A few years from now, Logomo will be filled with thousands of conference-goers as top experts on computational biology and bioinformatics from around the world come together in Turku. This is the first time that the ECCB, Europe’s largest conference on computational biology and bioinformatics, is being held in Finland.
Conference Chair Laura Elo from the Turku Bioscience Centre is thrilled about the event coming to Turku. Her responsibilities include assembling the conference programme.
“We want to prepare a good, scientific programme that will attract top speakers.”
The conference programme will feature talks and parallel tracks focusing on different topics, with an emphasis on computation and modelling. In Elo’s opinion, it would be interesting to also explore new technologies, such as artificial intelligence and different data analysis methods. Another aim with regard to the programme is to ensure its topicality.
“My own thinking is that we’ll see what the hot topics are at the time. The field of computational biology is currently developing at a rapid pace, and a lot can happen in the next 2-3 years,” Elo describes.
Laura Elo’s own research at the Turku Bioscience Centre is closely related to clinical applications in medicine.
The ECCB is held annually in a European city. Every other year, the conference is held in conjunction with the annual international conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB).
Laura Elo and Research Coordinator Anu Kukkonen-Macchi consider the upcoming conference in Finland to be a unique opportunity to showcase Finnish expertise.
“If you’re a researcher specialising in bioinformatics or computational biology, the ISMB and the ECCB are the conferences for you,” they state.
The main organisers of the event are the Turku Bioscience Centre and the IT Center for Science CSC. In addition to these, the event organisers include members from other Finnish and Nordic universities. Assistance in event planning is also being provided by the City of Turku and Visit Turku’s Convention Bureau. Professional support in conference realisation is provided by Aboa Congress and Event Services.