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Friday, 18 November 2022

2022 BIST Conference: latest developments in precision medicine and much more

by Virginia Greco

The 6th edition of the BIST Conference took place last week, with its main day dedicated to the topic of precision medicine, and satellite sessions focusing on current issues within art and science, and diversity in STEM careers. A third satellite session, which took place in the framework of the 2022 Setmana de la Ciència, was devoted to sharing precision medicine research projects from the BIST Community with high school students.

The BIST Annual Conference 2022, dedicated to Precision Medicine, was held between the 8th and the 11th of November at the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB). The main event was on the 10th of November, while satellite sessions took place on the other three days. In total, more than 250 people from the BIST Community –including of course the ICN2— and its stakeholders, as well as 2000 high school students participated in the Conference.

As in previous editions, the main conference day (10th November) was devoted to a key research area for BIST: in this case, precision medicine. After a welcome by Prof. Joan Guinovart (IRB Barcelona Emeritus Professor) and an introductory speech by the new BIST Director, Dr Eduard Vallory, BIST Director of Programmes Núria Bayó presented a new programme to promote women leadership in science and introduced the “la Caixa” Foundation–BIST Chemical Biology Programme. The programme went on with a keynote presentation, a session dedicated to selected flash talks and posters by BIST Community young researchers, and more talks and roundtables. Finally, the conference was closed with remarks by Dr Gabby Silberman, outgoing BIST Director General who served at the helm of the institute from 2017 to October 2022.

On the 8th and 9th of November, two satellite events took place online. The first was dedicated to the encounter of art and science and the second to gender bias and diversity issues in the research world. The final day of the BIST Conference (11th November), which coincided with the first day of the 2022 Setmana de la Ciència, was dedicated to outreach and educational activities with high school students.

The BIST Conference was made possible this year thanks to the many people from the BIST Community who collaborated. Among them are a few members of the ICN2, specifically, Prof. José A. Garrido and Prof. Víctor Puntes, who were part of the Scientific Committee, and Àlex Argemí, who was a member of the Organising Committee.

For more information, check the news by BIST. Pictures available here.