The University of Pretoria hosted the joint South African Society for Bioinformatics (SASBi) and South African Genetics Society (SAGS) BIO2024 conference at the Future Africa campus from 23-25 September. This biennial event was organised by Prof. Albé van der Merwe and saw more than 200 researchers, students and industry representatives participate in the three-day event. The conference was opened by the Dean of the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences (NAS), Prof. Barend Erasmus.  The plenary speaker was Prof. Sarah leBaron von Baeyer, the Director of Ethics & Engagement at VariantBio, who presented a thought-provoking talk “Benefits of sharing genetic and genomic data”. Other conference Keynote speakers included FABI's Prof. Brenda Wingfield and UP Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology, Prof. Christine Maritz-Olivier.

Sponsorship from the NAS Faculty allowed 26 BGM genetics students to attend the conference giving them a valuable opportunity to attend what would be for many, the first scientific conference that they attend as well as providing networking opportunities with their peers. Diplomics also sponsored three student travel awards including one international travel award. Prof. Sanuska Naidoo was awarded Fellowship of SAGS recognising her research excellence and service to the Society, while Prof. Francois van der Westhuizen was awarded the Society’s Gold medal. FABI PhD candidate, Anneri Lötter, won one of the three SAGS student awards for 'Best paper' in the category: Genetic methodologies and data analysis. The title of her paper was "Haplogenome assembly reveals structural variation in Eucalyptus interspecific hybrids".

Heritage Day, a South African public holiday on 24 September celebrating the cultural wealth of its people was marked during the conference with several delegates proudly dressing in their traditional attire in recognition of this day.

The event was preceded by a one-day student symposium and FABI students Trystan Nadasen, Rodé Visser, Aspen Downing, Michal Slupski and Nhlanhla Simelane participated. Trystan won the award for the best oral presentation at the SASBi | SAGS BIO2024 Student Symposium while Aspen was the runner up for best oral presentation and Nhlanhla got an award for the best five-minute presentation.

The organisers were grateful to sponsors including Centre for Preteomic and Genomic Research (CPGR), Diagnostech, Diplomics, Inqaba Biotec, Lasec, Separations, and Thermo Fisher Scientific for their generous support.