Melbourne Genomics Health Alliance presented the professional upskilling session, 'Practical Genomics: A workshop for Genomics in the Clinic' at The University of Melbourne in late February, to 100 professionals keen to learn more about applying genomics in their work.
"There is clearly a strong demand for this kind of activity among the professional community," said Melbourne Genomics' Clinical Project Manager, Elly Lynch. "We had to limit the workshop to 100 participants due to the hands-on nature of the learning we wanted to offer. The 100 places were filled much more quickly than we expected. We had interest from across the Alliance member organisations, but also from both interstate and overseas professionals."
Attendees were predominantly from a clinical background - genetic counsellors, clinical geneticists and medical specialists - along with a few laboratory and industry professionals. Many of those attending will be involved in Melbourne Genomics' Disease Flagship projects commencing this year.
Day one of the workshop focused on the fundamentals of next generation sequencing, giving attendees insight into variant curation - that is, how to work out whether a particular genetic variant is disease-causing. Day two provided context on how genomics is being implemented in Victoria (through Melbourne Genomics), in Australia (through the Australian Genomics Health Alliance) and internationally (through the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health).
"Highlights of the workshop included a fascinating 'hypothetical' discussion on where exome sequencing might take us by 2020, and a thought-provoking Q&A-style panel discussing the role of genetic counsellors in the genomic era," said Elly Lynch. "It was great to bring this group of professionals together to learn the practicalities of genomics - and to be able to share their differing experience and perspectives for the ultimate benefit of patients."
"Our thanks also to Illumina, for sponsoring lunch on both days of the workshop."
[Image: Members of the Q&A-style panel discussing the role of genetic counsellors in the genomic era: (left to right) Ella Wilkins, Margaret Sahhar, Mary-Anne Young, Lisette Curnow]