34th International mammalian genome conference: meeting overview

35th International Mammalian Genome Conference: meeting overview

The 35th International Mammalian Genome Conference (IMGC) was held on July 17-20, 2022 in Vancouver, British Columbia; this conference marked the first time the International Mammalian Genome Society (IMGS) hosted a meeting in Canada. Scientists from around the world participated to share advances in genetics and genomics research across mammalian species. A diverse attendance of pre-doctoral and post-doctoral trainees, young investigators, established researchers, clinicians, bioinformaticians, and computational biologists enjoyed a rich scientific program selected from 88 abstracts in the fields of cancer, conservation genetics, developmental biology, epigenetics, human disease modeling, immunology, infectious diseases, systems genetics, translational biology, and technological advances.

Replacing an ‘In-Person’ Global Health Annual Conference With a Virtual Format: A Case Study from the Consortium of Universities for Global Health

Background:

Beginning in 2020, the COVID pandemic disrupted many planned annual meetings that relied on travel to a destination for sharing scholarship, networking, and planning future collaborations. As with many organizations, the Consortium of Universities for Global Health (CUGH) began exploring the utilization of a virtual platform on which to conduct the annual conference.

Objective:

We sought to understand the value of conducting an annual conference virtually and to evaluate the added benefit of utilizing a learning management system.

Methods:

Routinely collected registration data was used for the CUGH 2021 annual conference, which was completely virtual, and compared to in-person registration data from prior years. In addition, tracking and engagement data from a learning management system was reviewed to understand participation.

Findings:

The virtual conference attracted the greatest number of registrations, from the largest number of countries since the organization began in 2008. Analyzing the engagement of participants with specific sessions through the on-line learning management system allowed a deeper understanding of the popularity and value of topics.

Conclusion:

A virtual format is an efficient and effective venue for scholarly conferences. The additional information gained from an on-line learning management system can provide valuable information for future conference planning.