The International Conference on Genomics-Cellomics (ICG-Cellomics) was held in the eastern coastal city of Qingdao, Shandong province from Nov 21-22 via online and offline channels.

The conference was jointly held by the Qingdao West Coast New Area, the Chinese genomics giant BGI Group, the Qingdao International Economic Cooperation Zone and the Qingdao-Europe Advanced Institute for Life Science.

Experts and scholars from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Peking University, Zhejiang University, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Genome Institute of Singapore, the Austrian Academy of Sciences, the International Human Epigenome Consortium (IHEC) and other top research institutions attended the conference.

Lars Bolund, a professor at the Biomedical Research Institute at Aarhus University Denmark, delivers a speech at the conference. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

"I think this is the best time for our research. Rapid technological advances are opening up the possibility of more important scientific discoveries," said Lars Bolund, a professor at the Biomedical Research Institute at Aarhus University Denmark and director of BGI Lars Bolund Institute of Regenerative Medicine.

"This conference has set up a theme report on new technologies, and we expect to see exciting technologies like single-cell sequencing and spatiotemporal sequencing," he said.

More than 40 presentations took place during the conference, with attendees sharing insights on the development, opportunities and challenges of the application of cellomics technology in China.

The event is a global conference on academic exchange and cooperation in the life sciences hosted by BGI Group. Since 2006, it has invited thousands of top scientists working in life sciences, including several Nobel laureates, to deliver speeches. It is one of the most influential global academic forums in life sciences.