The Gregor Mendel Genetic Society (hereafter GMGS), which brings together scientific research and teaching staff from the Czech Republic and Slovakia, is organising a genetics conference on the 5-7th October 2022 at Slavkov castle near Brno. The conference is being organised under the auspices of the Dean of Masaryk University’s (MU) Faculty of Science, Tomáš Kašparovský, with the participation of employees and students of the Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology of the Institute of Experimental Biology (MU Faculty of Science).
In addition to shorter lectures and the traditional competitive poster presentation, the program includes 20 plenary lectures from leading experts at Czech and Slovak universities and academic workplaces presenting current knowledge from all areas of genetics and molecular biology. The GMGS also organises a competition every three years for the best set of publications by colleagues under the age of 35, with an award of 2000 Euros provided by our sponsor, MGP.
As one of the organisers, Jiří Doškař (Head of the Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology) stated that “as in previous years, the conference will be polythematic as the research interests of the expert participants are all oriented in different directions. Many of the participants are also teachers who are keen to learn about the many different areas of genetics. We are looking forward to all the contributions as the abstracts clearly show that we will be hearing something new from each one. I am also very much looking forward to meeting my colleagues in person, because there is no substitute for direct contact in science; indeed, this is one of the biggest benefits of such meetings. Finally, I am also greatly looking forward to the poster and lecture competitions aimed at our less experienced colleagues”, Jiří concluded.
Owing to their coincidental timing and similar focus, the GMGS conference will take place together with the Genetic Days conference. The Genetic Days conference has a very long tradition, the first meeting having been held in the 1960s. This year sees the 29th such conference, which will focus on the use of genetics and molecular biology in breeding. You can read more about the conference here.
Translation by Kevin Roche
The author of the final part of our podcast serie is the Dean of the Faculty of Science of Masaryk University, Professor Tomáš Kašparovský. He talks about why Mendel is inspiring for him personally, as a scientist and educator, and about pushing the boundaries of knowledge and science.
In addition to his genetic research, Johann Gregor Mendel also devoted himself to the care of bees. His father, Anton, who had an apiary in Hynčice, first introduced him to beekeeping, and this soon became his hobby; however, first he had to find a suitable place for breeding these hard-working insects....
