Introduction

Bioimage analysis stands at the forefront of modern biological research, providing sophisticated computational approaches for quantifying biological systems through microscopic image data. This powerful methodology allows researchers to extract meaningful measurements and insights from the vast amounts of multidimensional information captured by today's advanced microscopes. The GloBIAS conference has emerged as a pivotal annual gathering that unites experts across this dynamic field, creating a comprehensive ecosystem for knowledge exchange and community building.

The conference strategically combines multiple elements to address different facets of bioimage analysis advancement. During the initial days, participants engage in parallel sessions that serve distinct but complementary purposes. The training school component offers structured learning opportunities where novices and experienced analysts alike can enhance their skills and stay current with evolving techniques. The hackathon fosters innovation through intensive collaborative development, where teams work together to create new analytical tools that solve emerging challenges in the field. The taggathon activities focus on the essential task of organizing and cataloguing existing tools, making the growing ecosystem of bioimage analysis resources more accessible and usable for the broader scientific community.

As the conference progresses to its second half, the focus shifts to a symposium designed for broader knowledge dissemination. This portion features presentations from invited experts who share cutting-edge advancements and methodological breakthroughs. The intellectual exchange continues through poster sessions, where attendees present their research findings and receive valuable feedback. Panel discussions create spaces for deeper exploration of complex topics and emerging trends, allowing for nuanced debate among diverse perspectives. The open source software lounge (OSSL) provides a unique opportunity for direct interaction between users and developers, fostering collaboration and immediate problem-solving. The call-4-help session, where participants can present specific analytical challenges they face, and the collective expertise of the community converges to develop impromptu solutions.

What makes the GloBIAS conference particularly valuable is its interdisciplinary nature, drawing participants from life sciences, computational science, physics, and engineering. This cross-pollination of ideas across traditional disciplinary boundaries creates a rich intellectual environment uniquely suited to advancing bioimage analysis techniques. Despite their diverse backgrounds, attendees share a unified purpose: developing better methods to measure and understand biological systems through image analysis. Beyond the technical aspects, the GloBIAS conference serves a crucial social function by facilitating meaningful connections among researchers, helping to construct and strengthen a global network of bioimage analysis experts who can continue collaborating long after the conference concludes. This community-building element transforms the GloBIAS conference from a mere technical meeting into a catalyst for sustained advancement in the field, creating relationships and collaborations that drive innovation through the evolution of the bioimage analysis society. 

Organisers

Elnaz Fazeli (University of Helsinki, Finland)

Rocco D'Antuono   (The Francis Crick Institute, London, UK)

Florian Levet   (University of Bordeaux, France)

Christa Walther   (GloBIAS & German Bioimaging, Germany)

Kota Miura   (Bioimage Analysis & Research, Japan & Germany, Local Organizer)

Ko Sugawara   (RIKEN BDR & LPIXEL Inc., Kobe & Tokyo, Japan, Local Organizer)

Aiko Sekiguchi   (RIKEN BDR, Kobe, Japan, Local Organizer)

Shuichi Onami   (RIKEN BDR, Kobe, Japan, Local Organizer)

Scientific Advisory Board Members

Julien Colombelli (IRB, Barcelona, Spain)

Julia Fernandez Rodriguez (University of Gothenburg, Sweden)

Sebastian Munck (KU Leuven, Bergium)

Chong Zhang (IRB, Barcelona, Spain) 

Ana Stojiljkovic (University of Bern, Switzerland)

Sebastien Tosi (UPF, Barcelona, Spain)

Dominik  Kutra (EMBL, Heidelberg, Germany)

Hiroya Itoga   (RIKEN BDR, Kobe, Japan)

Chentao Wen   (RIKEN BDR, Kobe, Japan)

Koji Kyoda   (RIKEN BDR, Kobe, Japan)
Kagayaki Kato (NIBB, Okazaki Japan)

Shinya Komoto (OIST, Okinawa, Japan)

Go Shioi   (RIKEN BDR, Kobe, Japan)

Yuki Tsukada (Keio University, Tokyo, Japan)

More information - this will be updated on a regular basis

Important dates

 Registration via Google Forms here: https://tinyurl.com/3dtajhh6

• Abstract submission deadline: 15 May 2025

• Training school application deadline: 15 May 2025

• Training School Trainee, Travel grant, Poster/Oral notification: 15 June 2025

• Payment deadline: 15 July 2025

• Cancellation deadline: 31 August 2025

• Registration deadline (for attendance of symposium only): 30 September 2025

Participation fees

The registration fee is determined by the category of your participation and the package you choose. The table below lists the registration fee for each category and package. The following items are included / not included in the registration fee. The Gala Dinner is optional, but we strongly recommend you choose this option to immerse yourself in the tight global network of experts. 

Included:

• Participation in the symposium (symposium participants can participate in Hackathon and Taggathon for free)

  • Optional Gala Dinner on Oct 30

• Lunch, coffee, snack

Not Included: 

• Accommodation

Cancellation policy:

• Participation fees are due in advance by 15 July 2025.
  Should you not be able to attend the conference after payment, we kindly ask you to contact the conference office by 31 August 2025, at the latest.

• Later cancellations cannot be taken into account and will not be refunded.
  The processing fee will be deducted from the amount of the refund. 

Contact

Workshop Office: globias2025@ml.riken.jp

Travel Information

Access to RIKEN Kobe Campus https://www.kobe.riken.jp/en/access/

Local information: Official Travel Guide of KOBE

Airports

Osaka Kansai International Airport (KIX) is the largest airport near RIKEN Kobe. Osaka Itami Airport (ITM) and Kobe Airport (UKB) are also nearby.

Accommodation

We recommend you to stay around RIKEN Kobe or Sannomiya Station.

Our local hotels around RIKEN Kobe:

• Kobe Portpia Hotel

Kobe Portpia Hotel is offering a special rate during the specified period: check in on 25th Oct to check out on 30th Oct. The number of rooms is limited. Booking must be made via a designated website Book Kobe Portpia Hotel for GloBIAS 2025 *Please note there will be no vacancies from 30th Oct to 31st Oct at the Portpia Hotel. 

• Hotel Pearl City Kobe

• Ariston Hotel Kobe

GloBIAS Bioimage Analysis Training School 2025

Date: 26-29 October 2025, Kobe, Japan (3.5 days)

Organizers: 

Rocco D'Antuono (The Francis Crick Institute, UK)

Ana Stojiljkovic (University of Bern, Switzerland)

Kagayaki Kato (National Institute for Basic Biology, Japan)

Shinya Komoto (Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, Japan)

Trainers:

 to be confirmed

Attendance:

• In-person attendance

• Full commitment to participate during the whole TS

Requirements for the trainees:

• Have worked in bioimage analysis before.

• Be familiar with basic python coding skills (e.g. numpy, matplotlib, pandas).

• Basic knowledge of software environment management (e.g. Conda).

• Basic knowledge of command line (e.g. run commands in terminals)

Programme in short:

* Introduction to software environments

* Bioimage analysis fundamentals

* Basic image analysis in Jupyter notebooks

* Scikit-image

* napari

* Workflow manager for large number of files 

* Machine learning primer

* Scaling up image analysis solutions with High-Perfomance Computing

* Work on your own data projects

For more info, please email:

rocco.dantuono@crick.ac.uk

info@globias.org

Learning outcomes:

• Theoretical and practical skills in bioimage analysis with Python, including the use of Jupyter notebooks, scikit-image, and the napari viewer.

• The basics of building reproducible and scalable image analysis workflows with the workflows management system Nextflow and principles of containerization.

• When and how to apply machine learning in bioimage analysis by highlighting both its potential and limitations through real-world examples and interactive discussions with experts in the field.

• The added value of interdisciplinary exchange and open science, thanks to the collaborative work on common projects, during which the participants will build and adapt analysis workflows for their own imaging data.

Hackathon

Date: Oct 26 pm to Oct 29 am,  Kobe, Japan

Hackathon is a collaborative event where participants work together on defined challenges.

Aim

At the GloBIAS Conference 2025, our focus will be on developing bioimage analysis workflows that adhere to the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable). 

Participation

Please indicate your willingness to take part in the hackathon (you will see in the registration form)!  If you are in the training school, you cannot be in the hackathon as they happen in parallel. Please pick the "Only symposium" package during your registration - hackathon is included there.  

Organisers

Sebastien Tosi (UPF, Barcelona, Spain)

Koji Kyoda   (RIKEN BDR, Kobe, Japan)

Hiroya Itoga   (RIKEN BDR, Kobe, Japan)

Ko Sugawara   (RIKEN BDR & LPIXEL Inc., Kobe & Tokyo, Japan)

Taggathon

Date: Oct 27 am to Oct 28 pm,  Kobe, Japan

Organisers

Kota Miura (Bioimage Analysis & Research, Japan & Germany)

Aim

The aim is to organize bioimage analysis tools and curate the Bio Image Information Index (BIII). 

Participation

Please indicate your willingness to take part in the taggathon (you will see in the registration form)! If you are in the training school, you cannot be in the taggathon as they happen in parallel. Please pick the "Only symposium" package during your registration - taggathon is included there.  

More details: What is "taggathon"?

Navigating the vast landscape of bioimage analysis tools presents significant challenges for researchers and analysts seeking solutions to specific biological imaging problems. While countless tools can be discovered through standard web searches and GitHub repositories, the information about these resources often suffers from inconsistent presentation and an overemphasis on technical methodologies rather than practical applications. This technical-heavy documentation creates a fundamental disconnect for bioimage analysts who typically approach their work from a problem-solving perspective rather than a purely technical one. The crucial question of which tool effectively addresses a particular biological imaging challenge often remains frustratingly unanswered.

The Bio Image Information Index (BIII), developed through the collaborative efforts of the Network of European Bio-image Analysts (NEUBIAS), represents a pioneering solution to this information gap. This innovative platform fundamentally reimagines how bioimage analysis tools are categorized and presented by prioritizing real-world application over technical specifications. Rather than organizing tools by their underlying algorithms or programming approaches, BIII creates intuitive connections between specific biological problems and the analytical tools best suited to solve them. This problem-centric approach dramatically improves the discovery process for researchers seeking efficient solutions.

Central to the ongoing development and enhancement of the BIII platform are collaborative events known as Taggathons. These social working sessions bring together experts and enthusiasts in the bioimage analysis community to collectively expand and refine the tool database. Participants contribute their expertise by documenting various categories of analytical resources, including specific implemented algorithms (called "components") such as the Gaussian Blur plugin, complete analytical procedures (termed "workflows") like methods for measuring nucleus volume, and comprehensive software packages or libraries (designated as "collections") including widely-used platforms such as ImageJ and napari.

The Taggathon experience extends far beyond simple data entry or cataloging. Participants arrive with their laptops and work alongside peers in a shared physical space, collaboratively editing and enhancing tool documentation in the BIII platform. Throughout these sessions, spontaneous discussions emerge on diverse topics related to bioimage analysis. Participants might share firsthand impressions of newly tested tools, exchange experiences regarding the practical application of specific analytical methods, debate best practices for curating resource pages, or propose improvements to the BIII platform itself. The shared passion for bioimage analysis among participants often transforms these discussions into intellectually stimulating exchanges characterized by enthusiasm, critical thinking, and valuable information sharing. This unique combination of collaborative documentation and organic knowledge exchange creates an experience unlike typical academic or technical gatherings.

The inclusive nature of Taggathons welcomes anyone with an interest in bioimage analysis to contribute, regardless of their experience level or professional background. Individuals wishing to participate need only indicate their interest during the registration process. This open invitation reflects the broader community-building philosophy of the BIII platform, which recognizes that improving bioimage analysis resources ultimately benefits the entire scientific community through better tools and more accessible information.

Bioimage Analysis Symposium 2025

Date: 29-31 October 2025, Kobe, Japan

Introduction to the Symposium

The symposium builds upon the highly successful format pioneered by NEUBIAS (Network of European Bio-image Analysts), creating a multifaceted intellectual environment that transcends traditional conference structures. While featuring conventional elements such as presentations by invited speakers and selected poster presenters, the symposium distinguishes itself through several innovative session formats designed to maximize interaction and problem-solving among participants.

Invited talks form the conceptual foundation of the symposium, focusing on two critical frontiers in the field: groundbreaking measurement methodologies that leverage image data in novel ways, and cutting-edge infrastructural developments that enhance bioimage analysis capabilities. These presentations provide essential context and inspiration for the more interactive components, OSSL, Panel discussions, and Call-4-Help. 

The Open Source Software Lounge (OSSL) represents a particularly distinctive and valuable feature of the symposium. Rather than limiting software demonstrations to formal presentations, this format creates an exhibition-style environment where developers showcase their analytical tools using their laptops at individually assigned booths or desks. This arrangement transforms the typical developer-user relationship from one-way communication into genuine dialogue. For developers, the OSSL offers an unparalleled opportunity to receive direct, unfiltered feedback from potential users, providing insights that might otherwise remain undiscovered through traditional user testing or online feedback mechanisms. Simultaneously, users gain extraordinary access to the creative minds behind the tools they employ daily, allowing them to ask specific questions about functionality, limitations, and potential applications. Many participants discover entirely new analytical solutions that would have remained hidden through conventional search methods, expanding their methodological toolkit in unexpected ways.

Panel discussions further enrich the intellectual landscape by bringing selected participants to the stage for moderated conversations on predetermined topics. These discussions deliberately extend beyond technical considerations to encompass philosophical perspectives on bioimage analysis, community development strategies, and career pathways within this interdisciplinary field. By addressing these broader dimensions, the panels contextualize technological advancements within their scientific, social, and professional ecosystems, fostering a more holistic understanding of the field's evolution and future directions.

Perhaps the most dynamic component of the symposium is the Call-4-Help session, which transforms individual analytical challenges into collective problem-solving opportunities. In this highly interactive format, selected participants present specific bioimage analysis problems they've encountered in their research, essentially opening their methodological difficulties to the collective wisdom of the entire assembly. The ensuing discussion mobilizes the diverse expertise present in the room, with participants offering potential solutions, alternative approaches, and relevant experiences from their own work. This collaborative troubleshooting not only addresses the immediate challenges presented but also reveals recurring patterns in analytical problems and innovative ways to approach them, benefiting everyone present.

Through this thoughtfully designed combination of formats, the symposium creates an exceptionally interactive environment where communication flows freely among diverse experts from different disciplines and career stages. The overarching goal transcends mere knowledge transfer; rather, the symposium aims to catalyze new collaborations, methodological innovations, and conceptual breakthroughs that advance the fundamental objective of measuring biological systems more effectively through image data. This emphasis on interaction and cross-pollination of ideas reflects a recognition that the most significant advances in bioimage analysis often emerge at the intersection of different perspectives and expertise domains, making the symposium a crucial incubator for future developments in the field.

Topics (TBC)

• Measuring Biological Systems

• Bioimage Analysis Tools

• Cloud-based BioImage Analysis

• Errors and Precision

• Infrastructure for BioImage Analysis

• Open Source Software Lounge (OSSL)

• Call-4-Help

Organisers: 

• Sebastian Tosi   (UPF, Barcelona, Spain)

• Kota Miura   (Bioimage Analysis & Research, Japan & Germany)

• Ana Stojiljkovic   (University of Bern, Switzerland)

• Rocco D'Antuono   (The Francis Crick Insitute, London, UK)

• Florian Levet   (University of Bordeaux, France, OSSL Organizer)

• Yuki Tsukada   (Keio University, Tokyo, Japan, Call-4-Help Organizer)

• Shuichi Onami   (RIKEN BDR, Kobe, Japan)

Confirmed speakers: 

• Kaoru Sugimura (Universtiy of Tokyo, Japan), "Image-based inference of epithelial mechanics" 

• Takaki Yamamoto (RIKEN BDR, Kobe, Japan), "TBC: Probing the rules of cell coordination in live tissues by interpretable machine learning based on graph neural networks"

• Dominik Kutra (EMBL Heidelberg, Germany), "TBC: iLastik and new integrations"

• Liying Qu (Harbin Institute of Technology, China), "Self-inspired learning for denoising live-cell super-resolution microscopy"

• Torec Luik (UMC, Amsterdam, The Netherland), "TBC: BIOOMERO"

• Elnaz Fazeli (University of Helsinki, Finland): "TBC: Training and Education Workgroup of GloBIAS"

• Wei-Chen Chu (Academia Sinica, Taiwan): "TBC: East Asia Bioimage Analysis Society (EABIAS)"

• Giulia Paci (waiting for confirmation: UK)

• More invited speakers to be listed. Hang on....