Beyond academia: talks, exhibition and career workshop

→ Industry and innovation session
→ Entrepreneurs' stories session
→ Career workshop
→ Exhibition

Meet the organizations at the forefront of innovation in bioinformatics and the life sciences. From pioneering research to practical solutions, the ECCB 2026 industry and innovation programme offers a unique opportunity to engage with industry partners, discover cutting-edge tools and approaches, and explore the diverse career paths that bioinformatics makes possible.

Industry and innovation session

Monday 31 August 2026, 14:45 - 15:45

Join a dedicated session showcasing scientific innovations and research advancements from industry. Invited speakers present recent technological developments and share perspectives on how industry is shaping the future of computational biology and the life sciences.

[Description and speakers to be confirmed]

  • From structure to function: geometric deep learning for engineering biomolecular interactions | Lemna Bio

Geometric deep learning significantly increases the accuracy of interaction analysis and biomolecular engineering, pushing frontiers in medicine, biotech, and sustainability. Building on these advances, this talk introduces PeSTo for predicting binding interfaces, and CARBonAra for context-aware design across diverse functions, from binders and enzymes to RNA design.

  • Title to be confirmed | Fabian Birzele, Roche

[Description and speaker(s) to be confirmed]

  • Title to be confirmed | seqera

[Description and speaker(s) to be confirmed]

  • A programmer walks into a biology lab | Nir Orpaz, smarts.bio

Software engineers have tools and habits they'd never give up - version control, fast iteration, the freedom to try things and see what breaks. Biology rarely imported any of them. Yet the tools biologists need often already exist, from image analysis to models like Boltz-2, just locked behind cost, setup, and friction. A computer scientist's short stories from the lab on what changes (and what becomes possible) when you take the friction away.

Entrepreneurs' stories session

Wednesday 2 September 2026, 10:30 - 11:30

Join a dedicated session showcasing 

Career workshop

Wednesday 2 September 2026, 11:30 - 13:00

Organized by the SIB People & Culture, this career workshop offers an open forum for early-career researchers to engage with professionals working across academia, industry, and the public sector. Through expert talks and facilitated discussions, participants gain first-hand insights into hybrid career paths within and beyond academic research.

The workshop is open to all ECCB 2026 attendees, upon registration (register here).

Part 1: Speaker presentations

Each speaker presenz their career path, what proved key to their transition between academia and industry in either direction, and their current day-to-day role.

Part 2: Parallel activities 

Participants choose one of two options:

Option A: CV reviews and career counselling with SIB People & Culture

10 minutes per person, nine slots total.

  • Sandra Reinders | Senior People & Culture Manager at SIB
  • Dala Egger | Head of People & Culture at SIB
  • Vanessa Monteiro | People & Culture Manager at SIB


Option B: Speed networking

A group of four participants meets three experts, 10 minutes each. Booking through the form below is required.

Experts: 

Time Activity
Valérie Barbié
Director Clinical Bioinformatics at SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics

Valérie Barbié has been trained as a computer sciences engineer in France and the United States. After a few years as informatician at the National Scientific Research Center (CNRS) in France, she joined the pharmaceutical industry as a bioinformatician. Over 13 years in this industry, she has been working mainly in the field of biomarkers analysis and personalized medicine.

Since 2015 she is leading the Clinical Bioinformatics group at SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, which provides expertise and support to hospitals and industry for the organization, analysis and interpretation of patient-related data, and to promote training and general public information.
Fabian Birzele
VP, Global Head of Computational Biology & Medicine at Roche

Fabian Birzele is a bioinformatician by training who moved to Industry during his PostDoc. As a bioinformatics scientist he supported projects along the full pharma value chain. Today he is the Vice President and Global Head of Computational Biology and Medicine at Roche / Genentech. As part of the newly formed Computational Sciences Center of Excellence, his department enables data-driven decision-making from disease understanding and target identification through clinical phase III across all disease areas in Roche / Genentech and drives innovation in new computational approaches, AI and biostatistics.
Andrea Cavallini
Scientific Relations Manager at SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics

Andrea Cavallini is a Scientific Relations Manager at the SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics. He has more than 12 years of experience managing innovation and research projects across nonprofit organizations, academia, and industry. His work has focused on in vitro diagnostics, clinical operations, and global health, with an emphasis on guiding projects from concept to implementation, developing partnerships, and providing strategic and technical guidance. At SIB, he contributes to initiatives related to ELIXIR and EOSC and supports grant development and cross-institutional collaborations. He holds a PhD in Biosensors and Bioengineering from EPFL and an MSc in Biotechnology from the University of Bologna.
Emma Duncan
Senior Communications Manager at SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics
Moustafa Houmani
Cofounder & CEO at Lemna Bio

Moustafa Houmani is co-founder and CEO of Lemna Bio, an EPFL spin-off. Lemna Bio develops the tools, intelligence, and experimental data to help drug discovery teams de-risk target biology and disease mechanisms early, before committing to costly chemistry efforts. Trained at EPFL as a biological engineer, he works at the intersection of computation, protein engineering, and wet lab experimentation. A second-time biotech founder, he is drawn to building systems that integrate computation and experimentation. At the workshop he looks forward to a candid conversation about the founder path: translating scientific research into a venture, building an early team, and navigating the realities of a deep-tech startup.
Livia Parodi
Multi-Omics Scientist at L'Oréal
Erik Studer
Senior Scientific Project Manager, Clinical Bioinformatics at SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics
Register

Exhibition

Explore the ECCB 2026 exhibition and connect with organizations active in bioinformatics, data management, and the life sciences. Visit the booths to discover resources, tools, and services, and to engage directly with representatives.

  • Discover how Abrinca Genomics helps researchers unlock the value of microbial genomic data through user-friendly bioinformatics software for genome assembly, annotation, analysis, and data management.
  • Connect with ELIXIR and learn about its pan-European infrastructure for life science data.
  • Explore Frontiers' approach to FAIR² data management and open research infrastructure.
  • Learn about ISCB, the only global society representing computational biology and bioinformatics, and its work in training, publications, and career development.
  • Speak with the ISCB Student Council about career development opportunities and community initiatives for students and early-career researchers.
  • Learn how Lemna Bio is advancing biomolecular engineering through geometric deep learning.
  • Find out how Rijk Zwaan applies bioinformatics and data science in plant breeding and agri-food innovation.
  • Explore how Seqera supports scalable and reproducible scientific workflows through modern pipeline orchestration and cloud-native infrastructure for bioinformatics and data-intensive life science research.
  • Discuss with smarts.bio who provides an AI-powered bioinformatics platform for analysing genomics, proteomics, and transcriptomics data through a natural language interface, accessible to biologists and bioinformaticians alike.
  • Discover the bioinformatics resources, national and international initiatives, and services developed by the SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics.