THIS IS HOW THE 4TH COLOMBIAN CONGRESS OF BIOINFORMATICS AND COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY CAME TO AN END

Important conclusions for the future of computational biology and bioinformatics and reflections on the needs for the strengthening of science in the country left the IV Colombian Congress of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology

In the first instance, the importance of studying cancer and other diseases of high incidence in our country, which represent challenges for current medicine, was clear among the participants; understanding them will be fundamental to take the step towards precision medicine. To this, we must add the knowledge we have about the human genome and start from the differences of each population group, to facilitate the development of personalized medicine, which responds to the specific characteristics of each organism

On the other hand, as stated by Pedro Moreno, organizer of the event and associate professor at the Universidad del Valle, it is essential that one of the tasks of science and research is to work towards closing the gaps that currently exist between scientists, businessmen and the state, especially to achieve more significant advances in Colombia that will allow us to get closer to the production of countries in the continent such as Brazil or Argentina. Likewise, as stated by Catalina Alvarez, bioinformatician at BIOS, the country's talent is evident and the technology for research is in Colombia, however, more investment is needed.

One of the achievements of this Congress, which has been held in the country every two years since 2011, was the 1st Colombian Meeting of Bioinformatics students, which brought together undergraduate and graduate students in different areas related to computational biology, in order to make alliances, achieve networking and, above all, achieve international visibility.

BIOS closed its participation with the presentation 'Study of the region of the resistance factor to coffee rust in cultivated and wild species, by means of comparative genomics', given by Andrea Garavito, and the intervention of the leader of Bionegocios, Eduardo Gómez, in which it became clear that BIOS is the actor called to bring together the efforts in science that the country is developing and that the doors are open for the execution of large projects.

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