Breath Biopsy Conference 2020 – What is new?

EXPRESS INTEREST IN BBCON24

Join us online on 10th & 11th November 2020 for Breath Biopsy Conference 2020.

During the past few months, most of us have gone through significant lifestyle changes as we attempt to slow the spread of coronavirus. Measures have been introduced in many countries to enforce social distancing, and some borders have been fully or partially closed. Many of us are working from home, whilst others have been furloughed.

The events industry has been particularly affected as a result of the pandemic and many events have been delayed or cancelled. In light of the changes implemented and the uncertainty over which policies will remain by the time our annual event takes place, this year’s Breath Biopsy Conference is going to be online, and registration will be free of charge.

Hosting an online conference is something that we have not done before, but here at Owlstone Medical we love a challenge! We are sure it is going to be a great event, and we hope that by hosting it online more international members of our field will be able to join us. Ultimately, we aim for #BBCon20 to be just as successful in sparking discussions and collaborations across the breath research field as our previous in-person events have been.

We’ll be replicating last year’s two day format (check out the the summary of the 2019 event in JBR), adjusting for the digital factor and adding some improvements we have taken from delegate feedback in 2019. We plan to schedule the main sessions on Tuesday 10th and Wednesday 11th November between 10am and 5pm GMT, although the ongoing unusual circumstances may require this to change and we will keep registrants informed of updates – see our provisional schedule.

Sessions

Included in the schedule are highlights of the key sessions we’re planning. Major themes this year will focus around the latest advances on disease VOCs, breath biomarkers for liver disease, best practices for data analytics in breath research as well as a session reviewing some of the work and opportunities that have emerged as a result of COVID-19. For this last session, we will be making an open call for speakers to share their COVID-19 research. We will be sharing a list of talk titles and the topic of the panel discussion session with you soon.

This year’s three keynote speakers will all be joining from America. We are delighted to be able to share with you presentations from Renelle Myers from BC Cancer, Joachim Pleil from the Gillings School of Global Public Health and Terence Risby from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. We look forward to revealing the details of their presentations shortly.

There will be time at the end of every talk to answer questions. We encourage attendees to join us for the live presentations for the option to submit questions through the chat during the talk. We’ll also be sharing more information with registrants on how to access talks and how to make the most of the conference through our chosen platforms as the event nears.

You asked… we listened!

• Networking through the conference app

Last year’s feedback highlighted the fantastic food at the venue, the content from the talks and networking sessions. Whilst this year we cannot provide brilliant food and refreshments – although we encourage you to grab a tea and some cookies during breaks – there will be still the option for digital networking. The conference app will allow attendees to connect with each other for a casual chat, and to arrange face to face meetings over video calls. You will be able to access the full conference schedule, share your thoughts on talks in the live feed and find more information on the speakers, all in one place.

• Poster session preview speed presentations

We also received feedback requesting greater integration of the poster exhibition into the program, so there will be a session for poster presenters to each give a five minute review of their poster content, inviting you to find out more. As with previous years, we will be sharing posters on our community page, and we strongly encourage all attendees to check out posters there in more detail outside of the session.

• Greater early career researcher involvement

Several attendees asked us to facilitate greater involvement from more early careers researchers. We hope that our early careers session encourages more young researchers to join us and get involved. Students, those within eight years of the award of their PhD or with equivalent professional training, and individuals within eight years of their academic appointments are invited to submit their abstracts on their breath-related research. You will be sent information on how to submit abstracts as part of your registration package.

What else is new?

Every year we have welcomed submissions of poster abstracts, and we will continue to do so this year. Breath research on COVID-19 is moving so rapidly that we’ve opened applications for speakers to take part in the COVID-19 session and share your latest findings with the community.

Thank you

We would like to thank Markes International, Thermo Scientific and LECO for sponsoring the Breath Biopsy Conference 2020. Please look out for them in the conference app and have a chat, and don’t miss their presentations. Please get in touch to find out what sponsorship opportunities are still available.

Thank you to those who have already expressed their interest in attending #BBCon20! We have had a higher interest response than anticipated. You can also find videos and posters from previous conferences on our community pages.