POSTERS

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ORAL PRESENTATIONS

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PROGRAM SCHEDULE

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Links within this page:
Monday, Apr 9 | Tuesday, Apr 10 | Wednesday, Apr 11
Program and location are subject to change. Please check back often for updates.

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NGS Post-Conference Workshop
April 11, 2018
9am - 4pm

Registration is required. Limited capacity.

Registration Fees

• ISCB Member/CRG - € 35
• Nonmember - € 55
  

Compositionally Appropriate Analysis of Transcriptome, Metagenome, and Microbiome Datasets

Organizers:
Greg Gloor is a Professor of Biochemistry at The University of Western Ontario. He is one of the pioneers in using compositional data analysis to analyze HTS datasets. He is the maintainer of the ALDEx2 R package on Bioconductor used for differential relative abundance analysis. He has published original research, methods papers, and reviews that use compositional data analysis methods to interpret HTS datasets using transcriptome, microbiome and meta-transcriptome datasets (Bian et al.; Fernandes et al., 2013, 2014; Gloor and Reid, 2016; Gloor et al., 2016a, 2017, 2016b, 2016c; Goneau et al., 2015; Macklaim et al., 2013; McMillan et al., 2015; Wolfs et al., 2016). He has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in computational biology for almost two decades, and has won awards from both student groups and faculty-wide competitions.

Ionas Erb is a PDF and Bioinformatician at the Centre for Genomic Regulation in Barcelona. He is an active developer of tools to determine compositional association and is a contributor to the propr R package on CRAN used to explore correlation in a compositionally appropriate manner (Erb and Notredame, 2016; Erb et al., 2017; Quinn et al., 2017a).

Description:
There is increasing awareness that datasets generated by high throughput sequencing are compositional leading to both false positive and false negative inference. This workshop will show the dangers of ignoring the compositional nature of the data, and provide appropriate tools for compositional analysis at all stages of analysis. We will teach participants the toolset needed to conduct exploratory data analysis (biplots and clustering), correlation (propr) and differential relative abundance (ALDEx2) in a compositionally appropriate manner.

Learning Objectives:
1) Be able to identify when biological datasets are compositional, and understand the root problems that cause problems when interrogating compositional datasets.
2) Understand why HTS data should be analyzed in a compositionally-appropriate framework.
3) Know how to install, use and interpret the output from the basic HTS compositional toolkit that consists of compositional biplots, the propr R package and the ALDEx2 R package.
4) Have a frame of reference for more complex compositional tools such as philr and concepts such as b-association and balance dendrograms.

Audience Level:
The intended audience for this session is bioinformaticians or computational biologists who use high throughput sequencing with experimental designs that include tag sequencing (eg. 16S rRNA gene sequencing), metagenomics, transcriptomics or meta-transcriptomics.
This is not intended to be an introduction to R for bioinformaticians: attendees should be relatively proficient with R, either using RStudio, or on the command line and should have a plain text editor available. Attendees will use R markdown documents to keep track of their work, and templates will be provided for use. Attendees will be expected to have a laptop with R installed and the following packages and their dependencies: propr (CRAN), ALDEx2 (Bioconductor), omicplotR (Bioconductor), zCompositions (CRAN). Attendees are encouraged to bring their own datasets for analysis, but should be aware that only pairwise (i.e., two condition) experiments will be demonstrated.
Compositional concepts will be at an introductoryintermediate level suitable for participants of any background, but will be more intuitive to those with a grounding in probability and linear algebra.
The practical aspects will be at an intermediate level, suitable for participants with pre-exisiting competency in R.
Attendance should be capped at approximately 40 participants. 
ATTENDEES MUST BRING THEIR OWN LAPTOP.

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CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
Deadline 29 January 2018
Late Breaking Deadline 21 February 2018

NGS 2018 invites the submission of abstracts* describing either original, unpublished research or research that has been published recently in a high-impact journal.  Selection for presentation as either an oral presentation or a poster will be based on the review of extended abstracts. Authors who submit original, unpublished work selected for presentation at the conference may be invited to submit a full-length paper or extended abstract with full data for peer-review to published** in the ISCB Community Journal, ISCB NGS-BARCELONA channel. All posters will also be invited to submit in poster format to the ISCB NGS-BARCELONA channel.

The program will address a wide range of topics such as genome assembly, variant characterization and analysis, gene expression, population history, and disease.  Sizeable space is dedicated to submission-based presentations from the topics listed below.

Topics include:

• State of the art technologies, and technologies under development
• Novel software and algorithms
• Reproducibility
• Novel applications of NGS technologies in genomics and biology
• Genomic and transcriptomic analyses, including RNA analysis, transcription factor binding sites profiling, histone modifications, nucleosome positioning, copy number variation, genotyping, RNA structure, dynamics of transcription and translation, etc.
• Research breakthroughs based on exhaustive applications of NGS.
• Clinical and translational applications
• Applications to agriculture and biotechnology
• Societal and economic implications: forensic law, sociology research, history, etc.
• Economical impacts

Plan to submit your research to this engaging conference!
*    Abstract text limited to 300 words
**    Authors are responsible for publishing fees. ISCB members receive a 20% discount.

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SUBMISSION DEADLINE IS JANUARY 29, 2018!
LATE BREAKING SUBMISSION DEADLINE IS FEBRUARY 21, 2018!
For submission support, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Abstracts received before the due date will be considered for oral presentations and/or poster presentations. If your abstract is accepted, it will be included in an abstract booklet that will be distributed to all conference participants. Accepted original research abstracts will also be invited to publish in the ISCB Community Journal at the author's’ expense.

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How to Submit your Abstract

Please use this link to EasyChair to submit your abstract. You will be asked to provide information about yourself and your coauthors, including name, e-mail address, and affiliation. Please check one box for corresponding author to indicate who would be speaking or would be primarily responsible for your poster. You will also be asked to provide an abstract title, the text of your abstract, and keywords.

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SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

Hosted by the International Society for Computational Biology and the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), the Next Generation Sequencing Conference 2018 (NGS 2018) is a dedicated meeting on cutting-­-edge approaches to the processing and analysis of Next Generation Sequencing data, with a focus on structural variation and population genomics.

Topics to include:

• State of the art technologies, and technologies under development
• Novel software and algorithms
• Novel applications of NGS technologies in genomics and biology
• Post genome sequencing analysis, including RNA analysis, transcription factor binding sites profiling, histone modifications, nucleosome positioning, copy number variation, genotyping, RNA structure, dynamics of transcription and translation, etc.
• Research breakthroughs based on exhaustive applications of NGS.
• Clinical and translational applications
• Applications to agriculture and biotechnology
• Societal implications: forensic law, sociology research, history, etc.
• Economical impacts

The conference will also aim to encompass the associated computational challenges:

• Novel algorithms, methods and pipelines
• Comparative benchmarks of methods
• Hardware developments specific to NGS
• High performance computing in NGS
• Computation in portable NGS devices, micro- and nano-NGS devices
• Computation during data acquisition

The meeting will draw together researchers from diverse backgrounds who develop and apply novel tools to sequencing data.  Topics covered will include, but are not limited to, genome assembly, variant characterization and analysis, gene expression, population history, disease, and more!

The conference program will be a combination of keynote talks from renown scientists with research focusing on structural variation and population genomics, a selection of thought-provoking submitted abstract talks, technology and applications talks, as well as posters.

On average, most of attendees are from Europe with remaining attendees from the United States, Canada, Asia, Africa, & Australia. Total attendees expected in 2018: 200

This year’s conference will take place in April 9-11, 2018, in Barcelona, Spain.

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Sponsorship Opportunities

NGS 2018 is seeking sponsorship from institutions looking to engage with a dynamic audience that specializes in high-throughput sequencing and next generation sequencing data arenas.

Sponsorship packages are designed to provide maximum exposure. Customized packages are available to fit any marketing budget.

Contact Andrew P. Falter, Exhibit and Sponsor Sales, ISCB, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to confirm your presence at NGS 2018 and meet your target audience.

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Sponsorship Packages

1. Two (2) complimentary conference registrations
2. Logo slide during opening session
3. Logo with link to organization on conference website index page
4. Logo with link to organization on conference website sponsorship page
5. Sponsor in conference program with organization name & description
6. Half-page black and white advertisement in conference program
   
   

1. One (1) complimentary conference registrations
2. Logo slide during opening session
3. Logo with link to organization on conference website index page
4. Logo with link to organization on conference website sponsorship page
5. Sponsor in conference program with organization name & description
6. Quarter-page black and white advertisement in conference program
   
   

1. One (1) complimentary conference registrations
2. Logo slide during opening session
3. Logo with link to organization on conference website index page
4. Logo with link to organization on conference website sponsorship page
5. Sponsor in conference program with organization name & description
6. Quarter-page black and white advertisement in conference program
   
   

1. One (1) complimentary conference registrations
2. Logo slide during opening session
3. Logo with link to organization on conference website index page
4. Logo with link to organization on conference website sponsorship page
5. Sponsor in conference program with organization name & description
   
   

1. 50% discount off of a Quarter-page advertisement in conference program (black & white)
2. Quarter-page advertisement in ISCB Newsletter (Silver and Bronze only, full color, issue of choice)
3. Discounted registration at 25% off regular registration fee
4. Electronic list of conference delegates post-event
5. Organization recognized in ISCB Annual Report with logo and link to preferred URL
6. One (1) exhibit exhibitor showcase display space
7. One (1) 15-minute technology track (scheduled by the organizers)
8. Electronic list of conference delegates pre-event
9. Brochure in delegate registration bag
10. Half-page advertisement in ISCB Newsletter (full color, issue of choice, Gold Level only)
11. Up to 5 job posts on ISCB website
12. One complimentary banner ad on website (to run for 90 days)
    
    

1. One (1) 15-minute technology track: €1250*

* Technology Track Sessions are limited. Slots will be reserved for sponsors first followed by a first come first-served assignment.

1. Organizations will benefit by acknowledgement in the conference program, onsite signage, on the conference website, and through delegate appreciation of your support.
2. Refreshment Break: €500 with option to bring logo napkins or place flyers on coffee stations
3. Lunch: €3000
4. Name Badge Lanyards: €1000
5. Inclusion of marketing materials in delegate bags: €500
6. Purchase pre-conference registration list: €250
7. Purchase post-conference registration list: €500
8. Delegate Bags: €1000
9. Keynote Speaker Sponsorship: €2000

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KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

  Ami Bhatt
  Departments of Medicine and Genetics
  Divisions of Hematology and BMT
  Stanford University

  Translating Metagenomics

  There are more than 1,000 species of bacteria, viruses and fungi that live in the human gut. Far from being passive passengers, these organisms strongly interact with host metabolism, the immune system, and more. For all of this interaction, the dynamics between human hosts and bacteria (microbiome) has only been explored in earnest for the last fifteen to twenty years. Compelling early experiments have shown that intestinal microbiome composition is associated with obesity, cardiovascular diseases, and the effectiveness of certain cancer chemotherapies. Therefore, understanding the impact of microbiomes speciation on noncommunicable diseases such as cancer, hematological and cardiometabolic disorders (Manzo and Bhatt, Blood, 2015) is fundamental to our health care. But how does one begin to model the dynamics of >1,000, mostly un-sequenced species and strains of bacteria, viruses and fungi? In this presentation, I will discuss approaches that our translational laboratory has developed and applied - these novel molecular and computational tools allow us to study strain level dynamics of the microbiome, to understand how microbial genomes change over time, and predict the functional output of microbiomes. In particular, I will introduce MetaRiboSeq - a method that (i) allows for the indirect measurement of protein abundances by quantification of translated transcripts by adapting ribosomal profiling to metagenomic mixtures and (ii) improves the accurate prediction of small open reading frames from metagenomic sequencing information using a bioinformatics-driven comparative metagenomics approach.

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  Francesca Ciccarelli
  Reader in Genomics and Bioinformatics
  King's College London

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  Nick Loman
  School of Biosciences
  University of Birmingham

A Sequencing Singularity of Infectious Disease?

  Sequencing may be the ultimate clinical assay, providing rich information for
  both diagnosis, genotyping and surveillance of pathogens in a single assay. In this talk I will detail how our work with portable in-field nanopore sequencing led to new insights into Ebola evolution that were fed in real-time into outbreak response efforts. Further work on Zika demonstrated huge gaps in our knowledge of circulating pathogens in human populations, but reinforced technical difficulties in recovering whole genomes directly from clinical samples with untargeted approacesh. Ultimately, however, metagenomics approaches should be viable for the diagnosis and recovery of whole pathogen genomes from clinical samples. I will also discuss the role ultra long read single molecule sequencing may have on this on ascribing phenotypes like antimicrobial resistance to specific species, as well as the new opportunities offered by direct RNA sequencing which may also allow us to monitor host response to infection. Taken together, recent technological advances make the prospect of a ‘sequencing singularity’ a tantalising prospect

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  Nicholas Luscombe
  Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Laboratory
  The Francis Crick Institute

 

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PROMOTION

Click here to download flyer (pdf)

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