2022 Plenary Keynote Program

PLENARY KEYNOTE ROOM LOCATION: 210

Tuesday, May 3

4:00 pm Welcome by Conference Organizer

4:05 pm Innovative Practices Awards

4:20 pm Keynote Introduction         

Mike Tarselli, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer, TetraScience

4:30 pm Plenary Keynote Presentation - Ask What IT Can Do for Bio...and What Bio Can Do for IT
George M. Church, PhD, Robert Winthrop Professor, Genetics, Harvard Medical School
IT for Bio: In May 2021, one haploid human genome (3.055 billion bp) was sequenced completely, but zero diploid. We have 7.7 billion diploid humans yet to be sequenced and correlated with their environments and traits in the Personal Genome Project. Plus, at least one genome from each of over 8.7 million eukaryotic species in the Earth Biogenome project. Plus, monitoring pathogenic and commensal bacteria, allergens and viruses in the BioWeatherMap. Plus, ancient DNA. We are counting RNA molecules per cell in most (or all) cell types in humans, mice and many other species throughout development and connectome (with imaging resolution up to 20 nm). Bio for IT: Reading and writing DNA has improved exponentially in cost (at least 60 million fold) and is increasingly used for storing non-biological data. The record for editing DNA in vivo is now 24,000 edits per cell and for storing data in vivo is about 1 terabyte per mouse. Enormous chemical and biological 'libraries' can perform 'Natural Computing' for tasks far beyond current von-Neumann silicon and quantum computers. The combination of these -- machine learning + megalibraries (ML-ML) is already having commercial impact (e.g. Nabla, Manifold, Dyno, Patch).

Wednesday, May 4

8:00 am Welcome by Conference Organizer

8:05 am Keynote Introduction - Great Minds Think Alike: Industry Lessons in Data Liquidity & Security          

Zachary Powers, Chief Information Security Officer, Benchling

8:15 am Plenary Keynote Panel Discussion - Accessing and Securing the Data that Drives Breakthroughs
Allison Proffitt, Editorial Director, Bio-IT World
Rachana Ananthakrishnan, Executive Director, Globus, University of Chicago
Jonathan C Silverstein, Chief Research Informatics Officer & Prof, Biomedical Informatics, University of Pittsburgh
Rebecca F. Rosen, PhD, Director, Office of Data Science and Sharing, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health
Ari E. Berman, PhD, CEO, BioTeam, Inc.
Life sciences research is generating massive amounts of data that should be accessible to collaborators and colleagues to enable breakthrough discoveries. However, ensuring sensitive data are shared securely in a manner that protects patient privacy and complies with myriad regulations is a daunting task, which often slows the pace of research. Our panel of leading practitioners will share insights on the challenges and best practices of managing protected research data.

Thursday, May 5

8:00 am Welcome by Conference Organizer

8:05 am Plenary Keynote Introduction          

Nate Raine, Director Data Custodians, Lifebit

8:15 am Plenary Keynote Presentation - Leveraging Large-scale Human Data to Advance and Accelerate Drug Discovery
Shankar Subramaniam, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Bioengineering; Professor of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Nanotechnology; Adjunct Professor of Cellular & Molecular Medicine, University of California at San Diego
Advances in genomics technologies has led to generation of massive amounts of human data. This has catalyzed new insights into cellular processes in the normal and disease state and facilitated the search for safe and effective medicines. The UK Biobank, All of US and TopMed initiatives are exemplars of this approach. We highlight examples from our lab where meaningful insights have been obtained advancing our understanding of disease biology and its pharmacological application.

2:35 pm Plenary Keynote Presentation - Trends from the Trenches
Matthew Trunnell, Data Commoner
Chris Dagdigian, Senior Director, BioTeam, Inc.
Michelle Bayly, PhD, Senior Scientific Consultant, BioTeam, Inc.
Adam Kraut, Director Infrastructure & Cloud Architecture, BioTeam, Inc.
Anna Sowa, PhD, Senior Scientific Consultant, BioTeam, Inc.
Since 2010, the “Trends from the Trenches” presentation, given by Chris Dagdigian, has been one of the most popular annual traditions on the Bio-IT Program. The intent of the talk is to deliver a candid (and occasionally blunt) assessment of the best, the worthwhile, and the most overhyped information technologies (IT) for life sciences. The presentation has helped scientists, leadership, and IT professionals understand the basic topics related to computing, storage, data transfer, networks, cloud, data science, and machine learning that are involved in supporting data-intensive science. In 2022, Chris will give the “Trends from the Trenches” presentation in its original “state-of-the-state address” followed by guest speakers giving podium talks on relevant topics. An interactive Q&A moderated discussion with the audience follows. Come prepared with your questions and commentary for this informative and lively session.