From September 17th to 20th, the 4th edition of the biannual International Workshop on the Biology of Fish Gametes has been held in Albufeira, in the Portuguese Algarve.
This last edition of the workshop (https://sites.google.com/site/fishgametes2013) has exceeded the number of participation from past editions (Vodnany 2007, Valencia 2009, Budapest 2011), with a total of 118 participants (39 out of them being students) from 24 nationalities, who presented a total of 112 communications: 62 oral presentations divided into 4 sessions (in the picture, Dr. Luz Pérez and Vanesa Robles, Chairmen in one of the sessions), and 50 posters.
We could count with the participation of two invited speakers. Gamete storage and preservation session was initiated with the lecture by Prof. Tiantian Zhang, entitled “Cryopreservation of fish gametes and its applications”, while the Fertilization and progeny session started with the lecture by Dr. Ferenc Müller (in the picture) entitled “What does zebrafish tell us about our genes get switched on?”.
Moreover, there was a session entitled “Standardization of experimental procedures- Cryopreservation” given by Dr. Ákos Horváth and Prof. Harald Rosenthal, and a double “How to do it” session, with the presentation entitled “Automation of the free ImageJ CASA plug-in” by Dr. Craig Purchase and “Fish germline cryobanking” by Dr. Elsa Cabrita.
The local organizers made a great job in all senses, and the selected venue (Grande Real Santa Eulália Resort & Hotel Spa) resulted an excellent place for our work and for the short leisure times we could enjoy there. Very special thanks to Maria Teresa Dinis (4th on the left in the picture), Sonia Martínez Páramo (2nd on the left), Catarina Oliveira (middle) and Elsa Cabrita (first on the right).
In this edition we could count with co-funding by AQUAGAMETE COST Action, which covered, partially, the attendance of 51 participants.
Moreover, during the first day, the representative members of the participant countries in the AQUAGAMETE COST Action attended the Management Committee meeting, in which the activities performed during the first year were reviewed, and the activities to perform during the second year (March 2014-February 2015) were planned. They will be announced in this web.