Keynote Speakers

The Path to the Nobel Prize

In this talk I will briefly describe how I became interested in science and how I almost became a professional billiards player. Following my early interests in mathematics and some thoughts about becoming a professional detective, and later my pursuit of a Ph.D. in chemistry, I became fascinated with biology and read a book, “The Thread of Life” by John Kendrew that led to my becoming a molecular biologist. I will describe the research that led to the discovery of RNA splicing, which turned out to be a temporary diversion from my real interests in DNA restriction and modification and bioinformatics. With a keen interest in sequencing DNA, I became heavily involved in using computers and was a pioneer in what is now called bioinformatics. In the RM field many discoveries have been made including, most recently, some exciting findings on bacterial methylomes.

My career has spanned traditional academic research to more commercially inspired ventures. Since I now work at New England Biolabs, a for-profit company, I will describe its origins, its philosophy towards business and life, and how commercial success can fund innovative research. One theme running through my career has been a lack of respect for dogma and a keen sense of questioning everything that people tell me they already know. I will also highlight the importance of luck in shaping a career.

Next-Gen Healthcare with AI-Powered Omics Analysis

The seminar highlights how artificial intelligence is transforming healthcare through innovative approaches in spatial transcriptomics, precision medicine, and computer vision. This seminar will explore the integration of omics data with AI to uncover new insights into disease mechanisms, improve diagnostic accuracy, and personalize treatments.