June 2026: Byte-Sized Science: The second annual conference of the Edmond J. Safra Center young researchers' forum

On June 23, 2026 the second annual student conference, initiated and organized by the Edmond J. Safra Young Researchers' Forum, took place in Jaglom Hall at TAU. Titled "Byte-Sized Science #2", the conference was entirely planned and executed by Edmond J. Safra PhD student fellows, who serve as the current leaders of the Edmond J. Safra Young Researchers' Forum, Tal Bamberger, MD-PhD student, Alisa Greenberg, PhD student (both from Borenstein lab, Medical & Health Sciences), and Liat Bilinsky (Gophna lab, Life Sciences) all three are Edmond J. Safra student fellows.

About 50 bioinformatics graduate and undergraduate bioinformatics students participated in the conference. The conference was opened by Prof. Elhanan Borenstein, Head of the Edmond J. Safra Center, who welcomed participants and praised the student organizers for their initiative. He further noted that the conference is one of the highlights of the Center’s annual activities, and how exciting and inspiring it is to see students develop into independent young scientists.

The program featured nine engaging lightning talks by graduate students representing multiple faculties. Speakers included MSc and PhD students from Edmond J. Safra members and affiliates labs, Noy Bandel (Mayrose & Pupko labs, Life Sciences), Eyal Haluts (Borenstein lab, Computer Science & AI), Michael Kovaliov (Tuller lab, Engineering), Hagai Levi (Shamir & Elkon labs, Computer Science & AI and Medical & Health Sciences), Guy Shani (Madi lab, Medical & Health Sciences), Omer Shapira (Shamir lab, Computer Science & AI), Yael Shenkerman (Wine lab, Life Sciences), Guy Shur (Burstein lab, Life Sciences), and Dafna Tussia-Cohen (Hagai lab, Life Sciences). Together, they presented a wide range of innovative research topics in bioinformatics.

Following these talks, Dr. Regev Schweiger, Edmond J. Safra Center member (Medical & Health Sciences), delivered an engaging keynote, sharing insights into his career trajectory and discussing his transitions between industry to academia.

The event also included a lively social component, featuring a Kahoot quiz that tested participants' knowledge of the presented research projects alongside lighthearted bioinformatics trivia. The program concluded with a light lunch and an informal networking session.

The conference was an incredibly successful and stimulating event, both scientifically and socially. It demonstrated the ability of young researchers to design and deliver a professional, well-organized meeting, showcasing advanced, cutting-edge scientific work, while fostering a strong sense of community within the bioinformatics student community.

For pictures click here.