BHBD Secretariat Dec 16, 2021
An international symposium on biodiversity and health big data was held on December 7-8, 2021, with the aim to share knowledge and promote cooperation among worldwide researchers. The symposium was organized by the Global Biodiversity and Health Big Data Alliance (BHBD), and sponsored by the Alliance of International Science Organizations (ANSO). Over 70 researchers from 10 countries including China, France, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Morocco, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Thailand participated the symposium online.
Prof. Yiming Bao, Chairperson of the BHBD Council and Director of the National Genomics Data Center (NGDC), Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences / China National Center for Bioinformation, welcomed all the attendees in the opening remark. He introduced the background and activities of BHBD, and later gave a report on the database resources of NGDC, wishing to enhance the international cooperation and communication on biodiversity and health big data through this symposium.
Prof. Likun Ai, Assistant Executive Director of ANSO Secretariat, gave an introduction to ANSO’s vision and activities, and expressed welcome to international participation and cooperation with ANSO members all over the world.
During the symposium, three BHBD Council members (Prof. Suchinda Malaivijitnond from the National Primate Research Center of Thailand, Chulalongkorn University; Prof. Vsevolod Makeev from the Vavilov Institute of General Genetics, Russian Academy of Sciences; Prof. Takashi Gojobori from KAUST, Saudi Arabia) and other experts from China, Thailand, Pakistan, France, Japan, Korea gave presentations and shared their featured resource and research progress, as well as analysis techniques and methods on biological data, covering a variety of areas such as biodiversity, database, COVID-19, and metagenomics.
It is hoped that the symposium will promote knowledge exchanges and sharing on biodiversity and health among global researchers, increase the influence of BHBD and ANSO, and expand networks for future international collaborations.