Bosc

The 27th Bioinformatics Open Source Conference, BOSC 2026, took place July 14-15 as part of Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB) 2026, in Washington, DC, USA (with a virtual participation option). About 2100 people attended ISMB 2026 (1800 in person), with 10 or more parallel sessions to choose from every day. We estimate that over 200 people participated in BOSC.

The BOSC program

BOSC 2026 had a packed program that included two keynote talks, two panels, 33 talks chosen from submitted abstracts, 44 posters, and two dinners. The complete program can be found on our schedule page.

The Open Bioinformatics Foundation (OBF) Event Fellowship program aims to promote diverse participation at events promoting open-source bioinformatics software development and open science practices in the biological research community. Lee Jia Wei, a PhD candidate at the National University of Singapore, was awarded an OBF Event Fellowship to attend the Bioinformatics Open Source Conference.

Thanks to the generous support of the Open Bioinformatics Foundation (OBF), I had the privilege of attending and presenting a poster at this year’s Bioinformatics Open Source Conference (BOSC 2026), part of the Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB) conference. It was truly an eye-opening experience for me, particularly because it was my first international bioinformatics conference, and my first foray into the open bioinformatics community.

The Open Bioinformatics Foundation (OBF) Event Fellowship program aims to promote diverse participation at events promoting open-source bioinformatics software development and open science practices in the biological research community. Aditya Karna, an undergraduate student at Springfield College, was awarded an OBF Event Fellowship to attend the Bioinformatics Open Source Conference (BOSC) 2026.

Attending BOSC/ISMB 2026 in Washington, D.C with support from the Open Bioinformatics Foundation Event fellowship was a very rewarding milestone for me. This was my first time being in a space where open-source software, biology, data infrastructure, and the research community all came together in one place. I had followed some of these ideas from the outside before, but being there in person made the work feel much more real.

BOSC has organized CoFests every year before or after ISMB since 2010. This year, CoFest will take place after ISMB 2026 on Friday, July 17 and Saturday, July 18 (9am-5pm each day). The location is in central Washington, D.C. (not far from the ISMB location); the exact address will be shared with those who register. There will be limited opportunities for virtual participation; videoconferencing is not guaranteed but participants will be able to interact on Slack.

At BOSC 2026, we want to talk about the elephant in the open-source room: Is generative AI an advantage or a hindrance to open source?

We invite abstracts on this topic. Some might be selected to give talks at BOSC (which will be part of ISMB 2026). We may also invite some of the chosen speakers to participate in a panel. The submission deadline is April 9.

BOSC is part of the big ISMB 2026 conference, so you need to register for ISMB to participate in BOSC.

We recognize that the high price of travel and registration can be a barrier. Below are some ways to apply for financial assistance to attend ISMB / BOSC.

We thank our community for the excellent keynote speaker suggestions for BOSC 2026. The next phase of our selection process invites you to share any concerns about the suitability of the nominated individuals. Our invited speaker selection process and criteria outline the factors we consider when selecting speakers for BOSC 2026, including characteristics that will exclude a speaker.

Please use this anonymous form to submit any concerns, including as much detail as you are comfortable providing, by Friday, January 9th, 2026.

BOSC 2026 is planned for July 14-15, 2026, as part of ISMB 2026 in Washington, DC.

We invite our community to nominate potential keynote speakers who would be of interest to our community. You may submit as many nominations as you wish. The form may be filled out multiple times. Please submit nominations by December 15, 2025.

Why this matters

Keynote talks are always a highlight at BOSC. We traditionally open and close the conference with invited speakers—prominent contributors or emerging leaders whose work resonates with the bioinformatics open-source community.

Whether you attended BOSC 2025 or missed it, you can read about it (with lots of photos!) in our report published in F1000Research.

We are also pleased to announce that videos of the BOSC 2025 talks are now available on our schedule page, as well as on our YouTube channel. Enjoy!

We recognize that the high price of travel and registration can make it hard for some people to attend BOSC/ISMB. Below are some ways to apply for financial assistance to present your work at BOSC 2025.