Previous Events

3-7 December 2012
The University of Adelaide

BioinfoSummer 2012 was hosted by the School of Mathematical Sciences and the School of Molecular and Biomedical Science at the University of Adelaide.

The BioinfoSummer 2012 program featured an outstanding array of Australian and international keynote speakers including Dr Karl Clauser from the Broad Institute, Dr Martin Frith from the Computational Biology Research Center, AIST, Japan, Dr Suhita Nadkarni from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Professor Gordon Smyth from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute and Professor Fuli Yu from Baylor College of Medicine.

The conference opened on the Monday with an address by the South Australian Chief Scientist, Professor Don Bursill AM, and featured keynote addresses by Karl Clauser and Gordon Smyth. Introductory sessions on Statistics for Biologists and Biology and Bioinformatics set the scene for the rest of the week.

The program for each day comprised a blend of lectures from invited and local speakers as well as hands-on practical computing sessions. Participants also had the opportunity to discuss research questions with the invited speakers in a series of informal panel sessions. The daily prize for the best question led to very stimulating discussions in the question times. A bioinformatics programming competition run throughout the week generated great interest and many impressive entries.

On the Tuesday night, Professor Hamish Scott presented a public lecture on “The history of human genetics and genomics: The rise of bioinformatics with new genome technologies in genetics research and clinical practice”. The lecture was very well attended and generated much interesting discussion in the question time and the reception that followed.

The Thursday afternoon poster session gave delegates the chance to showcase their own research with prizes going to Stephen Pederson and Cheong Xin Chan. Following the poster session, participants adjourned to the rooftop plaza of the recently completed Ingkarni Wardli Building to enjoy a barbecue on a perfect November evening.

Speakers

Dr Conrad Burden The Australian National University
Dr Karl Clauser, The Broad Institute
Dr Martin Frith Computational Biology Research Centre, AIST, Japan
Dr Suhita Nadkarni, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research
Associate Professor Gavin Huttley Australian National University
Dr Jason Roberts, Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory
Professor Fuli Yu, Baylor College of Medicine

Themes
  • DNA based bioinformatics: Computational tools for next-generation sequencing data analysis
  • Proteomics: Bioinformatic and biostatistical methods used in the study of proteins and metabolites using mass spectrometry.
  • Computational biology: The development and application of data-analytical and theoretical methods, mathematical modeling and computational simulation techniques to the study of biological, behavioral, and social systems.
  • Programming for biologists: Covering the practical side of programming necessary for conducting research in biology.