Quiz on stem cells and regenerative medicine

For details and registration, log on to http://www.fujiocupquiz.org/fcq2009/index.htm

The fourth edition of the Fujio Cup Quiz, an exclusive quiz competition on stem cells and regenerative medicine, is scheduled for October 24 in Chennai.

The objectives of the quiz competition are to motivate the biotech, biology and medical students by exposing them to the potential of this field, evaluate and develop the skills and capabilities of the young and budding scientists and to spur collabor ations and exchange between basic scientists and medical personnel.

The quiz marks the fourth anniversary of the Nichi-In Centre for Regenerative Medicine (NCRM), an Indo-Japan joint venture institute, accomplishing training, research and clinical application-protocol development in cell therapeutics.

The previous edition attracted contestants from more than 120 institutes from Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Maharashtra. Both undergraduate and postgraduate students of medical, biology and biotechnology courses enrolled in government and private institutes all over India are eligible to participate.

The subjects covered will be basics and essentials of history and development of stem cells/regenerative medicine, cell biology, molecular biology, use of stem cells in pre-clinical and clinical applications/cell therapeutics and immunology.

Questions will also be based on cancer biology, developmental biology, ethics, nanotechnology and genetics.

A preliminary round of written tests will be conducted to shortlist the six best teams who will face-off in the final round of general and visual rounds. The finalists of the previous year quiz (2006-2008) cannot participate, though their institute can be represented by other students.

The winning team gets a cash prize of Rs.10,000 and the institute they represent will be awarded the ‘Fujio Cup’.

The first runner-up team gets Rs. 5,000 as cash prize. Finalists will get certificates distributed at the anniversary ceremony. By tradition, a plenary session on cutting-edge stem cell protocols will precede the finals.

Ryuji Hata, Ehime University-Faculty of Medicine, Matsuyama, Japan, is slated to speak on ‘Therapeutic potential of stem cells in hair cell repair’, and Yukio Nakamura, Riken- Bio Resources Centre, Tsukuba, Japan on ‘In vitro production of RBCs from ES, iPS & stem cell banking in Japan’.