The Inaugural Session: brief report

The Inaugural Session of the Canton Nucleic Acids Forum (CNAF), titled “Next Generation Sequencing, Bioinformatics and Non-Coding RNAs” opened up on September 12th in Hilton Guangzhou Tianhe, and lasted for two days, attracting nearly 500 attendees. The event has received much attention and strong support from the local scientific community and the municipal government. Members of prominent scientific organizations and government leaders attended the opening of the Session, among them Mr. Zhang Dong (Deputy Minister of the Organization Department of Guangzhou Municipal Committee), Dr. Zhang Dan (General Secretary of the Association of Experts from National Thousand Talents Program), Mr. Tang Ping (Deputy Minister of the Organization Department of Guangzhou Development District), others.

During the conference, Chinese and overseas speakers from prominent international universities and scientific organizations presented results of their research in the fields of next generation sequencing, bioinformatics and non-coding RNAs, followed by interactive discussions with the participants of the conference. At the closing remarks, Nobel Prize Winner and the Keynote Speaker for the event Dr. Craig Mello praised the conference for excellent content and organization, and encouraged young generation to become more engaged in science. Attendees from universities, research institutes and industrial organization openly expressed their excitement and satisfaction about the unique opportunity to communicate closely with the prominent scientists from China and abroad.