Eagle Genomics Symposium: Will Big Data and Bigger Cuts Cripple Bioinformatics?

CAMBRIDGE, England --(Business Wire)--

As the economic climate continues to take its toll on research and development budgets, the bioinformatics industry is under increasing pressure to cut costs and make more efficient use of its resources, but smart organisations are addressing these challenges and keeping up with the technical demands of data analysis by hiring the right people.

These are just some of the issues that will be discussed at the upcoming Bioinformatics Symposium at the Babraham Research Campus in Cambridge on March 21 organised by Eagle, the specialist in bioinformatics outsourcing solutions.

This year's symposium is called "Will big data and bigger cuts cripple Bioinformatics " but Richard Holland, Eagle's Chief Business Officer, believes that with tighter budgets and the increasing demands of analysing big data, the key to success i to find staff that are suitably qualified and experienced to be able to collaborate beyond their usual circle of contacts.

"Bioinformatics is now being applied in many fields, not just human research, and our line up for this year's symposium really highlights the different applications and opportunities available in the sector. We are seeing an explosion of data yet at the same time budgets for research are being cut ever further which is creating ever more pressure on the industry. However, the use of bioinformatics is expanding out from its traditional base in the life industry to areas such as fast moving consumer goods, food and even in natural history museums," said Richard.

The symposium is the only UK bioinformatics event that provides cross-sector coverage and which also appeals to industry and academics alike. Representatives from across the pharmaceutical, consumer and bioinformatics industry will gather to hear keynote speakers discuss how they see the future of bioinformatics evolving.

The speakers have been drawn from different fields and include John Wise from the Pistoia Alliance talking about open innovation; Henrik Seidel from Bayer Healthcare; Mathew Woodwark talking about the impact of informatics on biologics drug discovery and development in MedImmune; Florence Servant from Syngenta discussing marker assay developments in plant species and Rutger Vos from the Naturalis Biodiversity Centre in Leiden, Holland. The event also gives attendees an opportunity to hear from people who work in different sectors and industries talk about how they are dealing with the economic challenges as well as their success in overcoming these challenges.

"The industry still has much to be positive about. With the ever increasing growth of data, bioinformaticians are needed more than ever to analyse and interpret this information to provide solutions for real world problems. None of the industry's challenges are without a solution. Greater collaboration and greater use of shared resources, e.g. cloud, will answer many of the questions around restricted infrastructure capacity. The one key problem is lack of staff - but if used efficiently, and with greater use of outsourcing/collaboration, this can be overcome," said Richard.

For more information about the Eagle Symposium and for a full list of keynote speakers, please visit: http://www.eaglegenomics.com/