The Hollaender Courses

The Hollaender Courses are training courses offered once a year to scientists in countries requesting further training in genetic toxicology, environmental mutagenesis, DNA repair, or genomics. These courses were initiated in the 1960s by Alexander Hollaender for the purpose of providing scientific exchange between the EMGS and scientists in Latin America. After 1993, these courses have been offered to scientists beyond Latin America.

The courses are created to serve the unique interests and needs of the requesting group, and they have consisted of lecture courses or laboratory-based experimental training. They can be as short as 1 day or as long as 5 days. Some have involved an online training component, as few as 20 and as many as several hundred people have participated in any particular course. The courses have typically provided training in the use of the standard genetic toxicology assays, such as the Salmonella (Ames) mutagenicity assay, the comet assay for DNA damage, and the micronucleus assay. Other topics have included bioinformatics, analysis of large (big) datasets, and methods for sampling air/water/soil samples for mutagenicity analysis. A list of past programs of the Hollaender courses can be found here: Past Hollaender Courses

The courses are developed jointly by those requesting the course and members of EMGS. The EMGS provides some financial support for each course (usually US$10,000), and the host organization provides the remaining support. Application for consideration for a course can be made using the form found here: Apply for Support