World’s top systems biology researchers coming to Melbourne in 2014

Systems biology is coming to Australia in 2014 with the 15th International Conference on Systems Biology, which is to be held in Melbourne.

The post-genomic era has spurred a tremendous amount of research in the various ‘omics, including genomics, proteomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics and even interactomics, and systems biology seeks to use cutting edge bioinformatics technology to weave them together into a single integrated science.

“Systems biology is a multidisciplinary science that tackles the big questions,” said Professor Hiroaki Kitano, one of the pioneers of the discipline.

“It can’t be done by just one person or one laboratory – it needs integration of data, knowledge and various expertise from medical and biology experts to computer science and engineering experts.”

Kitano is chair of the conference’s parent organisation, the International Society for Systems Biology, and director of Japan’s Systems Biology Institute, and director of the Sony Computer Science Laboratories.

He and Professor Richard Larkins of EMBL Australia signed a memorandum of understanding between their two organisations to bring the conference to Australia.

“Systems biology is still a new approach so conferences like this one are invaluable in bringing together scientists to discuss the challenges and share new techniques and technologies,” said Larkins.

“We hope that our own scientists will learn a lot from the conference, and also bring some unique science to the table to share with our overseas colleagues.”

This will be the first time the conference will be held in the southern hemisphere, and follows recent meetings in Edinburgh in 2010 and Heidelberg-Mannheim in 2011.

The organisers expect about 750 scientists from Australia and overseas to attend the Melbourne conference.