Contact
Prof Jessica Mar
Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology
University of Queensland QLD 4067
Australia
jessica.mar@uq.edu.au
Geographical Area Included
Australia
Leadership Structure
2026 National Executive Committee:
President – Jessica Mar
Vice-President – Feargal Ryan
Past President – Jimmy Breen
Treasurer: Mirana Ramialison
Secretary: Anna Trigos
Post-doctoral Representative: Hani Kim
Student Representative: Inam Ul Haq Azad
Professional Bioinformatician Representative: Chris Love
Diversity Representative: Nikeisha Caruana
Ordinary Members: Selene Fernandez-Valverde, Roxane Legaie
Election Process
Election at the Annual General Meeting
Election Frequency
Annually
Member Benefits
1. Discounted registration fee for the ABACBS annual conference and other society events
2. Become eligible to be nominated for society prizes, awards and honours
3. Regular email newsletter from the society
Goals
Founded in 2015, ABACBS represents researchers, educators, students, and professionals working across all areas of bioinformatics and computational biology. ABACBS is Australia's peak national society for bioinformatics and computational biology. Our goal is to support our community through strengthening our discipline, providing advocacy and representation, and recognising excellence.
ABACBS aims to
1. strengthen the science and profession
2. encourage and support students
3. provide representation and advocacy
4. promote interaction and awareness
of bioinformatics and computational biology.
The vision of ABACBS is
1. for people to understand why bioinformatics and computational biology are important
2. for excellence in the science and profession of bioinformatics and computational biology
3. for good career opportunities in bioinformatics and computational biology.
ABACBS has emerged from broad consultation with the Australian bioinformatics and computational biology community, initiated by the Australian Bioinformatics Network in 2013. It was felt that there was a high level of support for a professional society representing Australian bioinformaticians and computational biologists. The Society was incorporated in November 2014, and the first executive committee was formed. The first national annual ABACBS conference was held in Sydney in 2015. ABACBS is a young society with an exciting future. We are keen to pursue opportunities for an annual conference as well as support special interest groups.
Activities
2025 marks ABACBS' 10th anniversary as a society and has been a milestone year characterised by strong growth in membership, programming, and national reach. The following summarises the key activities undertaken by ABACBS to advance bioinformatics and computational biology across Australia.
Annual Conference — Adelaide, November 24 – 28th, 2025
The 2025 ABACBS Annual Conference was held in Adelaide and represents both a scientific milestone and a community celebration of the society's first decade. Building on the success of the 2024 Sydney conference — which attracted 506 total registered attendees, 8 keynote speakers, 60 oral presenters, 160 poster presenters, and 15 sponsor organisations — the 2025 conference was a landmark event for the Australian bioinformatics and computational biology community.
Key features of the 2025 conference include:
• A total number of 442 delegates!
• An EMCR 'Shark Tank' satellite event (November 24th) supported by the South Australian immunoGENomics Cancer Institute (SAiGENCI) which focused on networking, grant writing, and career pitching skills
• Symposium events led by COMBINE (student symposium), Symposium on Bioinformatics and Engineering Intelligence (SBEI) (industry symposium), and BioCAsia
• An expanded conference survey with significantly improved early engagement (36 pre-conference responses vs. 45 total for the prior full cycle)
National Executive Committee
The National Executive Committee meets monthly to govern the society's activities. In 2025, the committee welcomed several new members alongside continuing members, ensuring a blend of continuity and fresh perspectives. Key functions include:
• Supporting conference conveners in annual conference planning
• Overseeing subcommittee activities to ensure they are inclusive and responsive to community needs
• Allocating strategic funding to support new and existing initiatives
• Encouraging state-based activities to strengthen the national network
• Representing Australia in international bioinformatics forums like ABPJC
Inclusion, Diversity, and Accessibility (IDA) Subcommittee
Led by Nikeisha Caruana, the IDA subcommittee has had a particularly impactful year:
• Established regular monthly in-person networking catchups in Melbourne and Brisbane, consistently attracting 15–20 attendees per event
• Integrated a dedicated IDA team into the 2025 conference for the first time, setting a new standard for future conferences
• Developed plans to expand local networking events to additional Australian cities in 2026
Postdoctoral Subcommittee
Led by Hani Kim, now in its fourth year, the Postdoctoral Subcommittee delivered:
• A quarterly National Seminar Series (April, June, August, and November) showcasing cutting-edge research
• Two career panel events featuring speakers from academia, industry, and research organisations
• A growing mentoring program with 39 participants (15 mentors and 24 mentees)
• A full-day EMCR 'Shark Tank' satellite workshop at the 2025 Annual Conference
COMBINE — Student Subcommittee
Led by Liyang Fei, COMBINE continued its mission to support student bioinformaticians through:
• Training workshops: R Shiny (Adelaide), Imaging AI Analysis (Melbourne), Intermediate R (Perth), and live coding streams (online)
• Networking events: coffee catchups, Bris Brew (Brisbane Bioinformatics and Brews), and APBConnect
• Career development: ABACBS & COMBINE Career Planning Q&A event and a Fireside Chat with Aaron Darling
• Annual Hackathon (Sydney)
Professional Bioinformatician Subcommittee (APBC)
Led by Amit Kumar, the ABACBS Professional Bioinformatics Community (APBC) continued to grow its national presence:
• Delivered the SBEI 2025 Symposium in Adelaide, bringing together industry, research, and clinical bioinformatics professionals
• Launched APBConnect 2025 in Melbourne as a new flagship networking forum bridging academia and industry
• Collaborated with COMBINE to support student pathways into professional bioinformatics roles
• Completed a comprehensive strategic review, with the APBC Strategy 2026–2028 due for release in December 2025
Annual Awards
ABACBS continued its tradition of recognising excellence through annual awards presented at the Annual Conference. 2025 award recipients included:
• Honorary Senior Fellow – Prof Nicola Armstrong
• Outstanding Mid-Career Researcher Award – Hannah Couglan & Matt Field
• Outstanding Contribution by an Early Career Researcher Award — Dharmesh Bhuva
• Outstanding PhD Thesis Award — Natalie Charitakis
• Outstanding Professional Bioinformatician Award – David Wood
• Outstanding Bioinformatics Software Developer Award — Hiruna Samarakoon
• Outstanding Bioinformatics Software Maintainer Award — Yunshun Chen
This year we added a new award that recognised one of the most significant values of our community and named in honour of one of our special members.
• The “Nicholas Wong” Outstanding Contribution to the Bioinformatics Community Award – Andrew Lonsdale
Activities and Programs That Demonstrate the Advancement of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Activities
• Monthly local networking catchups (Melbourne and Brisbane; expansion to additional cities planned for 2026)
• Quarterly National Seminar Series for postdoctoral researchers and EMCRs
• EMCR mentoring program pairing postdoctoral researchers with mentees (39 participants in 2025)
• ABACBS Professional Bioinformatics Community (APBC), supporting bioinformatics professionals in industry, government, hospitals, core facilities, and non-academic settings
• IDA integration into all major ABACBS events and conference planning, with a dedicated IDA team now a permanent fixture
• COMBINE student symposium co-located annually with the ABACBS conference, providing training workshops, networking events, and career development opportunities for student bioinformaticians
• Hands-on technical workshops covering topics including R Shiny, Imaging AI Analysis, and live coding in Python and R
• Career panels and fireside chats with researchers from academia, industry, and research organisations
• EMCR 'Shark Tank' satellite workshop focused on grant writing, pitching, and career development
Activities and programs that demonstrate the advancement of bioinformatics and computational biology:
The ABACBS Annual Conference is held each year and co-located with the COMBINE student symposium, the SBEI industry symposium, and BioCAsia. The 2025 conference was hosted in Adelaide and marks the society's 10th anniversary.
3. Contributions to ISCB
ABACBS values its ongoing partnership with ISCB and has continued to actively support ISCB membership, activities, and shared mission throughout 2025.
Encouraging ISCB Membership
The 2025 ABACBS Annual Conference has again been run with the direct support of ISCB. Through this partnership, delegates were provided with the opportunity to sign up for ISCB membership as part of purchasing their conference registration. This integrated approach ensures that ISCB membership is visible and accessible to the full ABACBS conference audience — including researchers, students, and professionals — at the point of maximum engagement. We regard this as one of the most effective mechanisms for converting ABACBS members into ISCB members and are grateful for ISCB's partnership in maaking it possible.
Promoting ISCB Activities
ABACBS actively promotes ISCB activities and resources to its membership through:
• Communications via the ABACBS mailing list and other communications channels highlighting ISCB conferences and events.
• Encouraging members to engage with ISCB's global conferences, including ISMB/ECCB of which many of our members attend.
• Highlighting ISCB resources and career development programs through the COMBINE student subcommittee and the Postdoctoral Subcommittee
Last Updated 2026-03-16 10:41:47