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Joining forces for events
What do you get when you mix two leading institutions with a desire to deliver high-quality training to the scientific community? An EMBL-Wellcome Genome Campus Conference series, of course!
The courses and scientific conference programmes of both EMBL and the Wellcome Genome Campus (WGC, funded by the Wellcome Trust) are well established, with a strong reputation for providing scientists with advanced training. Following a dedicated meeting between the two institutes in 2014, it seemed only natural to form a collaboration. EMBL’s Jürgen Deka and Cath Brooksbank met Julian Rayner and Rebecca Twells from the WGC – Twells explains: “We realised we had a lot of common interests and that we could benefit the scientific community by holding a series of conferences that alternated between EMBL and the WGC.” After a series of teleconferences and meetings, the newly built steering committee laid the groundwork for the collaboration.
We realised we had a lot of common interests and that we could benefit the scientific community by holding a series of conferences that alternated between EMBL and the WGC.
The outcome? A conference series that utilises the strengths of both programmes – particularly in bioinformatics, genetics, and drug discovery – to provide meetings focused on open science and the translation of basic science into the clinical setting. This training platform aims to span disciplines and sectors: “The idea is to bridge academic fundamental research communities, and medical and industry communities,” says Deka, “This will help to foster the translation of our academic findings into applications in the clinic as well as commerce.” Building on the success of the Genome Campus ‘Sex in Science’ programme, events in the series will feature a balance of male and female speakers, and provide opportunities for early-stage researchers to showcase their work to international audiences.
The idea is to bridge academic fundamental research communities, and medical and industry communities
The plan is to hold two conferences in each location annually, with the location rotating between the two purpose-built conference locations: the EMBL Advanced Training Centre in Heidelberg, Germany and the Wellcome Genome Campus Conference Centre in Hinxton, UK. “The series puts scientists at the centre, providing opportunities for delegates to focus on key scientific questions and experience the best of both campuses,” says Deka.
Coming up:
- Inaugural conference in the series: Target Validation using Genomics and Informatics, 8–10 December 2015, Wellcome Genome Campus
- Proteomics in Cell Biology and Disease Mechanisms, 14–17 Sep 2016, EMBL Heidelberg
- Big Data in Biology & Health, 25–27 Sep 2016, EMBL Heidelberg
