The major bioscientific challenge of today is to flexibly manage and operate the deluge of scientific data currently available. Thus, computational biology is the branch of life sciences research that focuses precisely on the application of IT tools in order to make sense of this huge amount of information that is growing exponentially.

Within the global trend of growth in this field of biosciences, Catalonia, thanks to the creation of powerful technological platforms and networks that bring together research teams that work in it, has been at the forefront of bioinformatics and computational biology. In this context, and with more than one hundred and fifty registered researchers, on Friday 18 December, the Institute for Catalan Studies (Carrer del Carme, 47. 08001 Barcelona) is to host the third edition of the Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Symposium, organized by the Catalan Society of Biology (SCB) and the Bioinformatics Barcelona Association (BIB). During the meeting, the research professionals will enjoy four plenary sessions that will address different aspects of bioinformatics in Catalonia, from major projects and initiatives that are being carried out to the interdisciplinary challenges associated with this research field.

Given by Arcadi Navarro, director of the Department of Experimental and Health Sciences (DCEXS) and ICREA research professor; David Carrera, researcher at the National Supercomputing Center (BSC); Tim Hubbard, head of the Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics at King's College, London, and Modesto Orozco, group leader of the Molecular Modelling and Bioinformatics Institute of Biomedical Research (IRB), the conferences will be followed by thirteen oral presentations by students and postdoctoral researchers. Antoni Espinosa, associate professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), and Gonzalo Vera, researcher at the Centre for Research in Agricultural Genomics (CRAG), will conclude the event by assessing the state of the Galaxy Project. Finally, and to close the symposium, the JdB2015 award will be given to the best oral presentation among all those presented during the day.

Sponsored by the company Atos, the Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Symposium 2015 has been designed by a committee made up of David Torrents (ICREA, BSC), Roderic Guigó (CRG-UPF), Ana Ripoll (UAB, BIB) and Ferran Sanz (GRIB, IMIM-UPF, BIB).  For the third year, the Catalan Society of Biology and the Bioinformatics Barcelona Association join forces to offer the researchers a meeting point for the discussion and presentation of the results of research that is expected to have a long and fruitful life.

Full programme