Scientists work best when they collaborate. Only through communication and the exchange of ideas can science be ignited and turned into great projects.

This is one of the reasons why BGI College hosted the first BGI International Summer Workshop and the Youth Symposium of the 18th International Conference on Genomics (ICG-18). With the theme of 'AI for the Life Sciences Industry,' this week-long occasion gathered 17 students, postdoctoral researchers, and professors from nine different nations. Their purpose was to acquire knowledge about the most recent strides in genomics research and the bio-sector from BGI Group. Moreover, they exchanged their perspectives on interdisciplinary subjects with more than 200 students hailing from Chinese universities and colleges.

Following the success of the event, the participants shared their thoughts on their experience and how such a communication opportunity impacts their future.

 Workshop participants visit BGI Headquarters.

Q: Had you heard about BGI before?

Ivan Tanasijevic:

(Principal investigator and postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Artificial Intelligence Research and Development of Serbia. Majored in AI for healthcare and life sciences.)

To be honest, I wasn't familiar [with BGI] before coming here. During the lectures, I learned a lot. And the ones that I found most interesting were the applications of AI in all sorts of different areas. But in particular, I really like the deep learning in STOmics [BGI’s spatio-temporal omics technology], as I think it's a beautiful application of cutting-edge technologies.

Jintian Chen:

(PhD student at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Majored in biomedical sciences.)

I know that BGI participated in the Human Genome Project, with 1 percent of the participation. I think BGI is very professional in gene sequencing. And my personal interest is about the single-cell sequencing and spatial transcriptomics. During the past few days, I really learnt a lot about these two research fields.

Yakie Yat Hei Wong:

(Undergraduate student at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Majored in cell molecular biology.)

I've heard about BGI. In my lab, we need to send bacterial DNA for sequencing and we send it to BGI to do it. I didn't know that BGI performs its own research. To me, [BGI] was just a company that does our sequencing. After coming here I've learned a lot more about the research projects of BGI and its contributions to recent developments in bioinformatics.

Martyna Maria Lasek:

(PhD student at the Institute of Dendrology of Polish Academy of Sciences. Majored in population genetics and dendrology.)

I heard about [BGI] as a very big sequencing company. I learned a lot of new things about BGI that I didn’t knew before. For example, I wasn't aware that BGI has so many great publications in Science and Nature. And that was very impressive to me.

Naravut Suvannang:

(Bioinformatics lead at Mahidol University, Thailand. Majored in medical technology.)

I think everyone hears about BGI, which is one of the leading genetic companies in the world. When I arrived here, I learned a lot more about the strategy, the technology, and the story behind BGI, which makes me very impressed.

Group discussion.

Q: What parts of BGI impressed you the most?

Ivan Tanasijevic:

I participated in everything on the schedule. I suppose I didn't have much experience with the wet lab. So, the demonstration on the first day, just like an experience of working in a wet lab, was quite interesting. And also, lectures that had to do with AI were quite interesting, like the deep learning in STOmics that left the most impression on me.

Damien Chua:

(PhD student at Nanyang Technological University. Majored in metabolic diseases and gut microbiome.)

I have attended all the activities but what really stood out to me is the different interactions between people of multi-disciplines. For instance, people from doing computational work, AI, data storage, and from life sciences and biology. We are all talking together and listening to the same lectures, and I think this really increases the kind of multidisciplinary work that we can innovate and do in the future.

Philip Naderev P. Lagniton:

(PhD student at University of Macau. Majored in biomedical sciences.)

We were able to tour the BGI facilities and I'm quite impressed by the amount of infrastructures that BGI actually has, which allows BGI to lead the field of a DNA sequencing. And I think another activity that is very important and inspiring for me is meeting the leaders of BGI with Wang Jian and Ye Yin. By looking at the how the leaders of BGI manage and pushed through the challenges that BGI faced in these early days, I think it's quite inspiring for me as a young researcher, to make the impossible be possible. I think the BGI conference [workshop] provided us with a good environment to share. Many of the participants are very friendly and willing to discuss new ideas and share their research with each other. So, I think this is a very amazing opportunity for me to learn and grow as a person, not just as a scientist.

Ilija Tanasković:

(PhD Student at University of Belgrade. Majored in AI in healthcare and life science)

I'm very fond of [BGI’s] omics in zoology, which talks about animals and the preservation of local species. And it's important that [BGI is] working in that field. And it's also interesting to hear about animals such as tigers, and rhinos, that in Europe we can hear only in stories and movies.

Martyna Maria Lasek:

The most significant impression was the sequencer in BGI. Because I did sequencing on my own and I wasn't aware that there are so many great sequencing machines that are available on the market. I just haven't seen such great machines before.

(To be continued in PART 2)