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Public release date: 19-Apr-2012
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Cambridge, Mass., April 19, 2012 — Global thought leaders devoted to the latest developments in human, plant and animal genome sciences will gather at ICG Americas 2012 in Philadelphia September 27-28. Co-organized by BGI, the world's largest genomics organization, and The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), ICG Americas will bring to the U.S. for the first time BGI's acclaimed International Conference on Genomics (ICG) held annually in China since 2006.
ICG Americas 2012 will feature presentations from prominent researchers, global industry luminaries and top policy makers on next-gen sequencing and advanced bioinformatics technologies, and their growing application in drug discovery and development, disease research, clinical diagnostics, agricultural breeding, and evolution and conservation. Included among the featured speakers will be directors, senior executives and CEOs from Merck, Pfizer, Sanofi, GSK, Illumina, Life Technologies, NHGRI, FDA, USDA, Harvard, UC Davis, and many more.
The conference, being held at CHOP, will include presentations from researchers applying today's latest technologies to a new paradigm of personalized medicine and to enhancing global food production, as well as current policy and ethical considerations relative to the use of genomic data. Included among the many compelling conference topics will be the power of evolving research approaches such as trans-omics, a technique that integrates genomics, transcriptomics, epigenomics, metagenomics, and proteomics.
Additional highlights of ICG Americas include a private tour of the new BGI@CHOP Joint Genome Center and an elegant evening of dining, networking with industry luminaries and live entertainment at the Penn Museum, known for its remarkable architecture and magnificent collection of archaeological and anthropological artifacts. Guests will have access to museum galleries and will be served a world-class dinner, prepared by Wolfgang Puck Catering, under a 90-foot-high Chinese rotunda.
"We are excited to present ICG Americas 2012, the first International Conference on Genomics in the Americas," stated Professor Huanming Yang, Chairman of BGI. "ICG Americas will feature prestigious research institutes and universities, industry luminaries and leading scientists from top pharmaceutical companies who will share their ground-breaking approaches to applying next-generation genome sequencing and bioinformatics to human, plant and animal research."
"The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia is honored to co-host ICG Americas with BGI and to provide the venue for this important conference on revolutionizing medicine and agriculture through next-gen sequencing and bioinformatics," said Hakon Hakonarson, M.D., Ph.D., Director of the Center for Applied Genomics at Children's Hospital.
The list of speakers and program details are available at www.icgamericas.org.
About BGI
BGI was founded in Beijing, China, in 1999 with the mission to become a premier scientific partner for the global research community. The goal of BGI is to make leading-edge genomic science highly accessible, which it achieves through its investment in infrastructure, leveraging the best available technology, economies of scale, and expert bioinformatics resources. BGI, and its affiliates, BGI Americas, headquartered in Cambridge, MA, and BGI Europe, headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, have established partnerships and collaborations with leading academic and government research institutions as well as global biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, supporting a variety of disease, agricultural, environmental, and related applications.
BGI has a proven track record of excellence, delivering results with high efficiency and accuracy for innovative, high-profile research: research that has generated over 170 publications in top-tier journals such as Nature and Science. BGI's many accomplishments include: sequencing one percent of the human genome for the International Human Genome Project, contributing 10 percent to the International Human HapMap Project, carrying out research to combat SARS and German deadly E. coli, playing a key role in the Sino-British Chicken Genome Project, and completing the sequence of the rice genome, the silkworm genome, the first Asian diploid genome, the potato genome, and, more recently, have sequenced the human Gut Metagenome, and a significant proportion of the genomes for the 1000 Genomes Project.
For more information about BGI, please visit www.genomics.cn or www.bgiamericas.com.
About The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia was founded in 1855 as the first pediatric hospital in the United States. Through its long-standing commitment to providing exceptional patient care, training new generations of pediatric healthcare professionals and pioneering major research initiatives, Children's Hospital has fostered many discoveries that have benefited children worldwide and its pediatric research program is among the largest in the U.S. In addition, its unique family-centered care and public service programs have brought the 516-bed hospital recognition as a leading advocate for children and adolescents. For more information, visit http://www.chop.edu.
Contact Information:
Joyce Peng, Ph.D.
Marketing Director
BGI Americas Corporation
626-222-5584
joyce.peng@bgiamericas.com
www.bgiamericas.com
Bicheng Yang
Public Communication Officer
BGI
+86-755-82639701
yangbicheng@genomics.cn
www.genomics.cn
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