Genomics and the Global Bioeconomy

Dr. Catalina Lopez-Correa MD, PhD is Chief Scientific Officer and Executive Director of the Canadian COVID19 Genomics Network (CanCOGeN) at Genome Canada. Before that she was Chief Operating Officer at Ruta N Medellin. She has 20 years of international experience in genomics in both the academic and private sectors. Before Ruta N, she was Chief Scientific Officer for Genome British Columbia and Genome Quebec and held senior research positions with pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and with deCODE genetics in Iceland. As CSO at Genome BC and Genome Quebec she coordinated several initiatives to help understand and address the social, legal, ethical, economical aspects of genomics. Dr. Lopez-Correa has been a national and international champion of equity, diversity, and inclusion in genomics and science in general. Dr. Adriana Suarez-Gonzalez MSc PhD: Science and Technology Advisor at 10x Genomics. For her Ph.D., Adriana combined phenotypic data and cutting-edge genomics to identify genetic markers associated with traits of ecological and economic interest. Her work has great potential for forest management in the face of climate change and provides an example on how genomics provides opportunities to meet the challenges of the Global Bioeconomy. At 10x Genomics, she helps researchers advance our understanding of biological processes with new technologies for single cell and spatial genomics analyses.

Part I: Synthetic biology as a pillar of the bioeconomy 1. Cellular agriculture and the sustainable development goals 2. Engineering microbial biofactories for a sustainable future 3. Computational approaches for smart cell creation in the bioeconomy era 4. Young innovators and the bioeconomy

Part II: Genomic monitoring is revolutionizing our understanding of biodiversity and ecological services 5. Environmental DNA: Revolutionizing ecological assessments with genomics 6. Informing marine shipping insurance premiums in the Arctic using marine microbial genomics 7. Genomic biosurveillance to protect the world’s forest resources 8. Metagenomics: A resilience approach to climate change and conservation of the African Glacier biodiversity

Part III: Genomics as a driver of the bioeconomy in agriculture 9. The impact of biotechnology and genomics on an ancient crop: Cannabis sativa 10. Multiomics techniques for plant secondary metabolism engineering: Pathways to shape the bioeconomy

Part IV: Why regulation and policy matter to advance the bioeconomy 11. Regulatory frameworks applicable to food products of genome editing and synthetic biology in the United States, Canada, and the European Union 12. Crop biotech: Creating the crops to face the future 13. Bioeconomy policy: Beyond genomics R&D