Testimonials

"We think the Festival of Genomics & Biodata is the world’s best genomics & biodata event. But don’t take our word for it. Here’s what previous attendees had to say…

I’m excited to meet with people from all areas of the genomics community—researchers, patients, clinicians and more—to make connections and accelerate the implementation of precision medicine.

Mark Wanner, Director, Research Communications The Jackson Laboratory

Best genomics conference I have been to.....ever. It was intellectual gluttony.

Anonymous

As scientists we have a duty to present and share our work with our community. The Festival is an excellent way to interact with our friends and colleagues, both in academia and industry, a gateway to disseminate and learn about new ideas and approaches, and an opportunity to explore new breakthroughs and collaborations. We all work in the exciting field of genomics and it is a pleasure and a privilege to be part of this great community!

Jeanette McCarthy, Adjunct Associate Professor, Duke University Adjunct

The community that gathers at the Festival of Genomics represents a unique opportunity to build relationships, create collaborations, learn, and brainstorm potential solutions to the most important issues in biologic sciences and pharmaceutical industry.

Jamie Dananberg, CMO, UNITY Biotechnology

I appreciated the diversity in speakers and topics as well as the flexibility to hop between talks with minimal disturbance to others.


Amanda Bell, Research Associate Visterra, Inc

This was a great place to hear about cutting-edge technologies implemented across big pharma, startups and academic labs.

Evgeny Kiner, Director, Immunology, Immunai

A great meeting!

Francois Sanschagrin, Medical Biology Advisor, Province of Quebec Ministry of Health

"Thank you very much for inviting me to speak in this session on sequencing technologies. It was a great honor, particularly as I was - unfamiliar with this scientific Festival. Indeed, I was very doubtful whether I should come at all. However, as a director of translational genomics, I am a user too - it was a fantastic opportunity to connect with a broad audience and connecting/networking outside of my ""usual networks"". I can't thank you enough for everything you did and put into making this an event and conference to remember! It's amazing the creativity and skill that goes into creating an event that is not the typical scientific conference and brings such a wide variety of sessions, activities, and workshops. It was a beautiful experience."

Isabelle Thiffault, Director of Translational Genomics, Children's Mercy Hospital

FOG is a informative and has a broad scope and optics. The workshops I attended were educative and gave me a perspective of the current trends and challenges in biomedical research. As one of the speakers, we got to communicate to a sizeable audience, our bioinformatic tools, thereby increasing the visibility to our work.

Sumana Srinivasan, Postdoctoral Research Scholar, Subramaniam lab, University of California San Diego

It was really great opportunity for me to attend the Festival of Genomics and Biodata. The one annual event that everyone in genomics needs to attend. Thank you!

Lakshmi Sunkara, Veterinary Molecular Microbiologist, Clemson University

The breadth and depth of presentations was incredible. The setup made it feel intimate yet large at the same time. I'll be back in 2025!

John Curran, COO & Laboratory Director, Pear Bio

Importantly accessible conference spanning a wide array of genomics-related topics all under one roof. Excellent data and technologies on display.

David Gallegos, Scientist II, Takeda

FOGBoston 2024 was a great opportunity to meet other researchers working in the field of spatial transcriptomics, to learn from them, exchange contact information, and share ideas that we can take back and apply to the datasets we are working with.

Leonardo Collado Torres, Investigator, Lieber Institute for Brain Development

This was a really great conference. Excellent speakers and I really enjoyed talking with all the vendors and fellow delegates.

Jason Brant, Professor, University of Florida

I enjoyed and appreciate this meeting in many different ways - keep up on the latest genomics and biodata developments, learn from many leaders in the field, great networking space, and enable growth for early-career scientists. Highly recommend to keep this event going and happy to support/participate.

Zora Modrusan, Senior Director of NGS, Genentech

Interesting talks with a variety of topics covered

Chun-Chieh Lin, Assistant Professor, Neuropathologist Dartmouth Health

This was my first time at FOG, and I had a fantastic experience. I truly enjoyed the talks and the connections with companies developing and offering cutting-edge technologies.

M. Andrea Azcarate-Peril, Director of UNC Microbiome Core UNC School of Medicine

Great speakers. Great format. What a great way to see the forefront of the genomics, proteomics, and bioinformatics pipeline.

Ryan Kindervater, Physician Sapia Health

Great event for learning about latest research, interacting with companies and vendors, and growing professional network.

Dariusz Przybylski, Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Consulting

These last four days were packed with the most relevant and current topics for a broad audience interested in keeping up with the latest in genomics and its clinical implementation. I learned a lot and look forward to the next event!

Samantha Hasenleithner, Researcher, Medical University of Graz

The festival can foster bringing likeminded people together in a relaxed yet stimulating atmosphere. Focusing on interactions via panel discussions, highlighting interests and experience will likely lead to new collaborative efforts. My particular interest is to expand my network of colleagues and support new engagements in drug and diagnostic developments routed in personalized medicine. 

Felix W. Frueh, Executive Partner, Opus Three LLC

The Festival of Genomics & Biodata is an event that I look forward to attending and speaking at every year

Sue Hill, Chief Scientific Officer, NHS England

It is the best platform to learn how Industries can come together with academia and make pathbreaking discoveries. Also, we learnt a lot about the latest trends in the field of genomics. It is the most practical conference I ever participated in where everyone is brainstorming, learning and sharing without much of a free food distraction. Thank you!!

Anonymous

Festival of Genomics is a fantastic event combining best in class research and developments across academia and industry - one not to miss.

Anonymous

This is a great way to make a connection with other individuals in the field and understand diverse perspectives on the future of this area of research.

James Christensen, CSO and SVP Research, Mirati Therapeutics

The festival is a unique take on collaboration and discussion across the genomics field. I’m excited to network and interact on a larger scale than at other events.

Erica Ramos, Staff Genetic Counsellor, Illumina, Inc.

Innovative approach of the Festival makes it a unique venue rich with learning opportunities and networking.

Anonymous

FOG Boston is a well organized and compact 2 day meeting where you can listen in to experts in cutting edge technologies as well as learn from keynotes or panel discussions involving luminaries in the field of genomics. It is mixed in with talks from industry, so you can learn how genomic data is being used to help us understand biology in many different contexts. It's a great meeting to step back, look at the forest of genomics again, and connect with industry and academic genomic data scientists.

Anonymous

I am honored to be a part of the Festival of Genomics, to help bring the clinical benefits of genomics and proteomics to patients and to advance the awareness and development of “omics” diagnostics and prognostics to improve healthcare for millions of patients worldwide.

Rhonda Rhyne, President, Prevencio

A new and engaging way to bring people together from all disciplines and fields to solve the big problems for health and disease.

Birgitt Schuele, Associate Professor, Stanford University School of Medicine

I have heard great things about the festival and its collaborative and community spirit, so I’m very happy to participate and have the opportunity to interact with fellow scientists and clinicians.

John Lamb, Director of Genetics, The Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation

This is an interesting and important event.

Zsolt Böcskei, Group Leader, Translational Medicine Informatics, Sanofi

The Woodstock of Genomics, the Lollapalooza of Bioinformatics

Paul Agapow, Director, GSK

FoG Boston 2024 is really enjoyable. Frankly, it exceeds my expectation for excellence! Many innovative ideas, advances in technology, as well as interactive networking among peer participants, are all valued and appreciated.

Rudong Li, Advanced Bioinformatics Analyst, IU School of Medicine Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis

An event that no biomedical researcher should miss. Super interesting talks from which you learn a lot. You have the opportunity to establish contact with other groups and companies that can help you in your daily work; from that, new ideas could be born on how to help patients.

Estefanía García, Investigador posdoctoral, Fundación MEDINA

A must attend conference about genomics, on both new technologies and research sides. Thank you very much for having organized this event and keep doing it in future!

Francesco Gualdi, Pre-Doctoral, Pompeu Fabra University

I am a clinical geneticist practicing in the US and this was my first Festival. I found it absolutely informative, useful and inspiring. It helped me to understand how to better communicate with my colleagues and scientists and I fully endorse it. Furthermore, the value gained can help to develop new partnerships, research programs and clinical services.

Paul Psychogios, Chief of Genetics, Dayton Children’s Hospital

It is pretty evident that the Festival is the most forward-thinking genetics/genomics festival out there and I am incredibly excited to share ideas with such a tremendous list of presenters and attendees.

Ted Goldstein, Research Associate, Center for Biomolecular Science & Engineering, UC Santa Cruz

I greatly appreciated the presence of many great expert speakers both from industry and academia, presenting cutting-edge science and their opinions on a broad range of subjects. Enlightening!

Marc Creus, Group Leader, University of Basel

I am really glad and honoured to have being invited to participate in this festival. Last year, I had seen on my Twitter a feed about how the festival was. Sadly, it had already passed and I couldn’t participate, so I got really excited when I was invited to participate in a panel, especially because I can get to know top people in the field of genomics and share the efforts we are making in this field in my country.

Roselyn Lemus, Manager of Drug Development and Genomic Research, Landsteiner Scientific

It is one of the best modelled conferences that I have attended to date in terms of knowledge sharing and openness to collaborate

Anonymous

Last year’s attendee list included many people I admire in the field and I look forward to interacting with them all at this year’s event.

Mark dePristo, Head of Deep Learning for Genetics and Genomics, Google Brain Team

The festival presents a great opportunity for the scientific community and enthusiasts to discuss the state-of-the-art in genomics, the role of data science in biology and the significant role data-driven genomics will have in personalized healthcare in the near future.

Anshul Kundaje, Assistant Professor, Stanford University

It was seamless from a presenter’s standpoint.

Stephen Kingsmore, President/CEO, Rady's Children's Institute For Genomics Medicine

Buzzing talks, cutting-edge posters and spearheading technologies. Looking forward to future events!

Juri Kazakevych, Epigenomics Application Specialist, Diagenode

The Festival of Genomics is always something I look forward to.

Mike Hubank, Scientific Director, NHS England Genomics Health Hub

FOG brings together various stakeholders in the field of genomics in an open, accessible setting that encourages interaction, connection and cross-fertilization of ideas.

Prashant Mali, Assistant Professor of Bioengineering, University of California, San Diego

The festival is a great place to celebrate the mysteries of the genome.

Brendan Keating, Assistant Professor, Depts of Surgery (Division of Transplantation) and Pediatrics, University of Pennsylvania

I believe FOG presents a unique opportunity for researchers from all walks to connect, share and learn. A perfect platform to listen to viewpoints from academia and industry. It was an honor to participate and present. Special thanks to the organizers for putting together such an amazing event.

Lakshmi Kuttippurathu, Associate Director, Lexicon Pharmaceuticals

It was exciting, and I learned so much.

Amy Rancourt, Medical Technologist, Hospital

There were a lot of relevant vendors to help develop our workstreams!

Tom Rivas, Scientist, Empress

I had a wonderful experience at FOG; saw people that I hadn't seen for a long time, and met many new business acquaintances.

Mathew Chamberlain, Principal Scientist, Johnson & Johnson

It was very well organized event and I didnt miss anything.The good point was application helped me to follow my desired schedule very well

Mohammadamin Mahmanzar, Bioinformatic Research Assistant, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii

Out of all the Boston area events this one has the most diverse crowd overall.

Cory Iaciofano, Account Executive, Oxford Nanopore Technologies

Diverse array of talks from leaders in the academia as well as from the industry

Shatavisha Dasgupta, PostDoc, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard

Festival of Genomics was a very unique conference experience. I had a chance to connect with a number of interesting colleagues interested in my work within a relaxed setting

Stacey Winham, Statistical Geneticist, Mayo Clinic

Thank you so much for this wonderful event.

Wenying Ren Researcher Tufts Medical Center

FoG does a great job at lifting up the ‘fog’ around -omics research! It’s my second year attending and I always learn a lot during my time here. I hope to be back next year too!

Ananya Tupaki Sreepurna, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Tufts Medical Center

Great place to learn, network and job search

Somak Ray, Bioinformatics Algorithm Developer, Northeastern University

Amazing work organizing the festival and making such a great list of fantastic speakers!

Marcin von Grotthuss, Director, Data Integration & Analytics, Takeda Pharmaceuticals

Bioinformatics is my field. So so be at a conference dedicated to it has been very useful. Getting to actually meet the nice people at the companies we use day in and day out can be very helpful since they are extremely knowledgeable! The talks were also very good! I learned about the $100 sequncing!

Barry Kesner, Bioinformatician MGB

It was interesting to see a variation of genomics presented from CEO's and professors.

Michelle Bartolo, Sr Clinical Researcher, MGH

FoG provides a platform for everyone who is interested in witnessing new technologies being invented, implemented, and promoted. It fosters a dialogue between different stakeholders who want to promote new products and platforms and those who are the consumers or adopters of these developments.

Abhijeet Sonawane, Instructor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School

This is one of the most inspiring conferences I have been to. Most of the talks are intriguing and offer unique insights.

Anonymous

I love the way this Festival brings Wet and Computational Biologists into the same conversations, this is the only way to make rapid progress in the genomics field

Asaf Rotem, Senior Director, Translational Medicine, AstraZeneca

…Honestly, I attend lots of meetings, but I haven't been nearly as enthusiastic as for the Festival of Genomics. What a sophisticated, but yet refreshing and sleek approach..

Alina Khromykh, Clinical Research Associate, Inova Translational Medicine Institute

I learned a lot! Great speakers and range of topics - always an interesting talk going on!

Allison Brookhart, Research Associate Broad Institute

It was so great to meet people who are really enthusiastic about omics science and who are genuinely interested in positively affecting the lives of so many patients around the world. I'm only an intern but some of the connections I made at this festival will stick with me for a very long time, possibly the rest of my life!

Timothy Burnes, Data Science Intern, Flare Therapeutics

This meeting showcased a perfect mix of cutting-edge technologies, interactive events, and trainee resources valuable to those in industry and academia alike. I'd highly recommend attending!

Julie Jurgens, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Boston Children's Hospital

Solid mix of talks on both genomics methods and applications / basic research questions. I was skeptical of the headphones method for being able to hear concurrent speakers, but they did work!

Anonymous