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N e w s

Dr. Michio Okamoto receives an honour form Germany Dr. Michio Okamoto, a former Rector of Kyoto University and member of the Japan

Neuroscience Society, received the Knight Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for his achievement in the field of neuroanatomy and for his eminent contribution to the academic and cultural cooperation between Ger- many and Japan. The honour was conveyed to Dr. Okamoto by the Osaka/Kobe Consulate General of the F.R.G. on 9th April 1992.

5th IBRO Intensive Workshop on Basic Neuroscience in Denedin The Otago Medical School will host the 5th IBRO Intensive Workshop on Basic

Neuroscience. Twenty-five students from Asian Oceanic regions will be invited to stay from 7 November to 6 December 1992. Each student will join an active laboratory and learn one or more techniques. The organizer is Professor John Hubbard (Department of Physiology, Otago Medical School, New Zealand). Applications should be sent to the IBRO Commission on Pan-Asian Oceanic Neuroscience. This workshop parallels the 2nd IBRO Postdoctoral Training Workshop to be held in Vancouver from 1st to 30th November (see NSR 14/1).

Molecular Diversity of Glutamate Receptors At the 69th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Physiological Society held in Akita on

2-4 April 1992, Dr. S. Nakanishi (Institute for Immunology, Kyoto University Faculty of Medicine) reviewed the present status of molecular studies on the diversity of glutamate receptors. He reported the existence of the 5th subtype (mGluR5) of the metabotropic glutamate receptors in addition to the four subtypes previously reported. This receptor shows the highest sequence similarity to mGluR1 among the mGluR subtypes and closely resembles mGluR1 in its signal transduction (PI hydrolysis/Ca 2+) and agonist selectivity (quisqualate > glutamate >_ ibotenate > tACPD). However, mGluR5 mRNA is expressed differently from mGluR1 mRNA in many brain regions.