Second OIE/FAO-APHCA/NIAH-Japan Regional Hands-on Training Workshop on Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) and Other Prion Diseases Diagnosis (Tsukuba Science City, 15-20 January and Tokyo, 21-22 January 2007)
The Second Regional Hands-on Training Workshop on BSE and Other Prion Diseases Diagnosis, including Western Blotting (WB), was jointly organised by OIE and FAO-APHCA in collaboration with NIAH of Japan (OIE World Reference Laboratory for BSE), in Tsukuba Science City and Tokyo, Japan, on 15-22 January 2007, to strengthen the laboratory diagnostic capability, information exchange and scientific network among selected Asian countries which participated in the First Regional Hands-on Training Workshop held in Tsukuba Science City, Japan, in 2005.
Six participants from China PR, India, Korea RO, Mongolia, Philippines and Thailand, attended the Workshop.
Welcome addresses were delivered by Dr Toshiaki Taniguchi, Director General of NIAH, Dr Shirou Mohri, Director of the Prion Disease Research Center, Dr Vishnu Songkitti, Project Officer of FAO-APHCA and Dr Yoshiyuki Oketani, OIE Deputy Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific.
A special lecture was given by Dr Mohri. He lectured on the overview of BSE, TSE and Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease situations and their histories in the world.
Dr Takashi Yokoyama, Chief Researcher of the Prion Disease Center (OIE World Reference Laboratory for BSE) made a lecture on BSL3 and led the training on Western Blotting (WB).
Training on Immnohistchemistry (IHC) was led by Dr Okada, Researcher of the Prion Disease Center.
The training courses on WB and IHC were both conducted in BSL3 facilities.
The participants presented their reports on BSE surveillance and diagnosis in their countries.
The Workshop was successfully implemented to share the latest knowledge on BSE researches and laboratory diagnosis techniques conducted at NIAH-Japan, in accordance with the standards used by the OIE Reference Laboratory.
The participants visited the Tokyo sub-branch office of the Animal Quarantine Service located in the Tokyo Bay area and the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Tokyo for exchange of information on BSE and for lectures on recent food safety measures and BSE cases in Japan.
All the participants proposed to further strengthen the mutual technical collaborations among the OIE/FAO-APHCA Working Group on BSE and other Prion Diseases, that is, the BSE researcher’s network in Asia, which consists of the participants who attended the First or Second OIE/FAO-APHCA/NIAH-Japan Regional Hands-on Training Workshop on BSE.
- FAO-APHCA = Animal Production and Health Commission for Asia and the Pacific of FAO
- NIAH-Japan = National Institute of Animal Health of Japan