Last week over 400 researchers from 24 different countries gathered in the beautiful Bijloke event center in Ghent to attend the fifth edition of ‘Revolutionizing Next-Generation Sequencing’ conference. According to attendees, the excellent program with internationally renowned speakers from different fields and the extensive networking opportunities were the main reasons to attend.
During the two packed days, academic and company speakers covered both the technical challenges and scientific applications of cutting-edge technologies. It was great to see so much interaction between the attendees during the breaks, reception, and dinner. This VIB Tools & Technologies conference has gradually grown into a must-attend event for anyone who wants to keep up with the latest breakthroughs in this exciting field. This was echoed in the statement by Jens Durruthy (Director, Product Management, 10x Genomics, US) who described RNGS23 as the new ‘European AGBT’.
You can find a photo impression of the conference here.
Making sequencing tech accessible to everyone to increase its societal impact
The stacked line-up included Andrew Adey (OHSU, US) whose talk exemplified that perseverance is needed to overcome challenges associated with establishing a new technology (in this case for high-throughput robust single-cell profiling of DNA methylation), while Joseph Beechem’s (Nanostring Technologies, US) enthusiasm about data-driven science and unbiased approaches encouraged the audience to ‘let the data speak’.
Sequencing technologies are delivering higher throughput, at a lower cost, with longer reads, and/or higher quality at benchtop size. However, Laura Boykin (BioTeam, US) puts everything in perspective when highlighting the huge gap between Western technologies and implementation in the African farmers’ fields, emphasizing the importance of real-life stories and impact beyond publications. Technological developments are essential for scientific progress, but ultimately, having a positive soci(et)al impact is the ultimate goal.
Next to the senior expert speakers, 6 upcoming researchers took the stage to pitch their posters. In total 62 posters were presented during the two poster sessions, boosting collaborations and knowledge exchange. The best three poster presentations received the VIB Poster Prizes. The winners were:
- Celia Diez Lopez, University Ghent, BE
- Marc Pagès-Gallego, Universitair Medisch Centrum Utrecht, NL
- Hélène Perée, GIGA Institute - University of Liège, BE
During the different breaks and social activities, scientific and/or philosophical discussions sprouted while drinking coffee or enjoying a delicious lunch, or visiting one of the 23 sponsor booths. Marusya Lieveld (Sr. Sales Executive 10X Genomics) described it as follows: "This VIB conference almost feels like the European version of AGBT. It's a really advanced conference and you have to join it because the number and quality of the attendees are really high. We wouldn’t ever miss this or future editions."
Impressions from the conference
Conference reporters Laurien Van Dyck (VIB Grand Challenges) and Silvie Van den Hoecke (VIB Technologies) covered the event live on social media. They've summarized their experiences for you here:
Laurien Van Dyck: This conference was the ideal opportunity to get in touch with the latest technological advances in the field of single-cell and spatial multi-omics. I had an update on what’s hot and new in the field, and what’s to be expected in the coming years. It’s great to see that lectures focussing on the impact of these technologies also have a place in the conference, next to the more technology-focused talks.
Silvie Van den Hoecke: "It is impressive to see how fast the sequencing field has evolved since the previous edition of the conference. Sequencing only got cheaper, faster, and at a higher quality, allowing bigger-sized sequencing studies, even with the aim to sequence the full tree of life, and the associated ethical questions that arise. Single-cell sequencing is becoming more and more mainstream, with major leaps forward in multi-omics and scale. The following spatial session added an extra dimension to it, giving a nice overview of the field and its ability to generate biological meaningful insights and to validate the results of single-cell studies."
Finally, Toon Swings (VIB Technologies and RNGS23 OC member) recapped the event as follows:
"We are thrilled to report the success of the 5th edition of the RNGS conference, which took place a few days ago in beautiful Ghent. Attendees were impressed by the flawless organization provided by the VIB conferences team, and many speakers praised the venue as one of the most beautiful places to give a talk.
As scientific organizers, we were honored to welcome a fantastic line-up of speakers who presented not only the "already-known," but also gave us a glimpse into the future of next-generation sequencing technology. The program featured a great balance of talks, including presentations from companies such as Parse Bio, 10X Genomics, Element Bio, Nanostring, and Resolve Bio, as well as academic tech developers like Andrew Adey, Thierry Voet, Evan Macosko, Stefania Giacomello, and Jeffrey Moffit.
We were also excited to showcase real-world applications, with highlights from Laura Boykin, Viviane Slon, and Jeroen Raes, who demonstrated how sequencing applications are impacting people's lives. We even tackled the ethics of sequencing data thanks to Yves Moreau.The enthusiasm, support, and active participation of attendees and sponsors contributed greatly to the success of the conference, and we are excited to have provided a platform for meaningful discussions and new collaborations.
We look forward to hosting future conferences and continuing to drive innovation in the field of next-generation sequencing."
We want to thank all attendees, speakers, and sponsors for making this a memorable edition, and can't wait to see you all at the next edition.
Make sure to keep an eye on our Twitter account for the latest news regarding this and other VIB Conferences.
