courses

Take a sneak peek at EMBL’s courses and conferences for 2022

Following a year and a half of virtual events, many of you are probably looking forward to attending in-person courses and conferences. So are we! Based on the current trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic, things are looking brighter for 2022 and we are making plans to return to providing you with onsite training and opportunities to meet and connect with each other as early in the year as possible. Naturally, we’ll have back-up plans in place should coronavirus pandemic disruption strike again, but for now most of our events next year are planned to take place face-to-face.

Our 2022 Course and Conference Programme is now live and features a large variety of exciting new scientific topics. Here are some of the highlights of the programme.

Download our 2022 poster here!
To see the full list of upcoming events, visit our events website.

Conferences

We begin the year with a virtual talent search conference that will allow the next generation of infection biologists to present their work and expertise to EMBL and a large number of participating institutes. This new format is especially interesting for postdoctoral fellows and young researchers working in infection biology.

In April, a symposium will shed light on the biological relationship between microbial infections and human cancer. While for many tumour viruses the causality is firmly established, the biological links for bacterial infections are still under research. This symposium will provide a stimulating platform for young scientists and students to present their research, network and develop further this new interdisciplinary field.

Another exciting and innovative topic will be addressed in “Phenotypic Plasticity Across Scales”, a meeting that focuses on the ability of organisms to adapt their form, physiology or behaviour to environmental cues and changes. The conference will highlight molecular mechanisms underlying plasticity and links to the environment. The meeting will also address the role of plasticity in driving evolutionary novelty and biological diversity.

In 2022 EMBL will also offer hands-on practical courses on the latest laboratory and computational technologies. Microscopy image analysis has become a key technology in research. The advanced EMBL virtual course on “Deep learning for Image Analysis” will teach the utilisation of neural networks to answer crucial biological questions.

Two courses will present methods and tools on how to integrate multi-omics data sets. The EMBL Course “Analysis and Integration of Transcriptome and Proteome Data” will teach wet-lab scientists the basics in data analysis and integration, while the advanced EMBO Practical Course on “Integrative Analysis of Multi-Omics Data” will equip computational scientists with state-of-the-art integration tools like multi-omics factor analysis.

Many of our hands-on practical courses address complete workflows from sample collection, through wet-lab experiments to computational data analysis. One of them is the EMBO Practical Course “Methods for Analysis of circRNAs: From Discovery to Function”. This course will teach cutting-edge methods to identify and study this class of non-coding RNAs.

On-demand training

Our open access bioinformatics training offerings are more popular than ever. Here you also have the option to learn at your own pace with our online tutorials and webinars to make sure you stay up-to-date with the latest scientific techniques!

If you’d like to keep up-to-date with the latest news from the EMBL Course and Conference Office, please sign up to our mailing list. You can also follow us on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn or Facebook.

Metagenomics and Ribosome Profiling Smartly Explained

The science behind molecular biology is advancing fast and scientists are eager to create and share new content. But the more content is being created, the harder it is to reach the desired audience. Therefore, the scientific community has had to come up with new attractive formats to help spread valuable scientific content.

One format that is currently popular is explainer videos, which combine both, audio and visual elements to untangle a topic. It has been proved that when one sense is activated we keep part of the information, but with the activation of multiple senses we can process and store far more.

We have therefore created explainer videos as part of our e-learning series.

“It was a great experience working on this project for our virtual courses. We are very fortunate to have Daniel Krüger, a former PhD student creating the graphics for these videos. This immensely improved the communication between the scientific advisers and the graphic designer because they speak the same language,” said EMBL Training Lab Manager Yvonne Yeboah, who came up with the idea of creating the explainer videos and led their production.

The first explainer video we are introducing deals with metagenomics, the genomic analysis of microbes by direct extraction and cloning of DNA, that allows studying communities of organisms directly in their natural environment.

“Our metagenomics course encompasses many different in silico and experimental approaches to understand and gain insights into microbial communities. Therefore, we thought that the visualisation of a video would provide students with an attractive overview that helps to connect and integrate all the aspects covered in the course,” explained José Eduardo González-Pastor, who organised the EMBO Practical Course: Microbial Metagenomics: A 360° Approach and acted as scientific advisor for the videos.

The second explainer video deals with the topic of ribosome profiling, a method that allows researchers to quantitatively analyse translation genome-wide and with high resolution. The video gives a comprehensive overview on how this technique works, what ribosome protected fragments (RPFs) are and what information we can obtain from them.

“Ribosome profiling is still an emerging technology. Therefore, it is great to have a concise summary that explains the method to students. I will certainly use the video for lectures and on my website,” said Sebastian Leidel and Jan Medenbach, both organisers of the EMBO Practical Course: Measuring Translational Dynamics by Ribosome Profiling and scientific advisors for the video.

Visit EMBL’s YouTube channel to find more exciting scientific content.

Join EMBL-EBI training at our Wednesday Webinars!

If you’re looking for bite-sized learning opportunities delivered by EMBL-EBI experts, then our regular series of webinars might be just what you are looking for!

EMBL-EBI’s Training team has been running a series of webinars since 2013, featuring speakers from across EMBL and beyond. Over the years we have covered a wide range of subjects, but its roots are in the resources and databases made available by EMBL-EBI, as well as related biological topics. So far in 2021, we’ve heard from members of Ensembl, RNAcentral, EuropePMC, UniProt and the European Genome-Phenome Archive, with many more to come.

The webinars were started as a way to enable a much wider audience to access our training and interact with our experts. They provide attendees with an introduction to a topic and resource, along with the all important opportunity to ask questions directly to our trainers. If you want to know more about how to use a resource, or perhaps how to analyse or submit data, these are the people with the answers!

Exploring our upcoming webinar listings provides an overview of subjects to be covered. For the majority of webinars the only thing required is an interest in the topic, though some may be aimed at a more specific audience.

The Training team’s Scientific Training Coordinator, Sarah Morgan, at the first webinar of 2021, introducing EMBL-EBI’s resources and the training available.

The series is currently organised by my colleague Ajay Mishra and I. One of us is on hand at every webinar, introducing the speakers and making sure everything runs smoothly. As well as ensuring questions are answered, we also provide an opportunity for all attendees to give feedback, so if you join us, please let us know what you think. You can also tell us if there’s a topic you are keen to see covered in the future.

EMBL-EBI’s webinars are currently run by Anna Swan and Ajay Mishra.

Over the years we have run a number of focused webinar series, including programmatic access of EMBL-EBI resources and data management. From April this year, we will be running a new focused series, “A guide to…”, where we will introduce some concepts in bioinformatics and how they link to some of the EMBL-EBI resources. This series is aimed particularly at students and early-career researchers, but anyone with an interest will be welcome. We will be kicking off the series with topics such as “A guide to exploring genes and genomes with Ensembl” and “A guide to RNA families”. The first webinars in the series are available for registration now, but keep an eye out for future topics in this series, including drug discovery and pathway analysis.

If you are ever unsure about joining a webinar, you can always contact the team at webinars@ebi.ac.uk and we’ll happily answer any questions you may have. We’re also always thinking about what to include next in the programme, so let us know if there’s something you would like to see.

Finally, if there is a webinar that has taken place in the past or there’s one you cannot attend, it is not a problem! We record them all and make them available, along with the slides, in the on-demand section of our website. We always include details on how to get in touch with the trainers and their teams so you can ask the experts a question anytime. We also encourage other trainers to use our recordings and materials in their own training – check out these details on re-use of our content for further information.

We look forward to seeing you at a webinar in the future.

Written by Anna Swan.

Anna Swan – Scientific Training Officer (e-learning) – EMBL-EBI Training

Anna joined the Training Team at EMBL-EBI in March 2019 as a Scientific Training Officer (e-learning). She has a PhD in Bioinformatics from the University of Nottingham, where she focused on the bioinformatic identification of biomarkers of osteoarthritis. Following her PhD, Anna worked as a medical writer, spanning many therapeutic areas and working both on promotional and educational content for clinicians. Returning to bioinformatics, Anna worked as a data wrangler for the International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium at the project’s data coordination centre based in the Medical Research Council’s Harwell Institute.

Meet the EMBL Events Team: Diah

You’ve just got to meet Diah. She is one bright star whose sparkle shines when she speaks, and you’ll end up smiling every time you talk to her. She joined the Course and Conference Office in 2012, then moved to her home country of Indonesia in 2018 before re-joining EMBL in 2020 (yes, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic!). We are very happy she is back and can’t wait for you to meet her.

Diah Yulianti, Course and Conference Officer

At EMBL since: 2012 — 2018 and re-joined in 2020.
Number of organised conferences/courses: 29 conferences and 22 courses.

Favourite place in Heidelberg:
Königstuhl. The view of Heidelberg especially during sunset is so beautiful. And EMBL. It is not because I work there but the place itself and the forest and farm around it are so pretty in all seasons.

What are the challenges/differences of organising a virtual conference or course?
The learning curve in mastering different platforms and software as well as a different workflow was pretty steep. It is a challenging but also very exciting process — both rewarding and humbling at the same time.

How have you adapted your role during the pandemic?
I try to stay connected with people as much as possible. I like to keep an open mind, be mindful and creative — even more than before!

What do you miss most about life before the pandemic?
Like everyone else, I miss meeting and talking to people in person. I am a very extroverted person so it was very difficult for me when we had to start working from home. I am used to it now. I also miss playing badminton with the team!

What have you been up to during these difficult times?
I walk a lot. Also trying new recipes — I love cooking!

If you weren’t a Course and Conference Officer, what would you be?
I was a high school teacher for quite some time. If I were not in Europe, working for a high-level international research institute, interacting with people from all over the world, I would probably be back teaching. It is a very different world but the teaching gene runs in the family. In an alternative world, I would own a small shop selling vegetables, flowers or candy😊.

What is the strangest thing that has ever happened in a conference?
Oh one time at a conference, the keynote speaker had just started her talk when the fire alarm went off. We had to herd 300 participants out of the building to the meeting point near the woods!

If you were a superhero, what power would you like to have?
I’d like to have the power to fly, to lift off the ground by myself freely and ride the air currents — it must be so cool.

Which series have you been binge-watching that we should also definitely watch?
I just finished The Queen’s Gambit and Dark. Really good!

Which are your favourite books?
My all-time favourite books are The Glass Palace, Shantaram and of course Harry Potter!

Upcoming events Diah is organising or co-organising:

EMBO Practical Course: Measuring Translational Dynamics by Ribosome Profiling, 17 – 25 May 2021, virtual.

EMBO Workshop: Predicting Evolution, 14 – 16 Jun 2021, virtual.

EMBO Workshop: The Mobile Genome: Genetic and Physiological Impacts of Transposable Elements, 29 Aug – 1 Sep 2021, virtual

Meet the EMBL Events Team: Jane

PHOTO: Jane Reynolds

Today’s interview is with EMBL-EBI’s Jane Reynolds. Jane is one of the event organisers in the team, and joined in December 2020. Jane’s focus is on the on-site and virtual training courses.

At EMBL since: December 2020
Number of organised courses: 1

Favourite place in Hinxton area? Having joined EMBL-EBI just before Christmas, I haven’t been able to explore Hinxton yet. I did enjoy a virtual tour of the conference centre though, which gave me an insight of where the course dinners take place.

What is the first thing you do before a course starts and the first thing you do after a course finishes? Before an event starts, I remind myself of the hard work and preparation that’s already been done and that the best thing I can do from here on in is be present and ready to deal with anything that might arise. After an event finished? Well, it sounds a bit dull but I usually make a quick list of things that could be improved (as well as those that went really well). Particularly working in new formats, it’s often only by running an event that you notice the small changes that can be made to improve the experiences of delegates or speakers. I like to capture these while they are fresh in my mind.

What are the challenges/differences of organising a virtual course? One of the major changes has been how big chunks of work have shifted closer to the start date of an event; for example, delegates tend to sign up later to online events than in-person events, even if they are advertised for the same length of time as usual, so the timeframe for dealing with the administration related to this is shorter. The work definitely has a different rhythm to it and the tools and systems have changed but the reason we’re doing it is the same. Remembering this has helped me to adapt. Although I have to say I am really looking forward to meeting delegates (and my new colleagues!) in person when the time comes.

You’ve been working from home since you started your role at EMBL-EBI; how has this been for you? As well as working from home, I’ve been lucky enough to start a new role in the past year, and it’s been an interesting (hopefully once-in-a-lifetime!) experience. Luckily the Training Team at EMBL-EBI have been wonderful in sharing their knowledge with me and given me a very warm virtual welcome.

If you weren’t a EMBL-EBI events organisers what would you be? Probably a teacher of some kind. Before I started working in events and engagement, I worked as an English Language Assistant, which I really enjoyed, so ideally I’d combine teaching and travel.

PHOTO: weekend city break in Copenhagen May 2020

What is the strangest/funniest thing that has ever happened in a course? My birthday is in July and in my past jobs this has been the busiest time – either at Graduation events or summer events – so I have often spent it working, but never in an office! I’ve been organising table plans in Liverpool Cathedral, at a Massive Attack concert in a disused train depot or hosting tours of new exhibitions…one of my favourite things about working in events is that there is rarely a dull moment!

If you were a superhero what power would you like to have? I love learning languages but it’s hard to find the time…so definitely the ability to speak and understand different languages without having to learn verb tables!

What is your favourite TV show? Like everyone I’ve watched a lot more TV than usual over the past year, but The Sopranos – which has stood up to a rewatch or two – remains my favourite.

Upcoming events that Jane is organising: Cancer genomics 2021 – virtual