Genome Science 2019 saw an impressive line-up of all-female keynote speakers for the very first time in the event’s history.

250 delegates from academia, healthcare and industry came together to discuss the opportunities and address the challenges of genome science and technology.  Organised by the Roslin Institute and Edinburgh Genomics, this annual event has grown from an informal meeting in Nottingham back in 2007 to a fully-fledged international conference.

Held for the first time in the Scottish capital city, delegates travelled from as far afield as Australia for the three-day conference and explored a wide range of subjects such as disease resistance and animal conservation.

Professor Mick Watson, Personal Chair of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology with the Roslin Institute has been part of the committee organising the event.

He said: “As a frequent attendee of this conference over the years, myself and the team are thrilled to be hosting it in Edinburgh for the first time and to be welcoming four fantastic keynote speakers who will bring a wealth of insight from their own research and experiences.

“When we first started meeting in Nottingham 12 years ago it was based upon the advances made in DNA sequencing technologies – it was a revolution of sorts in biological research.

“It is a rapidly changing landscape so we find it hugely beneficial to meet up and discuss some of the opportunities and challenges we are all facing.  Congregating in Edinburgh is a real sign of our city’s strength in genome research.” 

After an informal welcome reception, the forum took place at the John McIntyre Conference Centre, the University of Edinburgh’s year-round conference venue.

Keynote speeches were made by Dr Sarah Teichmann from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, Professor Jane Carlton from NYU Centre for Genomics and Systems Biology, Dr Kirsten Bos from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History and Professor Wendy Bickmore, Director of the Medical Research Council (MRC) Human Genetics Unit in Edinburgh.