Singapore: Thailand's flagship biotechnology organization, BIOTEC, NITE Biological Resource Center (NBRC) of Japan and World Data Center for Microorganisms (WDCM), have launched a training course on 'Curation and Management of Microbial Resources'.

The course covers comprehensive topics such as microbial identification and preservation; database management; as well as legal framework on microbial research and management. The first course was held on January 14-17, 2013, at BIOTEC, Thailand Science Park, with over 100 attendants.

The course recognizes the importance of microorganisms, especially those isolated from natural environments in Thailand. The course was created in order to provide professional development for curators of culture collection in academic, research institutes, government agencies and industries as well as to promote the collaboration between the culture collections and strengthen human capacity of participating culture collections in Thailand.