What’s coming up at ABRF 2026?
The ABRF Annual Meeting is back! This year, it will be held at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh (PA, USA) from 28–31 March.
The theme is Innovating at the Intersection of Science, Technology and Collaboration, bringing together leaders across the scientific community to reflect on the lasting impact of their work and to discuss what comes next. The meeting will highlight new technologies and transformative partnerships furthering core research and innovation, making it a must-attend conference for core facilities professionals.
Begin each day of the meeting proper (29–31 March) with a run, walk or roll from 6:30–7.30am EDT through the city before diving into 3 days of technology showcases (morning and evening sessions), interesting presentations, mini-workshops and networking opportunities (scattered throughout each day).
Here, we highlight the breakout sessions you won’t want to miss. To find out more about what to expect from this year’s meeting, check out the preview stream from ABRF.
Saturday, 28 March
The Saturday is a ‘pre-meeting’ day for welcoming attendees to the event in addition to offering two workshops, held from 8am–4pm EDT, on the topics of using R/R-Studio for reproducible data analysis and visualization, and implementing lean management in shared research.
Using R/R-Studio for reproducible data analysis and visualization
This workshop will introduce key techniques for innovating basic data analyses using R/R-suite, an open-source platform combining statistical computing with a fully featured development environment. Informatics analysis is becoming an essential component of biomolecular research; this workshop will serve as a foundation for scientists to develop data analysis expertise.
Lean management for shared research resources
This workshop will introduce the principles of lean management, before describing the tools used and their application in shared resource operations.
Don’t forget to register in advance for the pre-meeting workshop you’d like to attend as this registration is separate from the meeting registration!
In this meeting report, Joshua Rappoport and Michelle Itano share their highlights from the 2025 ABRF Annual Meeting (23-26 March 2025; Las Vegas, NV, USA). This report reflects their personal perspectives, focusing on sessions and collaborations that they found particularly impactful, without detailing everything discussed at the conference.
Sunday, 29 March
Following the morning technology showcases from 7:45–8:45am EDT and the 15-minute networking break afterwards, attend one of the concurrent plenary sessions: Neuroscience of helping diverse scientists use their strengths and passions (Greg Siegle; University of Pittsburgh, PA, USA) and Transforming technical careers through culture change (Kelly Vere; University of Nottingham, UK).
Choose breakout sessions that best suit your interests. There are several to choose from, ranging in topic from self-advocacy to building better science communication in cores. We’ve highlighted one from each block for each day of the conference:
10:45am–12pm: Bacterial single-cell transcriptomics
In this session, speakers Anna Kuchina (Institute for Systems Biology, WA, USA) and Gina Lewin (Case Western Reserve University, OH, USA) will present methodologies for high-throughput transcriptomics of thousands of single bacterial cells, discussing the bacterial phenotypic heterogeneity afforded by these technological advances and future research directions they enable for the field.
2:45–4pm: Innovation and assay development in the epigenomics core space
This breakout session will consist of two presentations. The first, by Claudia Lalancette (University of Michigan, MI, USA), will discuss the University of Michigan Epigenomics Core’s testing of Biomodal evoC on head and neck cancer samples. The second presentation, by Yanxiang Deng (University of Pennsylvania, PA, USA), will be on the development of a spatial epigenomic platform that can perform spatial ATAC, Cut&Tag and methylation.
4:30–5:45pm: Genome engineering: CRISPR technologies for pooled screens and AI training
Speakers Jeremy Worley (Columbia University, NY, USA), Shondra Miller (St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, TN, USA) and Kendall Condon (Bristol Myers Squibb, NJ, USA) will discuss CRISPR-based genome-engineering technologies, including pooled CRISPR screens with single-cell RNA sequencing, base editing and phenotypic readouts. They will also cover the use of CRISPR tools to engineer clonal cell lines.
Updates from the experts: bioimage analysis, genomics in space, imaging cytometry and epigenomics
From AI and bioimage analysis to implementing genomic technologies in space research, the 2025 ABRF Annual Meeting (23-26 March 2025; Las Vegas, NV, USA) was packed with fascinating presentations, workshops and discussions. We spoke to four session speakers to learn about their favorite pieces of tech from the event, gain an insight into the discussions that arose in their sessions, and summarize their key takeaways from the Las Vegas meeting, What happens in Cores doesn’t stay in Cores.
Monday, 30 March
One of the plenary sessions on Monday will discuss the research landscape in America, diving into policy and advocacy. This talk, Advancing research through advocacy: navigating today’s federal landscape, given by Savannah Sims (Research!America, VA, USA), will focus on funding priorities affecting biotechnology and shared resource laboratories. The other plenary session by Thayumanasamy Somasundaram (Florida State University, FL, USA), Josh Stapleton and Craig Praul (both Penn State, PA, USA), Out of the silo and into the future: core facilities engaging across disciplines, will highlight the ongoing work to broaden awareness of core facility services, lower barriers to interdisciplinary use, cultivate staff expertise and foster collaborations among core facilities.
10:45am–12pm: Current single-cell methods in core facilities
In this session, members from core facilities – Anoja Perera and Kaitlyn Petentler (both Stowers Institute for Medical Research, MO, USA), Catharine Aquino (Functional Genomics Center Zurich, Switzerland) and Anna Elz (Fred Hutch Cancer Center, WA, USA) – will present current trends in single-cell genomics and discuss the different applications offered through their cores. Additionally, they’ll discuss what to keep in mind when planning single-cell experiments.
2:45–4pm: How AI can be used to improve core and platform operations
This panel discussion, featuring James Chambers (UMass Amherst, MA, USA), Sean Schaffer (Vanderbilt University, TN, USA), and Melissa Mann (St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital), will present real examples of using AI in the non-science branch of core facility work, giving attendees actionable insights into when, how and why to leverage AI effectively.
4:30–5:45pm: Breaking the silos: how omics platforms collaborate to deliver multi-omics insight
Here, Catharine Aquino, Hubert Rehrauer and Jessica Nordlund (all Functional Genomics Center Zurich) will highlight case studies in which omics facilities successfully collaborated across disciplines to deliver integrative research projects, including the practical strategies, challenges overcome and the infrastructural and cultural shifts that enabled these collaborations to thrive.
Showcasing biotech: the tools facilitating breakthroughs in sequencing, imaging and data management
At this year’s ABRF Annual Meeting (23–26 March; NV, USA), biotech companies had the opportunity to showcase their technology, highlighting how their products are facilitating breakthroughs in the fields of sequencing, imaging and data management.
Tuesday, 31 March
On Tuesday, choose between plenary sessions on the Legislative landscape of animal research (Susan Harper, Scientists Center for Animal Welfare, OR, USA; Sally Thompson-Iritani, University of Washington, WA, USA) and Novel methods and instruments for genomics cores (Stefan Green, Rush University Medical Center, IL, USA; Alaina Weinheimer, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, ME, USA; Alvaro Hernandez, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA). Respectively, these sessions will explore the recent federal or state-level legislation affecting animal research and present useful new tools and approaches utilized in genomics core facilities.
There will be two mini workshops on Tuesday, which require pre-registration, held over both the morning and afternoon breakout sessions:
10:15am–2:45pm: Hands-on AI and bioimage analysis mini workshop
The AI and bioimage analysis workshop is back! Attendees will work through image analysis projects using AI tools in Fiji and Imaris, with support from facilitators Rich Cole (SUNY Albany, NY, USA), Jian Wei Tay (Van Andel Institute, MI, USA) and David Kirchenbuechler (Northwestern University, IL, USA).
10:45am–2:45pm: 3D printing mini workshop
In this workshop, Matthew Kaplan (University of Arizona, AZ, USA) will break down the barriers that often keep educators and researchers from diving into the world of 3D design and printing. Participants will explore free and low-cost 3D modeling tools that make it easy to create custom tools, parts and everyday solutions, serving as an introduction to 3D printing.
1:30–2:45pm: Spatial transcriptomics: advances and applications
Finally, in this session, speakers Amanda Poholek, Youjin Lee (both University of Pittsburgh) and Andreas Pfenning (Carnegie Mellon University, PA, USA) will highlight advances in spatial transcriptomics technologies, including single-cell and multi-omic applications. They will also dive into the computational approaches that provide biological insights across neuroscience, immunology and cancer.
Visit the ABRF website for the full agenda and register now!