The BioUpdate Foundation has been using the Novartis Foundation for many of its courses for a number of years and has always found it very satisfactory from the point of view of its ideal location in Portland Place in central London, with its facilities for the conduct of the courses, accommodation and cuisine.

We thought that we should inform you that, sadly, we will not be able to use the  Novartis for a while as a result of various changes.

The Novartis website carries the following statement:

“Towards the end of 2006, the Trustees of the Novartis Foundation were informed that the support for the Foundation would cease at the end of February 2008. The Trustees considered various options for the future and, after much deliberation, favoured a merger with the Academy of Medical Sciences.

The Academy and the Novartis Foundation merged on 31 July 2008, prior to the dissolution of the Foundation later this year. As a result of this merger the Academy has taken over 41 Portland Place and will be overseeing the current hospitality business until 31 December 2008.

The Academy plans to continue the legacy of the Novartis Foundation by establishing its headquarters at Portland Place and providing a centre of excellence for the research community for biomedical science and healthcare.

A major refurbishment will take place during 2009 and the premises are due to reopen in 2010”.

The BioUpdate Foundation hopes that it may then be possible to use the Portland Place building and facilities for its courses, once again.

Currently, BioUpdate Courses, which still include accommodation, take place at the Regardz Berghotel at Amersfoort in the Netherlands. Amersfoort itself is a short train journey from Schiphol airport.

Dormancy, diapause, rest and quiescence are terms that describe a state of (temporarily) lowered metabolic activity or ‘hypometabolic state’. Dormancy is a state of suspended animation of life functions and is found in many species, ranging from bears to mice and frogs, from fish to buds and seeds and from crustaceans to yeast and bacteria. It is an adaptation to survive future unfavourable conditions for prolonged periods of time.
Dormancy and stress responses are closely linked. Many organisms become dormant before they are exposed to stress conditions. The timing may depend on developmental phase (e.g. sexual versus asexual), seasonal rhythms, environmental cues and food supply, among others. Common denominators appear to be a controlled reduction of metabolic activity, arrest of the cell cycle and the initiation of protective mechanisms.
Studies of dormancy may ultimately result in improved methods for the long- term biopreservation and storage of cells, tissues, organs and organisms.

Because of the vastness of the subject and its acknowledged importance to agriculture and horticulture, our first ever post-experience course on DORMANCY will be limited to plants. It is planned to address the following topics:

· Definitions, classification and nomenclature
· Regulation and control of post-harvest environments
· Treatments to induce dormancy and/or germination
· Genetic, physical and physiological aspects
· Predictive laboratory testing
· Critique of significant patent literature, mainly relating to ‘improvements’