Section A. Basis of Biotechnology 1. Historical background on Biotechnology 2. Introduction to Genomics 3. Next Generation Sequencing (NGS): principles and technical considerations 4. Introductory applied bioinformatics 5. Phylogenetics: Molecular phylogeny & Evolution Section B: Biocontrol 6. Fungi in the biocontrol of forest insect pests 7.
Bacteria in the biocontrol of forest insect pests 8. Microbial control of weeds and invasive plant species 9. Use of phages for the control of bacteria diseases of trees 10. Production; manufacture and regulatory consideration for registration of biocontrol agents Section C: Biofertilizers & Soil fertility 11. Nitrogen-fixing organisms 12. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi 13. Biochar in forestry Section D: Bioremediation 14. Fungi as bioremediation agents 15.
Bacteria as bioremediation agents 16. Phytoremediation Section E: Non-wood forest products 17. Strain collections; screening of strains for potential industrial applications; strain improvement; and metabolic engineering 18. Edible mushrooms (Agaricus; Pleurotus; Shiitake; Chanterella etc.) 19. Medicinal fungi 20. Natural products and secondary metabolites from forest fungi: mining Fungal biodiversity from genomes to compounds Section F: Industrial forest biotechnology 21. Biopulping; biobleaching; deinking 22.
Bioenergy & Biofuel (first; second and third generations) 23. Effluent pretreatment and control of microbial fouling 24. Wood preservation Section G: Tree biotechnology 25. Global distribution of forest biotechnology activities 26. Tree population genomics 27. Genetically modified trees (concept; principles and applications) 28. Ethical and environmental implications of GM-trees: Impact of GM trees on Biodiversity; insect resistance; disease resistance; tolerance to environmental stress; sterility of GM trees; environmental release; regulatory framework; environmental and human health benefit of GM trees; Risk aspects of GM trees to human health and biodiversity 29. Regulatory considerations for the release of GM organisms 30.
Epigenetic regulation in trees: impact on adaptation to biotic and abiotic stressors 31. Tree priming 32. Artificial intelligence and Machine learning in Forest and tree health protection.