dr. Michelle Brazas, Dr. Kristin Tangen and Dr. Chad Malloff from UBC went to Lagos, Nigeria to instruct in the Molecular Biology Techniques Workshop. This intensive two week workshop is designed to train young African investigators and encourage application of biotechnology in scientific research. The workshop consisted of a series of seminars which were open to members of the public, and a main course restricted only to a selected group of participants.

Dr. Brazas, also an instructor in the UBC-BCIT Biotechnology Program, mentioned that there were 24 students from all over Nigeria that attended the workshop. They covered all aspects of molecular biology techniques from DNA and RNA extraction, to PCR amplification, cloning and protein work and bioinformatics. Dr. Brazas mentioned that "while the reagents may have been quite limiting and the equipment lacking (no eppendorf racks, pipettors or incubating shakers), the workshop was a huge success". "The students were accepting of their research conditions yet willing and persistent in their pursuit of discoveries" stated Brazas.

BC Biotech would like to commend the team from UBC for their trip to Lagos.

	Students from the Molecular Biology Techniques Workshop conducting experiments in Lagos, Nigeria
	An African student posing in a laboratory in Lagos, Nigeria

The Molecular Biology Techniques Workshop is organized by the College of Natural Sciences, Redeemer's University in collaboration with The West African Biotechnology Workshops Series, and The Advanced Molecular Biology Laboratory, University of British Columbia, Canada. More information about the workshop can be found at http://www.wabw.org/MolbioTechniques/Molbio_index.html