Genomics of Brain Disorders (Virtual Conference)

Due to the evolving situation with COVID-19, this conference was postponed from March 2020 and will now be held virtually.

This conference will bring together scientists and clinicians working on neurodegenerative and psychiatric diseases to compare approaches used and the emerging lessons from both categories of disease.

Psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia and depression, and neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, are placing an increasing burden on the developed world. Technical advances over the past few years, including genome-wide association studies and next generation sequencing studies, have led to the discovery of many predisposing loci for both psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders.

This meeting will synthesise the advances and remaining challenges in the genomics of various brain disorders. We will discuss recent insights into genomic architecture and the emerging biology of disease. This year’s meeting will also highlight systems biology and modelling approaches, population studies and emerging tools and technologies. We will also discuss the use of genomics to drive therapeutics.

The conference will start at approximately 13:00 (BST) on Wednesday, 14 April and close at approximately 18:00 on Friday, 16 April 2021. All times are given in British Summer Time. See the time where you are here.

Topics will include:

• Genetic architecture
• Systems biology
• Population studies
• Modelling disease
• Tools and Technologies
• Using genomics to drive therapeutics

Scientific programme committee

Kristen Brennand
Yale University, USA

Alison Goate
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, USA

Michael Owen
Cardiff University, UK

Mina Ryten
UCL, UK

Keynote Speaker

Michael Owen
Cardiff University, UK

Confirmed speakers

Ditte Demontis – Aarhus University, Denmark
Naresh Hanchate – Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, USA
Peter Heutink – DZNE, Germany
Janna Hutz – Eisai, USA
Xin Jin – Harvard, USA
Martin Kampmann – University of California, San Francisco, USA
Kelli Lehto – University of Tartu, Estonia
Cathryn Lewis – King’s College London, UK
Anna Middleton – Wellcome Connecting Science, UK
Eleonora Porcu – University Hospital Lausanne, Switzerland
Beatriz Rico – King’s College London, UK
Sally Temple –  Neural Stem Cell Institute, USA
Caleb Webber – University of Cardiff, UK
Naomi Wray – University of Queensland, Australia

Conference organiser

Treasa Creavin, Scientific Programme Manager
Jemma Hume, Conference & Events Organiser

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).
Please note that there is an opportunity to apply for a bursary, generously sponsored by GP2. To learn more about this funding opportunity and to apply, please click here.

Bursary deadline: 30 March 2021

Registration deadline: 6 April 2021

Log in details for the virtual conference portal will be provided on Monday 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.

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 and poster boards will be allocated at the conference.

Abstract deadline: 18 February 2021

What's the future of treating brain disorders?

Keynote lecture Ruth McKernan (Innovate UK) at Genomics of Brain Disorders 2018