The Beyond the Genome symposium is the kick-starter for the Research Foundation – Flanders Junior Project “Beyond the Genome: Ethical Aspects of Large Cohort Studies” (project ID: FN 701000004). A joint project between the University of Antwerp, the University of Hasselt and the Flemish Institute of Technological Research (VITO). It takes place on Friday the 3rd of 2023 at the Klooster van de Grauwzusters in the center of Antwerp, Belgium.  

The symposium will focus on the shift from curative medicine towards preventive and personalized medicine. This requires the collection, storage and processing of large personal datasets. The new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the European Union protects the personal data of European citizens. This has been applied to genomics, yet there are many other different -omics who may or may not contain relevant personal data. With a special focus on proteomics. The symposium will focus on raising several important ethical questions and privacy risks based on the ethical, legal and societal implications (ELSI) framework. The symposium hosts keynote speakers with expert field knowledge.

Confirmed Speakers

• Liis Leitsalu (University Of Tartu/Estonian Biobank)
• Sebastian Porsdam Mann (University of Oxford)
• Mahsa Shabani (UGent)
• Massimiliano Simons (Maastricht University)
• Juan Antonio Vizcaino (EMBL-EBI)