Program Overview

Occurring just once every five years, the International Congress of Genetics is a landmark event.  For the Genetics community, it's our Olympics!  Accordingly, this Congress offered a scientific program of unsurpassed quality and a large creative engagement for the public.  The Congress marked the 50 years from the beginnings of the gene manipulation, starting with the recombinant DNA revolution, culminating in vivo gene editing. 

Plenary Addresses: There were nine plenary addresses each given by a global leader in their respective field. One of these was given by the recipients of the prestigious Gruber Genetics 2023 Prize. 

Symposia: The Congress had six broad themes covering the breadth of Genetics and Genomics in humans, animals, plants, fungi and microbes. Each of the broad themes had symposia that cover specific aspects of the theme.  A list of the symposia topics is below.  There were two invited talks in each symposium with up to four other speakers selected from submitted abstracts.

Poster Presentations were a vital part of the Congress.  Poster sessions were linked to the themes and symposia.  There was a generous amount of time set aside for poster presentation and viewing in the Exhibition space where delegates gathered for morning and afternoon teas and lunch.  Posters were also viewable via the Congress app.

GENETICS AND HUMAN HEALTH 

•  Identifying functional target genes at GWAS loci 
•  Legal and social issues in genomic medicine
•  Disease gene identification and functional genomics using animal models
•  Pharmacogenomics and genomics in drug discovery and development 
•  Genetics of complex disease and quantitative traits
•  Rare disease genetics and biology
  
•  Genomic therapies and precision medicine
•  Counselling, communication and consent in human genetics contexts across the lifetime

•  Genomics-driven healthcare
•  Genetics and genomics of pandemic, endemic and emerging infectious organisms
•  Emerging applications in ‘omics technologies - filling the gaps
•  Bioinformatics and computational biology 
•  Accelerating genomics 
•  Equity and diversity in the application of human genomics
•  Cell-free DNA technologies: challenges and opportunities
•  Tandem-repeat genomics informing polygenic human disorders and traits 
•  Indigenous genomics in the precision medicine era 

•  Advanced imaging in cellular and developmental genetics
•  Cell signalling and regeneration
•  Gene regulation and RNA biology
•  Epigenetic mechanisms and chromatin biology
•  Atlases for cell and developmental biology
•  Cell and organoid models for human disease mechanisms
•  New experimental model organisms for genetics research
•  Neurogenetics of behaviour
•  Genetics and biology of ageing 

•  Agricultural and horticultural genetics
•  Plant ecological and conservation genetics 
•  Plant cell and developmental biology 
•  Plant response to environmental change
•  Genetics and genomics of plant evolution
•  Plant biotechnology and genome editing
•  Interactions with other organisms 
•  Plant breeding and food security
•  From genebanks to fields: leveraging genomics innovations for characterising genetic diversity

•  Environmental genomics 
•  Population genetics and genomics
•  Conservation genetics
•  The genetics of local adaptation
•  Invasion genetics
•  Microbes and microbiomes 
•  Ecological epigenetics
•  Climate change genetics
•  Genetics of wildlife disease and responses to infection

•  Evolutionary genetics theory  
•  Genomes and biodiversity
•  Molecular evolution
•  Paleogenomics
•  Evolution and development
•  Systematics and phylogeography
•  Host/pathogen interactions
•  Genetic strategies to control pests and disease vectors 
•  Genetics and epigenetics of sex 

The Organising Committee's commitment to diversity resulted in presentations from researchers from 48 different countries and across a full range of gender and career stages.