UP’s Philippine Genome Center in partnership with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) through the funding support of DOST’s Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD), and British Council’s Newton Fund Program is once again organizing an international workshop on infectious diseases this time with focus in ‘Omics technology.
The applications of ‘Omics technologies in health is huge, and improving local capability in this area is the rationale behind this international workshop. While it is important to build on the Philippines’ capability in this area, the workshop in its entirety is meant to increase the level of awareness and correct misconceptions regarding the relevant technology requirements in order to pursue “omics” research in the Philippines.
The workshop happening on November 5-9 in UP Diliman will consist two symposia on ID ‘omics and control, flanking a hands-on analytical/computational short course in ‘omics data generation and analysis.
The five-day workshop aims to:
(i) inform policy makers, public health workers, clinicians and biomedical researchers on the potential of ‘omics technology in performing ID surveillance and control, assisting in the rapid detection of drug resistance strains, and informing clinical disease management, including next generation diagnostics
(ii) equip researchers and field epidemiologists with the analytical tools to perform genomic surveillance and analyses locally, and to harness the Philippine-wide networks that the PGC, University of the Philippines (UP) and LSHTM can support to perform regional ID surveillance
(iii) develop an effective regional network for ID genomic surveillance in Philippines, centered on the genomic capacity of the PGC and by harnessing the expertise available in LSHTM
(iv) build capacity in the basic tools of genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and other ‘omics analysis that can be applied to multiple areas of research across a wide range of organisms, including the evaluation of host-pathogen interactions and specific host or pathogen responses
(v) provide hands-on experience with the generation and analysis of ‘omics data, including the application of portable sequencing and processing of the resulting big data. Advanced users are allowed to develop more advanced analysis pipelines.
ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA
• Participants may range from MSc graduates and research assistants with extensive research experience, to PhD graduates and early-career researchers with a maximum of 10 years post-PhD research experience.
• Participants must have a research or recognized institution post (research contract/fellowship) at a recognized institution in either the UK or the Philippines
TO REGISTER, click https://bit.ly/geid2app before 8 October 2018.
• For applicants in the UK, applications may be sent to Taane.Clark@lshtm.ac.uk.
• A confirmation email will be sent to registrants on October 12, 2018.
• The thirty (30) shortlisted participants for the hands-on workshop are expected to attend all sessions and are required to bring a hard drive or USB with at least 8 GB usable memory.
• Those who will not be selected to participate in the hands-on workshop are welcome to attend the scientific symposia on Day 1 (November 5) and Day 4 (PM session) at the Institute of Biology Auditorium, and will feature keynote talks on the use of –omics technology for disease control and management, the role of the PGC and its links to public health.
• Workshop proper [Day 2-Day 4 (AM session)] on analytical/computational short courses covering the analysis of raw ‘omics data, integration, and correlation with disease outcomes will be held at the Philippine Genome Center Training Rooms.
POSTER SESSION
Attendees of the symposium and workshop participants are also encouraged to participate in the poster session to be held on November 6, 2018. Abstracts relating to the genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and bioinformatics analysis of infectious diseases must be sent to geid2.0abstracts@gmail.com no later than October 8, 2018 (Monday). Confirmation emails will be sent by October 12, 2018.
Guidelines:
• Abstract must be written in English with the font Arial, size 11 pt, single-spaced, and justified on MS Word.
• Title of the paper must be in bold capital letters and centered
• Name(s) of the author(s) must be below the title and underlined.
• Abstract should contain an introduction, objectives, major findings, and conclusion, and should have no more than 300 words.
• Poster should be 2” x 3” feet and contain the abstract, introduction, objectives, methods, major findings, and conclusion.
EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES
Wherever possible, gender balance and diversity will be sought in the selection of candidates, and extra support to enable participation of Early Career Researchers with special needs will be given.
SUPPORT
The British Council and the Philippine’s Department of Science and Technology’s Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD) will cover the costs related to workshop participation, including: travel, accommodation, and meals. Although this cost will not be covered by the British Council or DOST, participants are encouraged to purchase an adequate travel and medical insurance. The British Council accepts no responsibility for any problems which may occur when the participants are in-country.
For queries or clarifications, please call 981-8500 local 4703 and or email pgc@up.edu.ph
Visit the www.pgc.up.edu.ph or follow @phgenome on Facebook and Twitter to know more about us.
