ZHAW-Symposium „Life in Numbers 2“: Exchange of international microbiologists and bioinformatics method developers
The second „Life in numbers“ symposium of September 1st, 2015, was a perfect continuation of the „Life in Numbers“ series started in June, 2014. Participants from all around the world were warmly welcomed at the ZHAW in Wädenswil.
The second edition of the “Life in Numbers” symposium took place on the same topic as the summer school GEMP 2015, also co-organized by Dr Maria Anisimova (Institute of Applied Simulation) and Dr Theo Smits (IUNR). About 50 people from around the world have attended the symposium, representing institutions in Canada, USA, France, Belgium, Finland, Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
One of the goals of the symposium was to bring together two different communities (microbiologists and bioinformatics method developers) to allow the exchange of ideas, creating new collaborations with higher innovative capacity.
The total 14 talks included distinguished speakers from academia (MIT, ETH Zurich, University of Zurich, University of Neuchâtel, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen, Helmholz Zentrum Munich, University of Regina/Canada), industry (Roche, Bayer) and governmental research (EAWAG, Agroscope, Swiss TPH, Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics SIB, CNRS, INRA).
Feedback from the participants was very positive. Prof John Stavrinides (keynote) from University of Regina (Canada) described the symposium as ”an interesting mix of speakers that I have never experienced before” and the other keynote speaker Prof Martin Polz from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT, USA) remarked “This was one of the best symposiums I've ever attended!”