Glasgow Computational Biology Community

The paper is Thornburg et al. "Bringing the genetically minimal cell to life on a computer in 4D" published in Cell (doi.org/10.1016/j.cell…). It is a complex paper that uses a variety of computational methods for the simulation. Take a look and come with questions and ideas.

The topic has been a hot topic recently with some excitement about attempts to simulate all the different processes going on in a minimal bacterial cell. We thought it'd be fun to get together and discuss the idea, and try to make sense of the recent work.

April event will be a journal club focussed on whole cell simulations. When: Thursday April 16th from 3pm. Where: Rooms 422/423 in Computing Science (Sir Alwyn Williams Building).

Reminder: our February meeting on Bioinformatics Tools with speakers Yiyi Cheng and Elcid Aaron Pangilinan is happening tomorrow! Date: 27th February, 3-4pm Location: Room 331b, Maths and Stats (Note: this isn't the usual lecture theatre)

Talk 2: Deciphering complex biological systems using AI - from generative models to language models Dr Cen Wan (Senior Lecturer in Bioinformatics, School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences, Birkbeck College, University of London)

Talk 1: Multi-agent AI enables evidence-based cell annotation in single-cell transcriptomics Dr Parashar Dhapola, Co-founder and CEO of Nygen Analytics, Lund, Sweden. nygen.io

Start 2026 with deep learning and agentic AI analysis of single-cell RNAseq data. Date and Time: Friday 30th January 2026 at 3.30pm. Place: School of Computing Science, Sir Alwyn Williams Building, Room 423/424.

The session is a great chance for undergraduates, MSc students, and PhD students to think about possible next steps in their careers. After the event, we will continue the conversation over informal drinks in the School of Mathematics and Statistics Common Room (311B).

We currently have five speakers lined up: Vinny Davies, Mathematics and Statistics John Cole, Shared Research Facilities Nina Fajs, PhD Student, MVLS William Haese-Hill, Research Software Engineer, MVLS Peter Thomason, CRUK Scotland

Our next CompBio event on careers and will run from 3-5pm on Friday 28th November in the Wolfson Medical School, Room 248 (Gannochy). We have speakers who will share experiences from academia and industry. A particular emphasis on varied academic career paths.

Don't forget to come along today!

Fiona Achcar: Using single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) to study malaria parasite differentiation Frances Blow: scRNA-seq of Schistosoma mansoni parasites during intra-mammalian development Catarina De Almeida Marques: scRNA-seq analysis of Leishmania major parasites

Our October event is: Parasitology! Date: 23rd October, 3-5pm Location: Rooms: 422/423, Sir Alwyn Williams Building (School of Computing Science)

That’s a wrap! Thank you to all speakers, poster presenters and attendees for making #CompBioGlasgow a success. We hope the posts have sparked your interest in future CompBio events and that we'll see you in October for our next event!

Massive congratulations to the winners of our awards: Nina Fajs - Best Presentation Benjamin Livesey and Javier Sanz-Cruzado Puig - Best Poster They combined exciting research with engaging commuincation and visual design for high impact, insightful work.

This afternoon, we welcomed Dr. Kate Duncan from Newcastle University for our final keynote on exploring marine microbial biodiscovery. We thank her for her insights and for sparking some interesting discussions! #CompBioGlasgow

Our Software Engineering Panel explored pertinent questions for modern research and teaching. Is research code overvalued? How much coding do biologists really need to know given ChatGPT? To find the answer, come to #CompBioGlasgow and discuss with the UK's brightest minds.

Day 2 begins with a keynote from Prof. Ram DasGupta. Excited to dive into single-cell analysis to understand immunotherapy response. An exciting start to day 2 of #CompBioGlasgow conference 2025.

Poster session is underway! Brilliant work from our community. Stop by, ask questions #CompBioGlasgow Javier Sanz-Cruzado Puig - Accelerating cross-encoders for biomedicine Nina Fajs - Genetics link between vitamin D and suicidality Rubayet Alam - Antigenic evolution of viruses

A selection of the excellent talks, demonstrating the breadth of knowledge shared at #CompBioGlasgow Zita Borbala F. - Improving brain cancer treatment with electric fields. Dr Thomas A. Wright - bioinformatics for rectal cancer. Britt van Abeelen - Proliterative tRNA clustering.