Lorne again: get ready for life science conference season

With Lorne conference season just a few months away, Australia’s life scientists will be getting ready for a massive two weeks packed with five different events.

Read on to find out how this annual conference series will transform the Victorian coastal town of Lorne into a melting pot of ideas and advances that will be of interest to the life science sector.

The 22nd Annual Lorne Proteomics Symposium: 2–5 February 2017

In 2017, the 22nd Lorne Proteomics Symposium will present the latest developments in proteomics technologies and tools for the interpretation of proteomics outputs and their application toward answering fundamental questions in biology and in clinical and translational medicine.

Featuring a stellar line-up of speakers, the program will not disappoint. Confirmed speakers to date include:

• Professor Bernhard Kuester, Technische Universitaet Muenchen
• Associate Professor Michelle Hill, The University of Queensland
• Associate Professor Vera Ignjatovic, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute
• Professor Dame Carol Robinson, University of Oxford
• Professor Albert Sickmann, Leibniz-Institut für Analytische Wissenschaften
• Professor Zoltan Takats, Imperial College London
• Professor Yu-Ju Chen, Institute of Chemistry, Academia Sincia
• Professor Jennifer Van Eyk, Cedars-Sinai

The meeting will be held at Mantra Lorne, as will all the Lorne conferences. For more information, visit www.australasianproteomics.org.au.

The 42nd Lorne Conference on Protein Structure and Function: 5–8 February 2017

The 42nd Lorne Conference on Protein Structure and Function promises to be a very special meeting with many highlights in the making, including sessions on protein folding, DNA and RNA regulation, emerging technologies and systems biology that will be of interest to many potential sponsors.

Announcements of new discoveries on biologically important and disease-related proteins are almost a daily occurrence lately and the Lorne Proteins meeting is the place to meet those behind the work. For more information, visit www.lorneproteins.org.

The 29th Lorne Cancer Conference: 9–11 February 2017

Past participants will be well aware of the history, ambience and vibrancy of this meeting, which has a strong international and national scientific content and attracts an audience of 500 delegates representing major hospitals, universities, research institutes and biotechnology companies within Australia. A highlight is the Ashley Dunn Oration, which this year will be presented by Professor Lou Staudt, co-chief of the Lymphoid Malignancies Branch in the NCI.

One of the hallmarks is the friendly interaction between the delegates and companies who supply equipment and reagents used in cancer research. This encompasses both techniques relating to diagnosis and treatment, as well as basic research. Chaired by David Vaux, the committee has now permanently expanded the popular poster sessions to both Thursday and Friday nights. For more information, visit www.lornecancer.org.

The 38th Annual Lorne Genome Conference: 12–14 February 2017

The Lorne Genome meeting has a long tradition of hosting some of the world’s best researchers in genomics. 2017 will be no different; the organisers are busy preparing the international speaker platform and have some excellent speakers confirmed.

The invited speakers will once again draw national and international delegates to this popular meeting, which has continued to build over the years. The organisers anticipate attracting 350 delegates in 2017. For more information, visit www.lornegenome.org.

7th Lorne Infection and Immunity Conference: 15–17 February 2017

Lorne Infection and Immunity is an international conference dedicated to connecting microbiology and immunology, particularly in host-pathogen interactions, innate and adaptive immunity, and infectious and inflammatory diseases. Presentations focus on discovery science as well as the clinical and translational aspects of these disciplines.

The seventh annual meeting in 2017 features a broad international speaker line-up including Sonja Best, Caroline Demangel, George Gao, Nancy Haigwood, Marion Pepper, Bali Pulendran, Thierry Soldati and Dominique Soldati-Favre. Complimentary student registrations (one per registered lab head) are again on offer in 2017, as well as more opportunities for early-career researchers and students to speak at the meeting — and more prizes! For more information, visit www.lorneinfectionimmunity.org.

Image taken off the Lorne Pier, overlooking the beginning of the Great Ocean Road. Courtesy of BMcIvr under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0