GOSH BRC Junior Faculty Conference and Training Support Fund - Ana Luisa Gil Martinez

Current Position: Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Event/conference: European Human Genetics Virtual Conference 2021 (ESGH 2021)

Presenting: Data from advances genomic technologies and its analysis using bioinformatics tools

Date: 28th-31st August 2021

Funding requested: £140

What did you present at the conference (including the title)?

I presented an e-poster entitled “Gene co-expression network analysis of blood-derived transcriptomic data from Parkinson’s disease patients implicates immune responses in disease progression” (P18.032.B) on Sunday, August 29. The poster was a 5-slides presentation. I highlighted the main goal of the project, which was to identify molecular signatures of PD progression using PPMI data, and the main conclusions from the preliminary results: (1) gene differentially expressed in PD are significantly enriched for GO terms relating to RNA processes and leukocyte activation; and, (2) modules correlating with disease status contain gene sets significantly enriched for GO/KEGG terms relating to RNA processes and immune response activation.

What were the main benefits/learnings from the conference?

The ESGH 2021 is the most important European conference focused on human genetics. It was a great scientific opportunity to be able to attend different lectures showing the latest progress in this field and to participate in presenting my results as an e-Poster. I have attended different talks mainly part of the sessions entitled “Bioinformatics, machine learning and statistical methods”; “Genome-wide Association Studies”; “New technologies and better diagnostics” and “Advances in neurogenetics: From diagnosis to treatment” which were the ones most related to my project.

How did attending the conference benefit your career development?

The main benefit for my career development is that ESGH 2021 has allowed me to make direct contacts and to discuss with other researchers interested in the same line of research.

Did you learn any tips or best practice about how to make the most of virtual attendance at a conference?

In the last year the way we show our results have completely changed. The opportunity to attend this virtual conference has taught me how to organize my project in a 5-slides presentation format at the same time that I was able to see other e-posters and lectures to improve in future conferences.