The course will be an introduction to plant and animal cell tissue culture techniques. Students will learn the basic theory of plant and cell tissue culture, and discuss the importance of cell and tissue culture for conservation and related areas. The course will expose the students to the history of tissue culture, the general techniques involved in tissue culture, including media preparation, aseptic techniques and their maintenance. Current issues related to conservation of plant and animal using tissue cultures will be highlighted.

This course is designed to introduce the principles and fundamental methodologies in molecular biology that is applied to solve problems in conservation biology. Molecular biology is one of the many tools available that can be used in systematic, nomenclature and phylogenetic studies, which includes the identification of plant and animal species. Examples of how molecular biology is applied in conservation of organisms will be discussed