As a part of its fourth anniversary celebrations, the Chennai centre of Nichi-in Centre for Regenerative Medicine (NCRM), will be conducting an all India quiz competition on stem cells and regenerative medicine on October 24.

The quiz programme named 'The Fujio Cup Quiz' (FCQ) is meant for undergraduate and postgraduate students of life sciences, biology, medicine and biotechnology. The winner will get the prestigious Fujio Cup established in the name of the renowned Japanese physician, Dr Fujio Takayama and a cash award of Rs 10,000.

According to the centre, the questions for the competition will cover the areas on basics and essentials of the history and development of stem cells/regenerative medicine, cell biology, molecular biology, stem cells pre-clinical and clinical applications/cell therapeutics, immunology, cancer biology, developmental biology, ethics, nanotechnology and genetics.

FCQ will be preceded by a plenary session on stem cells and regenerative medicine and followed by a symposium on the same subject.

Two teams, comprising two members from any institution can participate in the programme. Though the finalists of the previous year quiz programme (2008) are not eligible to participate, their institution can be represented by other students, sources from the centre said.

Those who want to participate in the FCQ have to register with the centre before August 15. Completed applications should reach the office on or before that date. Those who have registered can also participate in the plenary session and the symposium without any additional registration fee.