BioInfoSummer 2017 Wrap Up

AMSI BioInfoSummer 2017 was held at Monash University from 4-8 December and hosted by the Monash Bioinfomatics Platform. Over 170 students, researchers, academics and professionals gathered for the five-day event to increase their knowledge and skills in this truly interdisciplinary field.

The symposium was opened by BioInfoSummer founder, Professor Susan Wilson (The University of New South Wales) who was introduced by Professor Geoff Prince (AMSI). Following the opening, Associate Professor David Powell (Monash University and AMSI BioInfoSummer 2017 Event Director) introduced Professor Melanie Bahlo (Walter & Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research) who gave the keynote presentation titled “Bioinformatics: just pipelines, isn’t it?”

The program commenced with an introduction to bioinformatics on day one followed by four days of specialised content focused on:

• visualisation, modelling and analysis
• RNA-seq
• proteomics and metabolomics and
• single-cell genomics.

Over the course of the week, attendees got to hear from 24 national speakers and 3 international speakers including Professor Steve Rozen (Duke-NUS Medical School Singapore), Dr Michael Lawrence (Genentech, USA) and Dr Tallulah Andrews (The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, UK) as well as 5 workshop presenters. To compliment the scientific program, the following additional program extras and networking events were incorporated into the symposium for delegates to maximise their AMSI BioInfoSummer experience:

• Welcome lunch and reception
• Celebrating Diversity in STEM networking lunch
• Poster competition
• Public lecture by Professor John Mattick AO from the Garvin Institute of Medical Research on “Genomics, Big Data and the Future of Medical Research and Healthcare”
• COMBINE Careers Session where attendees had the opportunity to ask questions of the diverse panel about the different career pathways in bioinformatics

The gender balance of attendees at BioInfoSummer was essentially even, and the organising committee also ensured the program was balanced.

Associate Professor David Powell
AMSI BioInfoSummer 2017
Event Director
Melbourne Bioinformatics Platform
Monash University

AMSI BioInfoSummer 2017 was jointly funded by the Department of Education and Training and the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute, with support from Monash University, the Australian Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Society (ABACBS), MAXIMA and the BHP Billiton Foundation (part of the Choose Maths Initiative).