An annual International Conference of the Center for Life Sciences was attended by more than 130 participants (92 outside the university). They discussed the newest topics on human genome analysis and its applications to contribute to human health. ISTC was involved in the conference as a co-organizer with financial support of the Japanese Party. 

The Conference was intended to become an interactive platform for panel discussions and discoveries of new findings in personalized medicine, bioinformatics, systems biomedicine, as well as global health and microbiome research/technologies and their application. 

The conference further included a workshop on hot topics in microbiome and probiotics research. During this workshop one of the common interests of ISTC was to unite young scientists with prominent experts from Japan and CIS countries. 

By supporting these types of activities, ISTC will have a positive impact on development of medicines, best practices to reduce the risk of transferred diseases and much more. Despite the current transition period of ISTC’s Head Office from Moscow to Astana, ISTC continues to formulate new ways forward for targeted funding and finding new mechanisms for more regional activities and outreach.