The 2021 Genomics in Action conference, sponsored by the Bioinformatics Track of the Knight Campus Graduate Internship Program, went virtual for the first time. The sixth annual event, held Jan. 27-29, set new records, attracting more than 200 participants and featuring new speakers.
The event featured 13 speakers from industry, academic, and government labs; a networking session; an alumni panel; virtual research poster session; and a workshop on how to become a power-user of the UCSC Genome Browser.
"This event’s theme, Genomics in Action, was really highlighted this year, emphasizing how we can leverage genomics and impact basic scientific discovery and human health. This is our premier annual event to showcase our students career preparedness, the achievements of our alumni, and the cutting-edge science from our partners," said Dr. Stacey Wagner, Director of the Quantitative Life Science tracks.
This year’s keynote speaker was Professor of Human Genetics, Nels Elde from the University of Utah. A 2020 MacArthur Fellow, Dr. Elde is best known for his work on evolutionary cell biology, virology, host-pathogen interactions, and genetics. He is also the host of This Week in Evolution podcast.
During his virtual address, Dr. Elde spoke to the audience about how to put genomics in service of cell biology, infection biology, and virus discovery. In his presentation titled Genomic Approaches to Virus Discovery and Evolution, Dr. Elde discussed the evolution of interferon signaling in order to understand immunity within certain species and humans. Recent research using zebrafish has shed light on how the species responds to viruses and is relevant to how we are thinking about the current pandemic.
The opening day also featured talks from two national labs. Dr. Shawn Starkenburg from Los Alamos National Lab highlighted the diverse genome science ranging from public health to environmental science to bioenergy. Dr. Lisa Bramer discussed the challenges of mass spectrometry detections of small molecules and described her methodology using machine learning to help solve this problem. Dr. JD Schonhoft, from Epic Sciences, described an industry perspective, and discussed their platform for improving patient outcomes in advanced prostate and breast cancers involving detection of circulating tumor cells and cell-free biomarkers. The first day of talks ended with Knight Campus’ own faculty, Dr. Calin Plesa, who employs an engineer’s approach. Dr. Plesa has developed innovative technology to characterize protein families at an impressive scale.
"GiA was a wonderful event allowing us to see the diversity of research being driven by prolific minds in the field of genetics. Not only were we as students able to learn new science driving our field, but we were also able to interact with the wonderful people behind the research," said Michal Babinski, a current bioinformatics student.
On the second day of the conference, the audience had the opportunity to meet with Bioinformatics and Genomics graduates. The day included research presentations, an alumni panel, and a workshop.
Key alumni led three research presentations. David Ho (MS 2018), PhD candidate at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, described using genomics to understand the biology of whiptail lizards. Rutendo Sigauke (MS 2015), PhD candidate at the University of Colorado, analyzed the challenges of nascent RNA sequencing protocols and standards in research. Mitchell Rezzonico (MS 2019), bioinformatician at Genentech, discussed his research on scRNA-seq of brain cells.
In addition, a panel of five alumni from different cohorts shared their experiences, challenges, and successes with current and prospective students. The panel included Shamilene Sivagnanam (MS 2017), Research Associate at OHSU; Erik Burlingame, (MS 2017), PhD candidate at OHSU; Jake VanCampen (MS 2018), research associate at OHSU; Annie Wang (MS 2020), bioinformaticist at Stowers Institute for Medical Research, and Mitchel Rezzonico (MS 2019) at Genentech.
"As a prospective student, I came away from the conference extremely excited and extremely confident that this is the field that I want to be in!" said Jonathan Himes, prospective student.Conference participants also had a workshop, led by program alumnus Luis Nassar (MS 2018), on how to use the more advanced tools available in the University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC) Genome Browser. The genome browser is a powerful tool to help community researchers to visualize and share data in an interactive and reproducible way.
The last day of the conference gave participants three research presentations. Dr. Krista Nichols, genetics and evolution program manager at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), discussed a number of projects on the West Coast that analyze genetics and genomics in support of conservation of marine species. The program is collaborating with NOAA on the wet bench preparation and analysis of crab species with the goal of drafting the first genome assemblies of these crustaceans. Elisabeth Goldman, PhD candidate at the Sterner Lab, University of Oregon, presented her findings on aging of rhesus macaques at Cayo Santiago. Finally, Dr. Jamie Nichols, Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, explained single cell RNA-seq discoveries in developmental genetics.
The event concluded with a virtual poster session open to all participants on Spatial Chat.
While it may be the first (and only) time the Genomics in Action conference goes virtual, Dr. Wagner hopes future editions of the ever-growing event can become hybrid to allow for broad participation. To learn more about industry and academic leaders that support this conference, visit Genomics in Action.