Applied Bioinformatics and Public Health Microbiology (Virtual Conference)

Owing to the ongoing situation with covid-19, this event will be organised as a virtual conference.

The 8th Applied Bioinformatics and Public Health Microbiology conference provides a multidisciplinary forum to demonstrate how advances in microbial and viral genomics, bioinformatics, data science, and sequencing technology are being used to meet the needs of public health.

The programme will focus on how advances in sequencing and informatics are helping us to understand microbial diversity and evolution, pathogenesis, virulence and host-pathogen interactions within the context of public health microbiology. This year’s meeting will focus on how these advances are transforming public health across the globe, including lessons learned from COVID. We will also focus on digital epidemiology and how genomics is transforming environmental public health.

We aim to share best practices for implementing genomics technology in routine, frontline diagnostics and surveillance, with a particular focus on the implications of using data-driven genomics approaches in the public health setting. The conference will also provide an opportunity for bioinformaticians working in this area to exhibit the innovative tools that they have developed.

The conference attracts international participants working in a range of settings, including diagnostic and reference microbiology and virology laboratories, research institutes, bioinformatics departments, surveillance centres and hospital settings. This conference will have strong representation from clinical microbiologists and virologists and clinical bioinformaticians, to ensure appropriate migration of these technologies to diagnostic and surveillance applications.

The conference will start at approximately 13.00 on Wednesday 5 May and close at approximately 17.00 on Friday 7 May 2021. All times are given in British Summer Time. See the time where you are here.

Topics will include:

• Bioinformatics showcase
• COVID: lessons learned and future pandemic preparedness
• Digital epidemiology
• Environmental genomics for public health
• Global public health genomics

Scientific programme committee

Alan Christoffels
University of the Western Cape, South Africa

Jennifer Gardy
The Gates Foundation, USA

Kathryn Holt
Monash University, Australia

Nick Loman
University of Birmingham, UK

Keynote speakers

Maria van Kerkhove – World Health Organization, Switzerland
Ahmed Ouma – Africa CDC, Ethiopia

Confirmed speakers

Verity Hill – University of Edinburgh, UK
Edward Holmes –  University of Sydney Australia
Benjamin Howden – Doherty Institute Australia
Maia Majumder – Harvard University, USA
Matt Olm – Stanford University, USA
Ameet Pinto – Northeastern University, USA
Senjuti Saha – Child Health Research Foundation, Bangladesh
Sonia Sia – Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, Philippines
Emily Turner – Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, USA
Peter van Heusden – South African National Bioinformatics Institute, South Africa

Conference organisers

Laura Wyatt – Conference & Events Organiser
Treasa Creavin – Scientific Programme Manager

The virtual registration package includes: Access to all live-streamed sessions (including poster sessions and online networking channels), as well as access to all sessions ‘on-demand’ for four weeks after the event.

*To increase the international diversity of attendees at our meetings, we have reduced fees for delegates from Lower and Middle Income Countries (see list of countries here). If you are in need of financial support and would like to apply for a bursary, please contact the conference organiser. When applying for a bursary you will be asked to provide a letter stating financial need and a CV.

Bursary Deadline: 21 April 2021

Registration Deadline: 28 April 2021

Log in details for the virtual conference portal will be provided a couple of days before the event.

We welcome abstracts from all areas relevant to the main themes of the meeting, for both oral and poster presentations. Several oral presentations will be chosen from the abstracts submitted.

Abstracts will only be considered from registered delegates. Please use our online abstract submission system and follow the instructions given to ensure your abstract is submitted correctly. All abstracts must be submitted by the deadline. If you are intending to submit more than one abstract, please contact the conference organiser prior to registration.

The scientific programme committee will assess your abstract after the deadline has passed and you will be notified whether you have been selected for an oral or poster presentation.

All those selected for a poster presentation will be given the opportunity to upload a short video describing their work.

Abstract deadline: 09 March 2021

How to upload an abstract once you have already completed registration:

1. Log back into your registration account using either Firefox or Internet Explorer as your browser, via link above the ‘Share’ button on the right hand column of this page
2. Click on ‘Account’ (top right).
3. Then click on ‘View account history’. This will show a table of your event registrations.
4. In the right-hand column you will see the option to ‘Upload file’ – click on this and select to upload an abstract.

Gabriella Stern

A Conversation with WHO: Communicating Around Infectious Disease - Gabriella Stern, at Applied Bioinformatics and Public Health Microbiology conference (June 2019) organised by Wellcome Genome Campus Advanced Courses and Scientific Conferences.

Nick Thomson

Keynote lecture by Nick Thomson (Wellcome Sanger Institute, UK) at Applied Bioinformatics and Public Health Microbiology conference (June 2019) organised by Wellcome Genome Campus Advanced Courses and Scientific Conferences.