Epigenomics of Common Diseases

Epigenetic variation plays an important role in disease processes and provides a promising focus for disease prediction, prevention and treatment. Technological advancements have fuelled a dramatic increase in the scale, breadth and availability of epigenomic reference maps, including population and environmental epigenomic datasets.

Our 11th Epigenomics of Common Diseases conference will highlight recent developments in experimental and computational epigenomics.  How new technologies and translational approaches are being applied to a range of common diseases will be explored, along with epigenomic mechanisms in complex disease. Discussions will further focus on epigenetic epidemiology, evolutionary epigenomics and the role of epigenetics in inheritance.

Francis Collins, Acting Science Advisor to the President of the United States and Former Director of the National Institutes of Health, will join live from USA for an interactive question and answer session.

The programme will also include short oral presentations selected from abstracts, lightning talks, posters and networking opportunities for a highly interactive meeting.

This conference will be a hybrid meeting – with onsite or virtual attendance.

The conference will start at 12:50 GMT on Wednesday 16 November and will run until 13:00 GMT on Friday 18 November 2022.

Discussions will focus on a variety of exciting topics, including:

• Epigenomics in evolution, inheritance and development
• Translational epigenomics
• Epigenomics mechanisms of complex diseases
• Computational epigenomics
• Epigenetic epidemiology
• New frontiers in epigenomic technologies

Scientific programme committee

Daniele Fallin
Emory University, USA

Bas Heijmans
Leiden University Medical Center, The Netherlands

Charlotte Ling
Lund University, Sweden

Jonathan Mill
University of Exeter, UK

Special guest

Francis Collins
(Live-streamed) Acting Science Advisor to the President of the United States and Former Director of the National Institutes of Health

Keynote speakers

Nada Jabado
McGill University, Canada

Dirk Schübeler
Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Switzerland

Confirmed speakers

Jacob Bergstedt – Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
Elisabeth Binder – Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Germany
Liran Carmel – The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
Rong Fan – Yale University, USA
Ariel Gershman – Johns Hopkins University, USA
Nora Franceschini – University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA
Martin Hirst – University of British Columbia, Canada
Maja Jagodic – Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
Christoph Kuppe – Aachen University, Germany
Rama Natarajan – City of Hope, USA
Andrew Teschendorff – Shanghai Institute for Nutrition & Health, China
Mathew Van de Pette – University of Cambridge, UK

Organisers – Wellcome Connecting Science

Laura Wyatt – Conference Manager
Jane Murphy – Scientific Programme Officer

Registration deadline: 18 October 2022 (In-person) | 08 November 2022 (Virtual)

Deadlines close at 23.59 GMT.

The in-person registration fee includes:

• Full access to scientific programme: oral and poster presentations, and networking on campus
• Access to the online conference portal to network with online participants
• Meals (lunch and dinner) and refreshments during the conference. Breakfast will be provided for delegates who have booked onsite accommodation.
• Recordings of the live-stream sessions, which will be available ‘on-demand’ for four weeks after the event ends

Virtual registration fee includes:

• Access to the virtual event portal (Log in details will be emailed a few days before the event starts)
• Live-stream sessions, including posters and online networking channels
• Recordings of the live-stream sessions, available ‘on-demand’ for four weeks after the event ends.

* To promote more inclusive scientific discussions with international colleagues at our conferences, delegates based in Lower and Middle-Income Countries can register for free (see list of countries here).

Payments: Please note that payment can only be made with Mastercard or Visa credit cards.

Accommodation

Booked accommodation is for the nights of 16 and 17 Nov 2022.
Please note: there is limited onsite accommodation and this will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis; therefore, early registration is recommended. If you wish to book campus accommodation either side of the conference dates, please contact the Hinxton Hall Conference Centre directly.

Accommodation services phishing scam – please be vigilant. More information.

Travel visas

Citizens of many countries can travel to the UK for a course without needing a visa.
Please check the UK government website for visitor information
https://www.gov.uk/standard-visitor. 

Confirmed attendees requiring a letter to support a visa application should contact the conference organiser.

Bursaries

Bursary deadline: 20 September 2022

A limited number of registration bursaries are available to attend this conference in person (up to 50% of the registration fee). Priority will be given to PhD students submitting abstracts who are facing financial barriers.

To apply, please complete your event registration and bursary application before the bursary deadline. The following documents will need to be provided as part of the bursary application:

• Abstract (to be submitted during the registration process)
• A short CV
• A justification letter explaining how you will benefit from attending the conference and indicating financial need.

If you have already registered for the conference you are still welcome to apply for a bursary, please contact the conference organiser.

Additional funding opportunities
Visit our support page for information on financial support, including carer grants to help delegates with the costs of caring for children or dependent family members while attending a course or a conference.

Abstract deadline: 20 September 2022

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 and must be submitted by the deadline.

To encourage networking and exchange of ideas, preference will be given to oral presentations that will be given in-person. If you intend to present in person if your abstract is selected, we recommend registering for in person attendance. Please see here if you wish to switch registration to virtual at a later date.

Please use our online abstract submission system and follow the instructions given to ensure your abstract is submitted correctly.

If you have already completed your registration and subsequently wish to submit an abstract, or wish to submit a second abstract, please follow these instructions.

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

Poster boards onsite will accommodate 118 cm high by 84 cm wide (A0-portrait) of printed material. Accepted abstracts will appear in the conference programme book; poster board numbers will be allocated at the conference.

Delegate feedback from our last two ‘Epigenomics of Common Diseases’ conferences:

‘High Quality Science’ ‘Wide range of coverage’

‘As usual, it all was really good’

‘There was a very good balance between more basic-science talks, more clinically-oriented talks and population science talks’

‘Seeing all the fantastic epigenetic research that is going on, and being able to go back and rewatch talks afterwards’