Gene Forum (www.geneforum.ee) is the leading scientific conference on genetics and genomics in the Baltic region. The event has brought world-renowned experts to Estonia to discuss the latest advancements in the field since 2000. This interdisciplinary conference with an international audience offers excellent opportunities for networking and professional exchange with experts from Baltics, Nordic countries and beyond.
It was wonderful to see so many members of the Genome of Europe community gathered in Tartu for the 25th International Gene Forum, held on 25–26 August at the Estonian National Museum. With Genome of Europe partners and colleagues from across Europe in the room, the conference offered an excellent opportunity to hear about the latest developments in genomics, exchange ideas and continue important conversations about the future of genomics in European healthcare. This years conference hosted over 300 participants from 25 different countries. The event delivered 23 invited talks, 3 poster-talks and more than 40 poster presentations.
Health genomics was at the heart of the first day of the conference, with a special anniversary programme led by Prof. Andres Metspalu (GoE WP7 lead), founder of the Estonian Biobank, and one of the driving forces behind genomics and personalised medicine in Estonia.
In addition to many distinguished speakers, Genome of Europe consortium was represented with 4 talks:
Prof. André G. Uitterlinden, Principal Investigator of Genome of Europe from Erasmus MC University Medical Centre, Netherlands shared perspectives on the initiative and its role in building a high-quality genomic reference resource that reflects the diversity of European populations.
Lene Cividanes, Head of Division for the Danish National Genome Center presented an overview of the first five years of the Danish National Genome Center, highlighting how Denmark has integrated genomic data into routine healthcare and enabled more than 60,000 patients to receive whole-genome sequencing as part of clinical care.
Michaela Th. Mayrhofer, CEO for Papillon Pathways & Lead ELSI at Institute of Human Genetics, Medical University of Innsbruck from Austria, presentation explored the ethical, legal and societal challenges of implementing genomic medicine in Austria, highlighting how the Humangenom Austria project is building a national genomics infrastructure through innovative governance, public engagement and collaboration between research and healthcare.
Prof. Nicole Soranzo, Head of Genomics Research Centre, Human Technopole from Italy gave a talk as a keynote speaker on the second day of the conference as part of “Advances in single-cell technology” session. She presented a population-scale single-cell atlas of nearly 10 million blood cells from over 6,500 individuals, demonstrating how the integration of single-cell genomics, genetic variation and longitudinal health data can advance precision medicine across diverse populations.
The wider programme brought together leading international experts to discuss human genome variation, single-cell genomics, microbiome research and population genomics. The discussions held during the conference explored how genomic knowledge and data can increasingly support disease prevention and healthcare practice. They also addressed developments in the European Health Data Space and other international genomics initiatives.
But conferences are also about community. Seeing so many familiar faces from the Genome of Europe consortium in Tartu was a great reminder that ambitious European initiatives are built not only on data and infrastructure, but also on collaboration, dialogue and people.
Thank you to everyone who joined us in Tartu, and to Andres Metspalu and Merit Kreitsberg team from the Institute of Genomics, University of Tartu for bringing the international genomics community together once again!
Genome of Europe at Estonian HealthTech Week 2026
In addition, GoE partners gave talks within the Estonian HealthTech Week 2026 programme on the 27th of August, in Tartu, Estonia.
Professor Andres Metspalu, Professor André Uitterlinden and Michaela Th Mayrhofer delivered session Personalised medicine – do we have enough data?, which discussed the practical aspects of personalised medicine and prevention.