17-30 June 2013, User Training Workshop on Biophotonics, Kosice, Slovakia

Location: Department of Biophysics, Pavol Jozef Safarik University, Faculty of Science, Jesenná 5, 040 01 Košice, Slovakia

The School of Biophotonics is organized in collaboration with P.J. Safarik University in Kosice and Université P. et M. Curie, Paris. It is intended mainly for doctoral students and includes 2 weeks of theoretical & practical training.

Report:

The main purpose of the School was to improve both the theoretical and the practical knowledge of doctoral students in advanced methods of biophotonics. The course provided students with a set of lectures on recent advances in biophotonics research, namely optical spectroscopy, imaging and time-resolved techniques. The lectures were coherently supplemented with practical demonstrations of the respective experimental techniques. Moreover, interdisciplinary teams, each of 3-4 students, were formed which had to select and develop their own individual projects, related to the focus of the School. The projects were publicly defended and evaluated during the last day of the School and prizes were awarded during the closing ceremony for the best student contributions.

The School of Biophotonics was attended by 18 PhD students and young researchers from 5 countries, the lectures and practical trainings were imparted by 14 internationally recognised experts in the field of Biophotonics (invited foreign speakers include Prof. J. Popp, Dr. M. Capitanio, Dr. L. Kelemen, Dr. S. Sanchez Cortes, Dr. F. Sureau and Dr. W. Becker). A detailed program of the event may be found through the link below. Information on Laserlab-Europe and the opportunities offered by the project was provided in the form of a 45 min. lecture given by Dr. A. Chorvatova. Opportunities for Access and User Training Events were advertised throughout the whole School. The students were provided with dedicated lectures on Safety and Good Laboratory Practice, as well as Ethics Issues in Biophotonics.

Finally, with the aim to evaluate feedback from the participants, a User Training Questionnaire was distributed and collected. In summary, the School of Biophotonics in Kosice was highly appreciated by all participants, students as well as lecturers. The student teams presented high-quality research that we believe can lead in future to new collaborative proposals for the Laserlab-Europe Access programme.

The School of Biophotonics was held as a joint activity of the International Laser Centre in Bratislava and the Dept. of Biophysics, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of P. J. Safarik in Kosice (both in Slovakia). It was organised with support of the FP7 projects Laserlab-Europe (ID# 284464) and CELIM - Fostering Excellence in Multiscale Cell Imaging (ID# 316310). The School was linked to the doctoral schools of Biophysics (P. J. Safarik University, Kosice, Slovakia) and Interdisciplinaire pour être vivant (Université P. et M. Curie, Paris, France) and was supported by Becker and Hickl, GmbH and ILC SPIE Student Chapter.

Dr. Dusan Chorvat and Prof. Pavol Miskovsky June 29, 2013

Participants in practical excercises	Public defense of the students’ projects