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Leading scientists in the field from around the world come together to address the challenges in the sessions ‘Grand Challenges in Computational Biology’, opened by Josep Huguet
Some 30 scientists working in the field of bioinformatics will gather in Barcelona from today until Wednesday to discuss their research and findings in the international conference ‘Grand Challenges in Computational Biology’. Held at the Institut d’Estudis Catalans (IEC), the conference was opened this morning by the Minister for Innovation, Universities and Commerce of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Josep Huguet, the president of the IEC, Salvador Giner, the director of the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), Mateo Valero, and the director of the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), Joan Guinovart.
This international conference seeks to present bioinformatics as a multidisciplinary field, in which tools for microscopic, mesoscopic and macroscopic simulations are used to study the behaviour of living organisms.
A further objective established by the members of the Organising Committee, headed by Modesto Orozco, professor at the University of Barcelona, researcher at IRB Barcelona and director of Life Sciences at the BSC, is to provide a forum in which researchers working in bioinformatics can discuss challenges in this field and put forwards how solutions can be reached through new equipment and programmes.
According to Modesto Orozco, "this conference is an excellent opportunity to bring together leading researchers in bioinformatics, experts in the future development of supercomputation and leaders of the most relevant European projects in this field. We believe that the conclusions from the conference will allow us to more efficiently focus on the challenges posed by the simulation of living organisms."
IRB Barcelona
L’Institut de Recerca Biomèdica (IRB Barcelona) treballa per aconseguir una vida lliure de malalties. Desenvolupa una recerca multidisciplinària d’excel·lència per curar el càncer i altres malalties vinculades a l'envelliment. Treballa establint col·laboracions amb la indústria farmacèutica i els principals hospitals per fer arribar els resultats de la recerca a la societat a través de la transferència de tecnologia, i du a terme diferents iniciatives de divulgació científica per mantenir un diàleg obert amb la ciutadania. L’IRB Barcelona és un centre internacional que acull al voltant de 400 investigadors de més de 30 nacionalitats. Reconegut com a Centre d'Excel·lència Severo Ochoa des de 2011, és un centre CERCA i membre del Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST).
