EMBL and SciLifeLab cooperate on data science
The third meeting between EMBL and SciLifeLab communities took place in Uppsala and focused on data science, aiming at further expanding the collaboration.
On 15-16 May, over 130 EMBL and SciLifeLab scientific community members gathered at the Ångström Laboratory in Uppsala and online to discuss how to develop their collaboration further and identify areas of improvement in a two-day workshop. The high level of engagement among the attending audience, on-site and virtual, indicated a significant overlap in both communities and their shared interests.
“This is the third event with EMBL, and it won’t be the last. We have many things to discuss regarding the direction our collaboration should take. Today, the focus has been on data science, which is a timely and important topic for us to reflect on,” said SciLifeLab Director Olli Kallioniemi.
The data science topics covered ranged from training to artificial intelligence and technical infrastructure. Engaging presentations on their respective research topics helped showcase the expertise within both EMBL and SciLifeLab.
Lisanna Paladin, Bioinformatics Community Project Manager of the Bio-IT initiative at EMBL, provided insights into what’s important when starting a new training initiative and identifying opportunities for future collaboration between EMBL and SciLifeLab. “It’s crucial to be aware of other training initiatives and see what’s already been done to avoid overlaps,” she said. “In some cases, they might even be somewhat hidden or underground, spontaneously happening among peers. This workshop is important for us to align our objectives, start communicating more, and give back to the training community.”
Throughout the event, there were plenty of moments for participants to get to know each other and talk over coffee during multiple poster sessions, to exchange knowledge on common topics and identify collaboration opportunities.
EMBL Head of Data Science, Jan Korbel, expressed keen interest in intensifying the collaboration between SciLifeLab and EMBL in the area of data science and beyond and emphasised the importance of these joint in-person events. “This meeting showed many synergies between both institutions in the area of data science, from training to managing datasets across sites, to metadata recording and visualisation of large datasets spanning between disciplines. I look forward to building on this cooperation to strengthen the data science initiatives taking place at both sites,” he said.
