Twenty-three researchers from universities and research institutes from all the 10 ScanBalt countries met at a two-day working session in Copenhagen 20-21 February 2004, sponsored by NorFA. The meeting was organized in order to discuss common interests and needs, map regional focus areas and to identify potential partnerships within the research field of agricultural biotechnology.

The group came to an agreement to start a research-education network focused on biotechnology-based research on root-microbe systems and will submit a NorFA Network application in May 2004.

"Roots and plant-microbe interaction in the root systems are a largely neglected area of molecular plant and microbial research, despite of the crucial importance of root development, and the beneficial and pathogenic microbes to plant growth and productivity.

Soil-borne diseases cause difficult problems in plant production especially in northern Europe due to our climatic conditions. Furthermore, the rhizosphere represents a highly fascinating ecological system with thousands of different kinds of microbes and protozoa interacting with roots and soil. The modern genomics and molecular biology tools allow new, interdisciplinary approaches to tackle this challenging and important research area.

The Nordic and Baltic countries are relatively small, and the number of experts in specific scientific fields are often limited. This is especially pronounced in research on root-microbe interactions. It was very encouraging to realise the enthusiasm among the participants of the meeting who represented very different research areas, from chemistry, genetics and biotechnology to microbiology and plant pathology. We look forward to a very fruitful interdisciplinary collaboration." says professor Jari Valkonen from University of Helsinki.

The initiative is lead be y prof. Valkonen and supported by ScanBalt and the NOVA-BOVA University. For further informtion contact Niels Fuglede, ScanBalt secretariat: nf@scanbalt.org