The III International Symposium on Plant Cryopreservation (Cryo- Symp 2018) was successfully held on March 26-28, 2018, in Bangkok, Thailand. The symposium was organized by the Department of Plant Science, Faculty of Science, Mahidol University, under the auspices of the International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS) and with the support of the Plant Genetic Conservation Project, under the Royal Initiative of HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn (RSPG), the Department of Agriculture (DOA), the Thailand Institute of Scientific and Technological Research (TISTR), the Asia-Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institutes (APAARI), and the Asia-Pacific Consortium on Agricultural Biotechnology and Bioresources (APCoAB). The symposium attracted 114 participants, including presenters, accompanying people, staff, researchers and government agents from 25 countries around the world (Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Philippines, Russia, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom and USA), who shared their knowledge and experiences on a wide range of topics in plant cryopreservation.
The symposium was opened by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kanchit Thammasiri, Symposium Convener, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Puangpaka Umpunjun, the Head of Department of Plant Science, and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sittiwat Lertsiri, the Dean of Faculty of Science, followed by a welcome address and ISHS presentation by Dr. Bart Panis, ISHS representative and Vice-Chair of former ISHS Commission Molecular Biology and In Vitro Culture. Dr. Bart Panis presented the ISHS certificate and medal award to the convener. The souvenirs to the symposium sponsors were presented by the convener, and the opening ceremony ended with group photographs.
There were two days (March 26 and 27) of scientific program, starting with three invited speakers, namely Dr. Bart Panis, Senior Researcher at Bioversity International, Leuven, Belgium; Dr. Takao Niino, Senior Scientist at Gene Research Center, University of Tsukuba, Japan; and Prof. Dr. Hugh Pritchard, Head of Comparative Seed Biology, Royal Botanic Gardens, United Kingdom. Then, 31 oral presentations were divided into three sessions: Research in plant cryopreservation, Cryobanking, and Methods in plant cryopreservation. In addition, 34 posters were presented over the two days. All oral and poster presentations were of interest to participants, who responded and shared knowledge and experiences with questions, suggestions and discussion. Further discussions occurred during the breaks, lunches, welcome dinner and technical tour, which encouraged the participants to exchange research ideas, projects and common interests, as they renewed friendships and established new ones.
The social program of the symposium included a welcome dinner, a cultural show in the venue hotel and a technical tour. The participants enjoyed food and were entertained by a cultural show related to the old Thai history. Many pictures were taken and the participants enjoyed talking with old friends and meeting with new friends.
At the end of the second day, an ISHS business meeting was arranged by Dr. Bart Panis. Dr. Bart Panis and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kanchit Thammasiri presented ISHS young minds award certificates to Ms. Miriam Valle Arizaga, Ph.D. candidate from University of Tsukuba, Japan, for the best oral presentation entitled "Cryopreservation of in vitro shoot tips of chayote (Sechium spp.) by D cryo-plate method", and to Mr. Tagrid Imsomboon, Ph.D. candidate from Mahidol University, Thailand, for the best poster entitled "Cryopreservation of non-cultured protocorms of Acampe rigida (Buch.- Ham. ex Sm.) P.F. Hunt using V-cryo-plate and D-cryo-plate methods". Subsequently, it was decided to hold the IV International Symposium on Plant Cryopreservation in Norway by the Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (NIBIO) in June 2021. The conveners of the next symposium will be Dr. Dag-Ragnar Blystad and Dr. Zhibo Zhang. At the end of the symposium, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kanchit Thammasiri expressed his appreciation to all participants, to sponsors of the symposium and to all members of the Organizing Committee for their efforts and contributions.
The last day (March 28) was entirely dedicated to a technical tour in Pathum Thani province. In the morning, the participants visited the Genebank, Department of Agriculture, which conserves seeds for medium-term storage (5°C, 60% RH, storage for 5-20 years). An Automatic Bullet Crane System is used to conserve seeds in PET plastic bottles with a capacity of 150,000 accessions. For long-term storage (-10°C, storage for 20-50 years), seeds are packed in vacuum-sealed aluminum foil packages with a maximum capacity of 40,000 accessions. The participants also visited the Pathum Thani Rice Research Center, Department of Rice, which conducts research on wild Thai rice and collects germplasm. After lunch at the Pathum Thani Rice Research Center, participants went to the National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, National Science and Technology Development Agency, which has four thematic research programs, namely Agriculture and food, Health and medicine, Energy and environment, and Bioresource center and utilization. It has established multiple laboratories for conducting research and/ or providing technical services on industrial applications, community development and international collaborations. The participants were very interested in all research programs.
The book of abstracts is available at the symposium website: www.sc.mahidol.ac.th/ scpl/cryosymp2018. The proceedings of the symposium will be published as a volume of Acta Horticulturae after editorial review.
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