BioInfoSummer 2015 Wrap Up

Over 225 researchers and students gathered at BioInfoSummer 2015 which was held in Sydney for the first time, co-hosted by the University of Sydney’s School of Mathematics and Statistics together with the Charles Perkins Centre (CPC).

With an active and growing community of bioinformatics-oriented researchers, this years workshop was held from 7-11 December 2015 to participate in a program that was well represented from a variety of scientific backgrounds, as well as good representation of early and mid-career researchers.

This year’s symposium offered multiple parallel lab sessions, tailoring to various backgrounds and interests, and also saw the introduction of a wet lab experience for computational students, placing BioInfoSummer towards a path of a genuinely interdisciplinary experience.

The themes for the week were:

• Introduction to Biology and Bioinformatics
• Epigenomics
• Translational Genomics
• Proteomics and Metabolomics
• Systems Biology, Networks and Data Integration

BioInfoSummer 2015 was officially opened with a message from Senator the Hon Simon Birmingham, Minister for Education and Training, inspiring participants in speaking of the Australian Government’s support for bioinformatics.

“Inspiring students, researchers and professionals to pursue study and careers in fields such as bioinformatics, is crucial to the future of research and innovation in Australia”

22 speakers featured at the, including international keynote speakers Dr Judith Zaugg (European Molecular Biology Laboratory), Prof. Susan Holmes (Stanford University), Dr Rachel Wang (Stanford University), Dr Mark Ibberson (Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics), Associate Prof. Katerina Kechris (University of Colorado), and Prof. Keith Baggerly (University of Texas – MD Anderson Cancer Centre).

Other program highlights included:

• Maths Saves Lives panel discussion – examining the new field of forensic bioinformatics;
• COMBINE Careers Panel – showcasing four guest expert panelists from various fields;
• Women in Science Networking event – highlighting the contribution of women in mathematics and science, providing a forum for discussion of career paths; and
• Poster Session, Fast Forward Presentations and a Mathematical Biology Special Session.

AMSI BioInfoSummer 2015 was jointly funded by the Department of Education and Training and the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute, with support from The University of Sydney, the Australian Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Society (ABACBS), EMBL Australia, DNA Nexus, Illumina, and the BHP Billiton Foundation (part of the Choose Maths Initiative).

In the Media

Mathematics helping reduce cost of diabetes

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA: 4 December.

With an ageing population and obesity crisis, Type 2 diabetes costs Australian taxpayers over $1.7 billion per year. Hoping to save lives and dollars, Australian researchers believe they have opened the door to diagnosing insulin resistance (IR), one of the earliest predictors of the disease. The team, including AMSI BioInfoSummer 2015 speakers and Charles Perkins Centre at the University of Sydney diabetes researchers, Professor David James and Dr Rima Chaudhuri, have used the power of mathematics to identify a set of genes they believe is able to discriminate between insulin sensitivity and resistance.  Read more…

Maths is saving lives, US forensic expert to give insights

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA: 9 December.

Mathematics is revolutionising cancer research and saving lives, leading international forensic bioinformatician from the United States, Professor Keith Baggerly, will demonstrate at a public event tomorrow. Professor Keith Baggerly, from MD Anderson Cancer Centre, is renowned for his work finding flaws in cancer research that made headlines globally including on 60 Minutes and in the New York Times. Professor Baggerly, who arrived in Sydney yesterday, said data processing in high-throughput biology was often not described well enough to allow for exact reproduction of the results. Read more…