First Bioinformatics Retreat Brought Brno’s Scientific Community to FI MU
Bioinformatics Retreat Brought Together Experts and Students Across Brno The Faculty of Informatics at Masaryk University hosted its first Bioinformatics Retreat on Friday, May 30, 2025, bringing together around sixty experts and students from various institutions across Brno. The goal of the event was to foster new collaborations, share experiences, and build a community that will continue to meet regularly in the future.
Interest in the retreat far exceeded the expectations of the organizers, Monika Čechová and Jan Kotrs. Participants came from the Central European Institute of Technology (CEITEC), the Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno University of Technology, RECETOX, and other institutions.
"We had to close registration several weeks before the event due to capacity limits. But that just shows the enthusiasm to share knowledge and experience locally. One participant even told me she discovered thanks to our retreat that a colleague just two hallways down is working on similar topics, and they might now start collaborating – stories like that are exactly what we’re aiming for," said Monika Čechová, a laureate of the Czexpats in Science Award, who recently returned to FI MU after several years at universities in the USA. Alongside her own research – supported by the MUNI Award in Science and Humanities (MASH) – she aims to strengthen regional collaboration among bioinformaticians.
This pilot event was primarily networking-focused, offering informal discussions during multiple coffee breaks, a poster session, and thematic blocks. Participants had the chance to openly share experiences across institutions and establish new professional contacts.
The afternoon concluded with an AI workshop, where attendees explored the capabilities of large language models in solving bioinformatics problems. They also learned how to use AI to present their research results to other scientists in a more accessible media format, and how to communicate their findings to the broader public.
The success and positive feedback clearly indicate strong interest in inter-institutional meetings in the field of bioinformatics in Brno. The Bioinformatics Retreat thus has real potential to become an annual tradition. Organizers are already planning follow-up events for the autumn, especially thematically focused workshops. At the same time, they are developing brno.bio, a central platform for communication and information sharing within the local bioinformatics community.
“Through this initiative, the Faculty of Informatics is further strengthening its role in bioinformatics research and education. In fact, in the upcoming academic year, we will welcome the first cohort of students in our new, fully bioinformatics-focused bachelor’s program,” added Jiří Barnat, Dean of FI MU. The faculty also offers a unique expert background, especially in the field of genome assembly, and is able to support partners with sequencing data processing.
We thank all participants and look forward to many future meetings!
Author: Marta Vrlová, External Relations and Partnership Development, Faculty of Informatics MU
- Web address
- Attachments
