qpcr2004@wzw.tum.de  

Feedback by the participants
1st International qPCR Symposium  &  Application Workshop©
Transcriptomics, Clinical Diagnostics  &  Gene Quantification
3rd - 6th March, 2004  in  Freising-Weihenstephan, Germany


Dear Dr. Pfaffl,

Thank you for organizing the qPCR symposium and workshop! I took away a lot of useful information that will be valuable to myself and my collegues. The Bavarian gala dinner was an EXCELLENT idea and a wonderful experience.

At my level, I found the Saturday portion of the qPCR workshop extremely informative and helpful (especially the presentation from Neven Zoric).  I was in the group with the morning talks and there was a lot of great discussion.  Unfortunately, due to all of the questions there wasn't enough time to cover all the planned material.  Perhaps at the next workshop, more time should be allotted to these very informative sessions.

Also, in my opinion it would be more beneficial to schedule the workshop before the symposium.  In the workshop, a beginner like myself gains more clarity about many of the topics presented in the symposium.  I generated
so many thoughts and questions on Saturday that I would have liked to talk to symposium participants about.  Unfortunately they were already gone!

Thanks again to you and your team for an excellent meeting!

-----------------------------------------------------------
Kelly Zullig
Research Technician
Department of Zoology
253K Pearson Hall
Miami University
Oxford, OH  45056

Dear Michael

I just wanted to thank you for organising last weeks meeting. I thoroughly enjoyed it and am looking forward to the next.

Sincerely

Jim

--------------------------------
Jim Huggett BSc. PhD.
Senior Research Fellow
Centre for Infectious Diseases
Windeyer Building
46 Cleveland Street
London, W1T 4JF


Dear Dr. Pfaffl and members of the qPCR commitee,

I would like to thank you for allowing me to speak at such a wonderful session. Also, many thanks for your efforts to make the workshop such a success. It was a very nice opportunity for me to review some of the old material as well as being introduced to the new developments in qPCR technology. qPCR certainly has not run out of limiting reagents yet, and is still climbing high in the exponential phase.

The Bavarian hospitality wrapped us like a confortable warm blanket and therefore helped us to socialisze and network with ease. During those symposium days we were united by one technique, but most of all united by you and your organizations kindness and dedicated efforts !

I look forward to the next meeting as well as my trip to Bavaria with optimism !

kind regards

Eisuke

=================
Eisuke Koya
Department of Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
The Netherlands

Hi,

I participated in your excellent symposium in Munich recently.
Thank you for an interesting and stimulating programme.
 
Regards,
Rasmus Goll

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Rasmus Goll
University of Tromso
Norway

Hi,

I just wanted to thank all of you for the great symposium last week.
It was one of the best organised symposia I ever went.
The selected talks were very nice, we had a good place for our stand, the social programm was well organized.....
I hope we will have in the future more of the great symposia.

Kind regards,

Mary

====================
Mary Span
Senior Product Manager
Eurogentec S.A.

Dear Michael, Ulrich and other organizers,

First off, let me congratulate you and your team on a fine symposium! I hope that you have had a chance to enjoy some well-deserved rest and relaxation.
 
Thanks and very best regards,
Sandi

############################
Sandi Meyer
Senior Research Associate
Nucleic Acids Analysis Lab
Pioneer Hi-Bred, Int'l, a DuPont Company

 
Dear Dr. Michael and Ulrich

I supposed you already have received countless compliment of organising this wonderful conference.
Despite it, i still wish to thank you for your generosity treat and your lovely team.  We thoroughly
enjoyed every minutes of it. Well, no pressure for the next year's conference them.

Big cheers and see you next year.

susan chang,

=====
Susan, Jung-Su, Chang,    
Mphill/PhD student, UCL, university college London
Center for infectious disease & international health,
Windeyer Institute,
46 Cleveland Street, London,WC1X8LD


Dr. Pfaffl,

Thank you for the opportunity to speak at your symposium. I have attached a pdf of my talk as requested.

I was very impressed at the quality of discussions during and after the talks. I am sure that this has stimulated a better understanding of qPCR and its associated challenges - for both the researchers and the reviewers.

Best regards,
Hilary

=================================
Hilary K. Srere, Ph. D.
Marketing Manager - Amplification
Bio-Rad Laboratories
2000 Alfred Nobel Drive
Hercules, CA 94547


Hello Michael,

Thank you so much for organising the meeting.  It was a huge endeavour that was very well executed.  My only regret was that I was unable to attend all of the seminars.  As I mentioned to you earlier, my recommendation would be to have special interest seminars (eg Food hygiene, Pathogen detection) running concurrently, with general interest ones (eg new chemistries, data analysis) available to all attendees.

I very much look forward to the next meeting.
Babette Fahey,
MJ Research

**************************************************************
Babette Fahey, PhD
International Field Applications Specialist
MJ Research, Inc.
590 Lincoln Street
Waltham, MA 02451

Hi there,

here is my feedback to the events, in blue:

·         organization
·         well done, Stratagene got an excellent position for the booth and the breaks were also very helpful  in allowing the customers visiting the booth. Ulrich Wild and Michael Paffl were very, very helpful indeed.
 
·         quantity and quality of the talks
·         the quantity might have been too much – maybe less talks or one day more.
·         There was a lot of information to be gathered at once

·         poster session
·         I heard some complaints in having it parallel to the talks, but I couldn’t visit it

·         application workshop
·         the communication here was very poor. Something to be improved. The companies that were taking part on the workshop were not informed about the program in advance and were not aware of what exactly would be happening with enough time upfront, resulting in bad organization for both parties

·         catering and evening events
·         Excellent. Very good food and entertainment.

Thank you all. Elisete

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Elisete Pedrollo, Ph.D.
Regional Sales Manager - GAS
Stratagene Europe

Dear Michael,

Thanks again for inviting me to a wonderful meeting.
As promised, I attach my presentation as PPT file.

Hope to see you again.

Best regards,
Jo

----------------------
Dr. ir. Jo Vandesompele
Center for Medical Genetics Ghent (CMGG)
Ghent University Hospital, 1K5
De Pintelaan 185, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium


Dear Dr. Pfaffl

Thank you very much to you, Ulrich Wild and the rest of the team for organising this excellent symposium. I managed to learn quite a bit and talk to many interesting people while enjoying myself at the same time - the ultimate achievement of a successful conference in my opinion.

You asked for both positive and negative feedback and so I'll try to do my best.

Organisation:
Very well organised from start to finish.
A few areas where I believe improvements could make the experience even better:
- A delegate list available up front (also even if it is just a preliminary version).
- Make delegates aware up front that printed programmes will not be supplied.

Quantity and quality of talks:
- I think the number of talks were just right.
- Some talks were more sales pitched than scientifically relevant
- It was very nice with a mixture of long and short presentations.

Poster session:
- More time for poster sessions. Maybe instead of parallel programmes based entirely on talks, part of this could be poster sessions?
- Posters located more centrally to the main area.
- Good idea to divide them into subjects.

Application workshop:
- Several of the Friday afternoon talks were not particularly relevant
from a scientific point of view.
- The talk on Saturday was much more useful, although some breaks along
the way would have been nice.
- The qPCR instrumentation presentation was a good opportunity to ask
specific questions to manufacturers and to compare instruments.

Catering and evening events:
- Having people stay on site for the excellent buffet on the first evening was a brilliant idea. It was a good opportunity to get to know a lot of people and to exchange thoughts and ideas. It was very enjoyable.
- The Bavarian dinner at the Weihenstephaner Brewery on the second night was the highlight of the social events. I had a very good time.  Please keep that one in the programme for next year.
- Lunch in the cafeteria was all right, but a bit stressed for time with only one hour available and long queues to negotiate.
- The workshop lunch was superb.
- Coffee breaks were good, no excuse for starving during the talks.
- The idea of serving the excellent Bavarian beer straight after the last talks made people stay around and fuelled numerous discussions and possibilities for establishing new contacts.

Also a big thank you to the staff taking care of registration and catering. They did a marvellous job.

In summary, I would say that this was the best conference I have attended so far and I will be looking forward to the 2nd International qPCR Symposium next year.

Best wishes,

Morten T. Andersen
Researcher,  LGC
Queens Road
Teddington,  Middlesex
TW11 0LY,  UK

Thank you for a great symposium. It was very nice to meet you all.
Here comes my poster as a ppt-file that I didn't send before the conference.
 
Best regards
 
Kristina Lind


Hallo Dr. Pfaffl,
 
zum einen möchte ich Ihnen und allen Verantwortlichen zur Organisation des überaus interessanten und erfolgreichen Symposiums gratulieren und mich für die Möglichkeit der Teilnahme bedanken.
Außerdem sende ich Ihnen mein Poster zur Veröffentlichung auf Ihrer Homepage zu.
Nochmals vielen Dank!
 
Mit freundlichen Grüßen
Norman
 
------------------------------
Norman Haefner
Gynaekologische Molekularbiologie
Frauenklinik FSU Jena
Bachstrasse 18
07743 Jena

Hi Dr Pfaffl,

Many thanks for a terrific symposium.
My concern now is to accurately transfer the information to my colleagues, so I am delighted that you will post the talks on the website. I have made some comments below, this is from an Australian's perspective...

Organisation
-          a bound book of the abstracts in the conference bag would have been appreciated
-          a note pad
-          a ½ day free time to view posters, give some mental relief, or shop in beautiful Freising would be appreciated (I could not manage any of these)

Workshop
-          I was surprised at the cost to participants, since it was essentially a trade demonstration (and very useful)

Posters
-          insufficient free time to view posters
-          some of the poster areas were too cramped to allow easy viewing and movement

Catering
-          student canteen adequate
-          lunch at workshop first class
-          Bavarain night first class

Evening functions
-          the Bavarian night was first class, fabulous atmosphere and company

The tone of the conference was very friendly and open, suited to free exchange of information.

I am looking forward to attending next year.

Many thanks,

Lesley Snell

====================================
Lesley Snell  FIBMS
Senior Medical Scientist
Dept.Haematology & Genetic Pathology SouthPath
Flinders Medical Centre Bedford Park
South Australia 5042

Dear Ulrich and Michael:

    Thank you and congratulations to both of you for organizing such an
excellent meeting.  My travel to and from Friesing was very smooth and my
head is buzzing with new ideas.  Those are the signs of a really good
meeting.

All the Best,

Larry Wangh
=============================
Larry Wangh, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Biology
Brandeis University


Lieber Herr Pfaffl

Zuerst möchte ich Ihnen noch einmal schreiben, dass der Kongress wirklich hervorragend war und es sicher einmal Zeit, dass jemand so etwas macht. Es war perfekt organisiert und ich wollte Ihnen noch einmal danken.

Außerdem hätte ich gerne ein Passwort für das REST Tool.

Vielen DANK und beste Grüße aus Berlin,

Andreas Nitsche
______________________________
Dr. Andreas Nitsche
Robert Koch Institut
Zentrum für Biologische Sicherheit 1
Nordufer 20
13353 Berlin


Thank you for very nice symposium. I had such an nice opportunity to
solve some problems we were having using the the method and I think that
with out this meeting our method optimization would have been lot harder.

Juha
______________________________
Juha Eljas A. Knuuttila
Neuroscience Center
P.O. Box 56
00014 University of Helsinki, FINLAND
Street address: Viikinkaari 4 (Cultivator II, Office: A133b)


Dear Michael,

Congratulations on organising and hosting such an excellent conference and
trade exhibition.  The venue was appropriate, the technical content
stimulating and the food satisfying ... but I still preferred the beer!  I
look forward to the next event and would like to receive details of
attending both as a vistor and, potentially, as an exhibitor.

Will you be publishing a list of names and contact details for all
participants of the symposium?

Regards,

Michael

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael P. Andreou
Managing Director
OptiSense Limited
Unit 2, Genesis Business Centre

Hi Michael!
 
Thanks again for a great symposium and for help with the arrangements.
Here are my posters in PDF, they may be published on the website as we agreed (password protected in the beginning, free access later).
 
Thanks!

Martin Bengtsson

Hallo Michael,

war echt klasse die Tagung - hat mir viel Spaß gemacht. Vielen Dank nochmal für die Einladung.

Viele Grüße, und vielleicht bis bald,
Tanja
____________________________________
Dr.med. Dr.med.vet. Tanja P. Neuvians
Pathologisches Institut
Universitätsklinikum Mannheim
Theodor-Kutzer-Ufer 1-3
68167 Mannheim


Dear Dr. Pfaffl!
Thank you very much for an excellent 1st qPCR Symposium! I really enjoyed
it. I also enjoyed reading your article on the "Standardized determination
of real-time PCR efficiency from a single reaction set-up".

Greeting,
Oddmund Nordgård

******************************************
Oddmund Nordgård
Department of Haematology and Oncology
Rogaland Central Hospital
P.O. Box 8100
4068 STAVANGER

Sehr geehrter Michael Pfaffl, sehr geehrter Ulrich Wild

das erste internationale QPCR Meeting war eines der sympathischsten Tagungen an der ich teilgenommen habe. Vielen Dank auch an ihr Team welches jederzeit mit Rat und Tat zur Seite stand und besser organisiert war als mancher professioneller Veranstalter. Beim 2. QPCR Meeting 2005 sind wir sicher wieder dabei.

Andreas Eckelt
Cepheid Europa


Dear Colleagues,
 
It was a real pleasure to attend the 1st International qPCR Symposium and Application Workshop. I learned a lot during those days. Would you be so kind to give me access to the abstracts of oral and poster presentations?
It would be very useful to have the powerpoint or pdf presentations.
By the way, it would be nice to see also the portuguese flag in your website :)
 
Congratulations once more.
 
All the best, 
Paulo Santos

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Laboratorio de Genómica Funcional
Centro de Histocompatibilidade do Centro
Praceta Mota Pinto, piso 4, Apartado 9041
3001-301 Coimbra, Portugal

Dear DR. Ulrich,

It was great experiences for us to join the symposia and workshop even the cold weather did not compromised with us. Thank you for your excellent Bavarian dinner.
Please send us Certificate of symposia and workshop for each of us because we need it as a report to our Dean.

Thank you.

=================================
Dr. Adi Priyana
Dr. Widyasari Kumala MS. Sp.MK
Medical Faculty of Trisakti University, Jakarta, Indonesia.


Sehr geehrter Herr Michael Pfaffl!

Ich habe die Organisation des Symposium sehr gut gefunden. Es waren sehr viele Vorträge, aber ich bin der Meinung dass man ist in der Tagung für 2-3 Tagen und es mußen viele fachliche Sachen besprochen , und mit vielen unterschiedlichen Personen Kontakt aufgenohmen werden.
Nur ein kleiner Fehler: Die Posters wurden in sehr kleinen, ein bischen eng und unübersichtlichen Räumen gestehlt, an wenigsten die Posters in Untergeschoß.

Vielen Dank und bis nächstes Jahr!

##############################
Mag. Sandra Revilla Fernández
Österreichische Agentur für Gesundheit und Ernährungssicherheit GmbH
Bereich Veterinärmedizin Mödling,  Institut für Virologie, Abteilung PCR

Dear Michael

Apologies for the delay in writing but I have been travelling since the QPCR meeting.I just wanted to say it was an excellent meeting for us in terms of both the commercial opportunities offered as well as the way it was organised, congratulations to all the team members. We would be delighted to return,should you decide to reconvene next October.

Can you pls send me contact details for the attendees-understood it may have been on the web site but have not been able to find the list. Thanks in advance.

Best Regards

Nelson Nazareth

#################################################
BioGene Limited
6 The Business Centre
Harvard Way, Kimbolton
Cambridgeshire PE28 0NJ,  United Kingdom

Dear Dr. Michael Pfaffl,

great symposium !!!    and the bavarian dinner...excellent!!!

organization    8   ( but much expensive )
quantity and quality of the talks        8
poster session   7
application workshop   4   ( in my opinion this one have to be for free ! )
catering and evening events   10

Dr. Gianni Carraro

PhD student

Greetings from the US!

Unfortunately we were not able to attend the workshop a couple of weeks ago, but from the looks of the website it appears to have been a huge success!

We are very interested in the latest qPCR information, however we noticed that access to the abstracts is limited to participants.  Is it possible that this status will change so that those of us who were not able to attend can learn from what was presented?

Thanks!
Holly Bowers
U of Maryland
Institute of Human Virology

Dear Dr. Pfaffl and co organizers,

Thank you very much for a terrific meeting, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

The application workshop might have been more effective if participants
could have spent more time at certain instruments focusing on their
specific questions.

Again, thank you for organizing this wonderful opportunity to exchange
information with colleagues from all over the globe.

I look forward to the next qPCR symposium and workshop!

Kind regards,

Dr. Udo Friedrich
Project Manager Molecular Biology
Danisco Deutschland GmbH


Dear Dr Pfaffl,

many thanks and congratulations for the 1st qPCR Symposium. It was an high level symposium that open the mind to several applications of qPCR. The organization and all the other aspects has been well conducted. For the next symposium, I hope that it will be more participation from people involved in plant genetics.

Many thanks again,
Valeria Terzi

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Sperimentale per la Cerealicoltura
Via San Protaso 302
29017-Fiorenzuola d’Arda (PC),  Italy







We thank all sponsors for supporting the
qPCR Symposium & Application Workshop



Platinum  and  Lead Sponsor:







Gold Sponsors:




 





MJ Research


http://www.mjr.com/html/instruments/opticon/index.html




Silver Sponsors:



http://www.appliedbiosystems.com/products/productdetail.cfm?ID=42



http://www.artus-biotech.com


http://www.bdbiosciences.com/


http://www.cepheid.com


http://www.eurogentec.com




http://www.exiqon.com








http://www.metralabs.com/en/dindex.html


http://www.premierbiosoft.com/




http://www1.qiagen.com/


http://www.roboscreen.com/

http://www.invitek.de/





We thank the dairy WEIHENSTEPHAN (Müller Milch Group
www.muellermilch.de )
for sponsoring the qPCR Symposium & Application Workshop.




1st International qPCR Symposium  &  Application Workshop © 2003 & 2004  by Michael W. Pfaffl

For further questions about the scientific meeting contact  qpcr2004@wzw.tum.de

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