Wendy Bickmore - University of Edinburgh
Keith Caldecott - University of Sussex
Amanda Fisher - Imperial College London
Frank Hirth - Kings College, London
Timothy Humphrey - University of Oxford
John Mattick - University of Oxford
Nicholas Proudfoot - University of Oxford
Jesper Svejstrup - Francis Crick Institute, London
Following on the success of the BCGB kick-off Symposium in 2016, on the 4th and 5th of July 2019 we had the Second BCGB Symposium. Over these two days, scientists from around the country shared their exciting research. With a total of 26 talks, some from internationally prominent invited speakers, we have learned and discussed a series of novel discoveries in genome biology, from chromatin organisation to genome stability maintenance, and from development to transcription regulation.
Professor John Mattick (University of Oxford) opening the BCGB Symposium
We had also 33 poster presentations at the Symposium, from postdocs and PhD students of the University of Birmingham as well as from other parts of the country, highlighting the great quality of science produced here at the BCGB and in other parts of the UK.
Dr Aga Gambus and Mr Haseeb Qureshi (University of Birmingham) discussing data in front of the poster
From left to right, Professor Keith Caldecott (University of Sussex), Dr Tim Humphrey (University of Oxford) and Professor Jo Morris (University of Birmingham) sharing ideas during a coffee break
The success of this year’s BCGB Symposium has also been recognised by some of our invited speakers. John Mattick commented that "The meeting was a smorgasbord of outstanding genomic science, both in the wonderful talks from the local and external speakers, and in the posters from very talented students and postdocs”. Ann Donaldson reported that “The grouping of genome stability labs you have in Birmingham is very impressive”. Frank Hirth commented “I was impressed by the outstanding quality of work at your Centre and with the academic spirit".
Thanks also to the generous support from our sponsors, we had catering for all the participants throughout the meeting. We got also positive feedbacks in this sense from our sponsors, that recognised the success of the BCGB Symposium observing that “The conference was great, really happy with the turnout and everyone was very engaged with my stand” and “Many thanks for your support throughout the event and for giving us the opportunity to sponsor”.
More active discussions during one of the poster sessions
We’ll be looking forward for the next BCGB Symposium, to have the opportunity to present and discuss the exciting science that goes on in the Birmingham Centre for Genome Biology at the University of Birmingham.