The expanding frontiers of genomic and proteomic technologies
Intro
The University of West London’s Professor of Microbiology, Professor Hermine Mkrtchyan, was one of the organisers of the 22nd International Conference on ‘The expanding frontiers of genomic and proteomic technologies’, held at Middlesex University over two days at the end of April.
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Advances in genomics and proteomics and their key technologies have in recent years propelled microbiology to the forefront of life sciences. The event, which has been running for 22 years, with UWL’s Professor Mkrtchyan involved since 2017, is a great opportunity for researchers, public health experts and industry to share research updates in this fast-developing area.
The conference brought together 120 delegates including academics and researchers from UWL and Middlesex University along with colleagues from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), King’s College London, and many other academic and industry partners,”
explains Professor Mkrtchyan, who chaired the sessions for the first day and gave a talk, as did her PhD student Oscar Previtali. She continues,
It's all about the technologies - they are really advancing and will become a central pillar for public health professionals in tackling infectious disease. For example, without genomic sequencing technologies, we wouldn't have had COVID-19 vaccines so quickly. Research groups could be very fast in designing vaccines and helping us get over the pandemic thanks to virus sequencing research.”
An organism’s genome is its complete genetic information while its proteome is the complete set of proteins encoded by a particular genome. The next step forward for these technologies, Professor Mkrtchyan explains, is ‘multiomics’ — a biological analysis approach in which the data sets include multiple ‘omes’, such as genome, proteome and microbiome.
It is important to create an international network to work on issues such as preparedness for the next pandemic or tackling antibiotic resistance. We want to focus on how best we can bring technological advances, knowledge and expertise together to better tackle public health issues going forward.”
Next year’s conference will be hosted at UWL, and Professor Mkrtchyan is excited to open it up to more international researchers and speakers, as well as encouraging undergraduate and postgraduate students, early career researchers and PhD students to attend. Talking about the importance of the conferences, she says,
This is great opportunity for students to take their first steps in presenting, networking and learn from colleagues while polishing their skills,”
Molecular characterisation - research by Hermine Mkrtchyan
Dr Hermine Mkrtchyan investigates molecular characterisation of methicillin-resistant and -susceptible Staphylococcus aureus recovered from hospital personnel.
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