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Towards improved modeling of living organisms

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Leading scientists in the field from around the world come together to address the challenges in the sessions ‘Grand Challenges in Computational Biology’, opened by Josep Huguet

Some 30 scientists working in the field of bioinformatics will gather in Barcelona from today until Wednesday to discuss their research and findings in the international conference ‘Grand Challenges in Computational Biology’. Held at the Institut d’Estudis Catalans (IEC), the conference was opened this morning by the Minister for Innovation, Universities and Commerce of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Josep Huguet, the president of the IEC, Salvador Giner, the director of the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), Mateo Valero, and the director of the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), Joan Guinovart.

This international conference seeks to present bioinformatics as a multidisciplinary field, in which tools for microscopic, mesoscopic and macroscopic simulations are used to study the behaviour of living organisms.

A further objective established by the members of the Organising Committee, headed by Modesto Orozco, professor at the University of Barcelona, researcher at IRB Barcelona and director of Life Sciences at the BSC, is to provide a forum in which researchers working in bioinformatics can discuss challenges in this field and put forwards how solutions can be reached through new equipment and programmes.

According to Modesto Orozco, "this conference is an excellent opportunity to bring together leading researchers in bioinformatics, experts in the future development of supercomputation and leaders of the most relevant European projects in this field. We believe that the conclusions from the conference will allow us to more efficiently focus on the challenges posed by the simulation of living organisms."

About IRB Barcelona

The Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) pursues a society free of disease. To this end, it conducts multidisciplinary research of excellence to cure cancer and other diseases linked to ageing. It establishes technology transfer agreements with the pharmaceutical industry and major hospitals to bring research results closer to society, and organises a range of science outreach activities to engage the public in an open dialogue. IRB Barcelona is an international centre that hosts 400 researchers and more than 30 nationalities. Recognised as a Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence since 2011, IRB Barcelona is a CERCA centre and member of the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST).