Were our prehistoric ancestors aware of the dangers caused by procreation among close relatives? A study led by an international team of scientists, including SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics Group Leader Laurent Excoffier and his team at the University of Bern, suggests that early humans might have purposely avoided mating with closely related partners. And this as early as 34,000 years ago.
On 28 September, the SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics held its first course dedicated to clinicians and clinical laboratory professionals.
This one-day course aimed at providing participants with a deepened knowledge, experience and understanding of how to make the best use of bioinformatics to improve cancer diagnosis.
We need heat. All warm-blooded animals know this instinctively because when life leaves us, the cold creeps in fast. Heat is produced in different ways inside us, and not only to keep our body temperature at a healthy level but also to keep it stable. After the fashion of small mobile furnaces, we carry adipose tissues that are full of stored fat waiting to be burnt down to release heat - a process termed thermogenesis.
Spearheaded by SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics' Group Leader Anna-Sapfo Malaspinas and in partnership with Group Leader Laurent Excoffier, Genome Odyssey is a theater play inspired by the scientists' recent paper in Nature on Australia’s peopling. It is inviting the public to a journey through our genome and origins.
ILMAC, a leading Swiss fair for pharmaceuticals, chemicals and biotechnology is having its first event in Western Switzerland in October. SIB will be present to showcase its activities, with a special focus on its training offer for the private sector. Our booth will be hosted by BioAlps – the life science cluster of Western Switzerland – together with other institutional co-exhibitors and the event is expected to attract ca. 300 visitors a day.
Last week, the 13th edition of the Basel Computational Biology Conference, co-organized by SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics and the Biozentrum University of Basel, gathered over 500 participants from all over the globe. Among them, world-leading researchers as well as promising junior scientists – who returned home with prestigious awards.
