At OPIG Group Meetings, it’s customary to give “Conference Feedback” whenever any of us has recently attended a conference. Typically, people highlight the most interesting talks—either to them or others in the group.
Having just returned from the 6th RSC-BMCS / RSC-CICAG AI in Chemistry Symposium, it was my turn last week. But instead of the usual perspective—of an attendee—I spoke briefly about how to organize a conference.
Continue readingWhen showcasing an approach in computational chemistry, an example molecule is required as a placeholder. But which to chose from? I would classify there different approaches: choosing a recognisable molecules, a top selling drugs, or a randomly sketched compound.
At a recent conference, Sheffield Cheminformatics 2023, I saw examples of all three and one problem I had that some placeholders distracted me into searching to figure out what it was.
Continue readingOver the next few days, researchers from around the world will be gathering in Sheffield for the 9th Joint Sheffield Conference on Cheminformatics. As one of the organizers (wearing my Molecular Graphics and Modeling Society ‘hat’), I can say we have an exciting array of speakers and sessions:
It has traditionally taken place every three years, but despite the global pandemic it is returning this year, once again in person in the excellent conference facilities at The Edge. You can download the full programme in iCal format, and here is the conference calendar:
Continue readingLast month, I had the privilege to attend the Keystone Symposium on Computational Design and Modeling of Biomolecules in beautiful Banff, Canada. This conference gave an incredible insight into the current state of the protein design field, as we are on the precipice of advances catalyzed by deep learning.
Here are my key takeaways from the conference:
Continue readingFrom 19th-22nd February I was fortunate enough to participate in the joint Keystone Symposium on Next-Generation Antibody Therapeutics and Multispecific Immune Cell Engagers, held in Banff, Canada. Now in their 51st year, the Keystone Symposia are a comprehensive programme of scientific conferences spanning the full range of topics relating to human health, from studies on fundamental bodily processes through to drug discovery.
Continue readingIn November I attended the Festival of Biologics (FoB) 2022 conference in Basel, Switzerland. Originally a set of different conferences (now called agendas) that has merged into a single conference, FoB focuses on anything related to biologics. One of the agendas is an antibody specific agenda, derived from the former European Antibody Congress. This year the antibodies agenda had more than 100 talks across multiple tracks, covering many different aspects of using antibodies as therapeutics, making it an exciting conference for an antibody enthusiast. However, while FoB does include talks on machine learning and bioinformatics, most are focused solely on experimental work. Another drawback is that the majority of the talks are by industry, with the few academic speakers almost all also representing a company. This meant that of the few talks about computational methods and tools for protein design, most felt more like a commercial rather than a research presentation. Nonetheless, FoB is still an interesting conference to attend when you are working on applied research for antibody therapeutics. It is an amazing opportunity to hear about which antibody specific problems companies are trying to overcome, which are deemed solved and which are the future problems to solve.
Continue readingAs so many members of the group have never attended an in-person conference, I thought it might be worth answering the question “why do people attend conferences?”
First- up, we should remember that flying around the world is not a zero cost to the planet, so all of us lucky enough to be able to travel should think hard every time before we choose to do so.
This means it’s really important to make sure that we know why we are going to any conference and maximise the benefits from attendance. Below are a few things to think about in terms of why you attend a conference and what to do when you are there, but this is definitely not a complete list, more a starter for four.
Continue readingA few weeks ago we attended the RSC’s 5th AI in Chemistry conference at Churchill College, Cambridge. It featured research and discussions on a broad range of topics and was attended by a diverse set of more than 200 researchers from academia and industry, including six Opiglets.
Continue readingRecently, I was fortunate enough to attend and present at GSK’s PhD and Postdoc workshop in Siena, Italy. The workshop spanned two days and I had a brilliant time there – Siena itself is beautiful, I ate fantastic food, and I learnt a huge amount about all stages of vaccine production.
Unfortunately, due to confidentiality, I can’t go into great detail about others’ current research, however I have provided a short overview of the five main areas the workshop focused on below.
Continue readingMadison, Wisconsin, a place known for its superb selection of craft beverages, for having Wisconsin’s Best Cheese Curds, and, most importantly, for hosting the 2022 annual international conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB). Fortunately, we (Lewis and Tobias) got to attend this year’s ISMB and get a taste of Madison. The 2022 conference is the 30th ISMB conference and has grown to become the world’s largest bioinformatics/computational biology conference with nearly 600 presented talks. We therefore got to hear a wide range of different and interesting talks.
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