29th - 30th January 2025 | ExCeL, London
LIVE LOUNGE
Ethics and Interactions With The Environment - Bridging the Gap for Genomics for all
The Live Lounge addresses epigenetics in mental health, equitable access and diversity in genomic studies, and challenges in women’s health, prenatal care and newborn screening.
DAY 1
The Live Lounge will begin by focusing on Genomics in Psychiatry and Mental Health. The focus will then turn to ethics, diversity and patient perspectives.
[topic] GENOMICS INTERACTING WITH THE ENVIRONMENT
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DATAMIND – The UK Mental Data Hub
- This talk will present DATAMIND which is a health data research hub for mental health.
- We’ll discuss the core activities of this research hub including the FAIR curation of mental health data.
- We’ll show how the DATAMIND hub is cataloguing and curating UK mental health data rich datasets which are within the fields of genomics, routine care, trials for research, the NHS, academia, industry and so on.
- Finally we’ll cover how patient and public engagement is a core aspect of the project.
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A Multiomics Approach to Understanding the Regulation of Sleep And Circadian Rhythms
- Sleep is fundamental to our health, and its disruption, as seen widely in today’s 24/7 society can precipitate multiple long and short-term diseases.
- Despite its importance, the molecular underpinnings of sleep remain largely enigmatic.
- My lab works on the gene regulatory landscape that controls the timing of sleep and circadian rhythms.
- Here I will present our latest findings on how chromatin accessibility changes in key brain regions changes across the day and in response to sleep deprivation, and its consequences on brain function and health.
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Food, Epigenetics, Metabolic Responses and Health
- How diet influences epigenetic regulation of gene function, and its impacts on subsequent cardio-metabolic health outcomes
- Overview of the DIMENSION Consortium
- The intersection between epigenetic and functional genetic changes after food intake, and the potential of personalised nutrition
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[topic] LIVE LOUNGE OVER LUNCH
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A Comprehensive Workflow from Screening to Validation Utilizing Droplet Digital Sequencing (ddSeq) and Droplet Digital PCR (ddPCR) Technologies
- We will describe continuous workflow bridging the gap between droplet-based targeted methods and sequencing technologies to maximize the information retrieved from valuable samples across various fields of research:
- ddSEQ (Droplet Digital Sequencing) technology was designed to create sequencing libraries from single cells, maximizing cell utilization through a distinctive bead deconvolution process. We will discuss the single-cell transcriptomics approach as a foundation for marker discovery.
- Droplet digital PCR: The next generation of PCR, utilising droplet-based technology to partition PCR reactions, enabling greater accuracy, sensitivity and reliability and use with an increasingly widening range of applications.
- Genesis Celselect: A micro-well-based technology designed to complement existing liquid biopsy workflows focused on cell-free DNA (cfDNA) analysis using ddPCR. It enables the efficient capture of rare cells, offering options for recovery or automated on-slide immunostaining. This method boasts high capture efficiency, thanks to its size-based, epitope-agnostic capture approach and innovative microfluidic design.
Speakers
Sponsor
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DNA/RNA Multiomics: Future-Proof Your Lab With a Flexible Single-Tube NGS Solution
Sponsor
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Realising The Clinical Benefits of Genetics Guided Screening and Prevention
- PRS have been developed and evaluated for many complex diseases, including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and common cancers - It is essential that considering the translational benefit of using genetics to enhance prevention and early detection are not focussed upon single diseases alone
- We show that large numbers of individuals in the population are at high risk because of their genetics and that they reach screening thresholds in advance of current guidelines
- We also demonstrate how genetics can be operationalised in a public health setting to support prevention, and consider how they can be applied to emerging public health problems, where screening & prevention are likely to play a role in the future
Sponsor
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Single-Cell and High-Throughput RNA-seq Tools to Find Better Targets and Accelerate Drug Development
- Bottlenecks in Drug Discovery: Challenges include identifying effective targets and optimizing leads, with traditional methods being time-consuming and often inaccurate
- Single-Cell Sequencing: Our custom approach to single-cell sequencing offers deep insights into cellular heterogeneity and cell type-specific expression, improving the speed and precision of target discovery
- Discovery-seq Platform: Our new platform uses single-cell methodology for high-throughput screening with Bulk RNA sequencing, supported by robust data analysis to find better targets and elucidate MoA
Sponsor
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Illumina 3' Single-Cell RNA Prep: Flexible, Scalable, and Affordable Single-Cell Analysis in Any Lab
- Illumina introduces new solutions for single-cell analysis using Particle Templated Instant Partitioning
- Flexible platform scales from hundreds to hundreds of thousands of cells per reaction with minimal equipment requirement
- Fully integrated with Illumina's sequencing and analysis pipeline
- Illumina 3' single-cell RNA prep provides unmatched value, flexibility, and scalability for any lab
Sponsor
[topic] GENOMICS IN PSYCHIATRY & MENTAL HEALTH
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The Genetics of Treatment Resistant Depression in The Pakistani DIVERGE Study
- There is an immense lack of diversity in genetic research.
- Very few studies are carried out in low- and middle income countries In one of the largest dedicated studies of depression genetics, we are recruiting 9,000 patients from across Pakistan
- I will present the first genetic findings from this novel, deeply phenotyped cohort
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We investigated the genetic risk factors for developing treatment resistant depression which is responsible for the majority of the burden of this disorder
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Epigenetic Embedding of Prenatal Stress in Humans
- Importance of prenatal/perinatal tissue (placenta, cordblood)
- Definitions of prenatal stress
- Overview of findings from prenatal studies and our own findings
- Directions for future studies
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Epigenetic Regulation By Stress
- Epigenetic regulation by stress during prenatal, postnatal and adulthood.
- Animal models and human studies to study epigenetic mechanisms.
- Epigenetic regulation by influenced by genetics.
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[break] Break
- Speed Networking: Fun and useful sessions where you’ll rapidly meet other Festival attendees to immediately expand your network
- Food Options: Grab a coffee and a cake at The Tree of Life Cafe or head on over to the Food Village for a range of hot food options including Indian, Jamaican and Thai food
- Exhibition Floor: Wander around the vibrant exhibition floor to see the latest technologies and services on offer
- Talkaoke: The Flying Saucer of Chat, a fun and interactive pop-up show that offers you the opportunity to sit down with others and discuss any topic you like
[topic] ETHICS, DIVERSITY & PATIENT PERSPECTIVES
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Improving Black Health Outcomes
- First dedicated research resource in this country to help us understand how health conditions can specifically affect people from Black communities
- King’s College London in partnership with NIHR BioResource and Genomics England building research cohort up to 10,000 Black participants
- How Black community PPI contributed to every step in IBHO design and delivery
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Putting People First: Designing Ethical and Inclusive Engagement in Genomics
- Overview of how Genomics England are ensuring equity
- The potential of large scale datasets
Speakers
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D-CYPHR: Working With Families to Create a World First Children’s Genetic Health Research Programme
- The DNA, Children + Young People’s Health Resource is led by the NIHR BioResource in partnership with the NHS, and created with children, young people and parents from inception
- Most diseases start in childhood but most research is carried out with adult participants. What is the role of genetic research involving children and young people in overcoming child and adult health problems, and reducing burden on healthcare system
- How does digital recruitment overcome traditional barriers to research participation in underrepresented populations, both children and minority ethnic communities, and work to address health inequalities they face D-CYPHR facilitates research into a wide range of physical and mental health areas, allowing access to data, samples and recall of consented volunteers by genotype and/or phenotype
DAY 2
Day 2 on the Live Lounge Stage focuses on the future of AI in Healthcare, Generative AI & LLMS and how AI can transform Genomics.
[topic] HOW CAN AI TRANSFORM GENOMICS?
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Panel: The Future of AI in Biology And Health
Speakers
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AI Meets Real-World Evidence: Transforming Drug Discovery and Development
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The Devil’s in The Data: Tools for Modelling Genomic Data and Models for Extracting Clinical Data
- Brief overview of a tool to reduce sparse genomic data dimensionality and provide a gene-level pathogenic score (GenePy) for all individuals for all genes - Snapshot of GenePy tool attributes for rare disease, common disease and quantitative traits
- Brief overview of large language model application to 30,000+ histopathology and imaging records to generate standardised data fit for integration with genomics data
[topic] GENERATIVE AI & LLMS
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GALILEO: Roche's Global Generative AI & LLM Strategy
- Overview of GALILEO
- Strategies for implementation, review, and scale-up
- Early insights and future directions
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Strategies for Transforming LLM Technology to Create More Effective Solutions in Drug Development
- Small vs. Large Language Models on private data and domain specific tasks.
- The financial impact of tuning, deploying and maintaining SLMs.
- An overview of some real-world applications of SLMs in the pharma industry.
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The World of Foundation Models & Generative AI in Drug Development
- Non-clinical safety evaluation is fundamental to drug development and is richly multimodal
- Emergence of large scale foundation models enables data-efficient multimodal analyses for preclinical studies
- Scale-up of generative AI can revolutionise safety studies, mitigate animal testing, and unlock substantial patient value
[topic] THE FUTURE OF AI IN HEALTHCARE
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Panel: How Can AI Transform Healthcare In 2025 And Beyond?
More details to be announced shortly.
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Start-Up Pitching Competition
More details to be announced shortly.