Since our founding in 1999, the GSC has sequenced over 6,000,000,000,000,000 bases, sequenced the genomes of more than 350 species, and facilitated ground-breaking discoveries in cancer research. On October 22, 2024, we hosted our inaugural Collaborator Forum, bringing together a vibrant mix of researchers, industry experts, and both old and new colleagues to celebrate decades of collaboration and to foster new scientific partnerships.
Our Co-Director and Head of Bioinformatics, Dr. Steve Jones fittingly quoted Nobel Laureate Sydney Brenner to capture the GSC’s commitment to leading in genomic research and the spirit of our first forum with a focus on technology: “Progress in science depends on new techniques, new discoveries, and new ideas, probably in that order.”
We partnered with industry colleagues to present sessions dedicated to each of our three major sequencing technologies—Oxford Nanopore Technologies, Illumina, and Pacific Biosciences. Each session was led by talks from industry experts who highlighted the latest advances in sequencing and informatics, as well as a glimpse into their future plans to advance genomic research technologies. In each session, invited collaborator speakers shared breakthrough discoveries in plant genomes, metagenomics, cancer, and more. The GSC was incredibly proud and grateful to have facilitated cutting-edge research in such a diverse group of research fields. Finally, our team provided technical insights for each platform, demonstrating our expertise and dedication to supporting the ever-evolving needs of our genomics research community.
Reflecting on the event, our Director of Operations, Dr. Yussanne Ma, said it was “wonderful to see the engagement from researchers, trainees, clinicians, and industry partners, and so inspiring to hear about the great science that we have been honored to support over the years. In many ways, the day captured what the GSC is here to do: advance sequencing technology to enable scientific discovery and serve the genomics community.”
We were also joined by community partners CGen and Genome BC, underscoring our commitment to provincial and national initiatives that push the boundaries of genomic research. Dr. Federica Di Palma (CSO and VP of Research and Innovation at Genome BC) and Dr. Meredith McLaren (CEO of CGen) participated in a highly anticipated panel on the Canadian Precision Health Initiative. CGEn mirrors our sentiment as they “look forward to more community engagements like this and to supporting diverse research in genomics across all scales—from individual projects to long-term, large-scale initiatives. This forum was a valuable exercise in understanding how the national platform has supported and can continue to support the needs of the research community. CGEn is excited to showcase more research highlights and technological developments from CGEn-Vancouver [GSC] and its regional community in the future.”
Our Interim Co-Director and Group Leader for Biospecimen & Library Core, Dr. Andy Mungall leads a tour group during the lunch break through our sequencing facility. Pictured here is Andy describing to Forum guests a graphical representation of complex omic and associated clinical data for the Personalized OncoGenomics program. Photo by Martin Krzywinski.
The GSC’s very own record composed of the sounds made from GSC’s laboratory equipment, GeneMachines, was played by research programmer and DJ Javier Castillo Arnemann. Photo by Martin Krzywinski.
Dr. Steve Jones, Co-Director and Head of Bioinformatics, opens the first session with heartfelt gratitude for recent advances in genomic research and the invaluable role of our collaborators in driving discovery. Photo by Martin Krzywinski.