Daily Program

This 2-day short course is designed to give attendees a strong foundational understanding of the UCSC Genome Browser, including hands-on experience with its core functions and an introduction to its more advanced features.

While not intended to create expert-level users, attendees will leave equipped with the skills and confidence needed to navigate and more effectively use the Genome Browser in their work. Attendees should bring their laptops to fully participate.

This 2-day short course will guide participants in developing variant curation curricula and active learning activities to meet the needs of variant science students. Participants will be equipped to employ active learning and team-based approaches to increase students’ learning outcomes.

While the workshop will focus on in-person educational formats, there will also be discussion of how to adapt the same activities for synchronous and asynchronous online learners.

This 2-day short course is designed to give attendees a strong foundational understanding of the UCSC Genome Browser, including hands-on experience with its core functions and an introduction to its more advanced features.

While not intended to create expert-level users, attendees will leave equipped with the skills and confidence needed to navigate and more effectively use the Genome Browser in their work. Attendees should bring their laptops to fully participate.

This 2-day short course will lead participants through the development of variant curation curricula and active learning activities to meet the needs of variant science students. Participants will be equipped to employ active learning and team-based approaches to increase students’ learning outcomes.

While the workshop will focus on in-person educational formats, there will also be discussion of how to adapt the same activities for synchronous and asynchronous online learners.

This hands-on workshop introduces researchers to using Nextflow pipelines from the nf-core project (https://nf-co.re/) for reproducible and scalable omics analyses.

Through guided exercises and group activities, you will learn how to find, evaluate, and run community-curated nf-core workflows, interpret outputs and execution logs, and address common challenges encountered in real-world analyses.

You will leave with the skills and confidence to apply nf-core pipelines effectively to your own scientific questions.

Rare diseases affect ~350M people worldwide, yet traditional sequencing leaves over half of suspected cases unsolved.

This workshop—led by the organizers of the Undiagnosed Hackathon—introduces powerful multiomic approaches that combine long- and short-read sequencing, RNA, and methylation data with clinical insights to help decode complex cases.

The session begins with a short talk on how the annual hackathon unites expert teams and cutting‑edge tools to solve real rare disease puzzles. Participants then spend hands‑on time with AI‑enhanced tools working in small groups to analyze and solve real cases.

In today’s world, it is crucial to be able to effectively engage with a variety of audiences on important scientific issues. This workshop aims to equip you with the skills needed to communicate your science clearly and persuasively.

By participating, you’ll learn tactics for tailoring scientific messages to the knowledge level and interests of a non-scientific audience, acquire tools that successful scientific advocates use to establish credibility and foster long-term, collaborative relationships with policymakers, and engage in practical exercises to refine your communication skills, ensuring you can create effective dialogues.

Analytic decisions in human genetics—such as ancestry representation, covariate selection, and cross-population result aggregation—can shape biological discovery and health disparities but are often treated as purely technical.

This interactive workshop demonstrates how routine modeling choices affect inference in genome-wide and multi-omic studies of diverse populations through real-time exploration of simulated data. Emphasizing interpretation over software, it equips participants with a practical framework for parity-aware omics analysis and critical evaluation of analytic choices.

Structural variants are frequently causal at GWAS loci but are often missed in standard fine-mapping and colocalization analyses.

This interactive workshop will teach practical workflows for incorporating structural variants into fine-mapping and multi-omic colocalization using GWAS and QTL summary statistics.

Through guided hands-on exercises, live demonstrations, and small-group discussions, participants will learn how to evaluate candidate structural variants, interpret credible sets and posterior probabilities, and use population frequency data to prioritize variants.

This workshop provides a comprehensive, hands-on framework for how to responsibly work with AI results within genomic analysis and interpretation workflows. Designed for participants who analyze and/or interpret genomic data, the session covers both the technical foundations of variant analysis and the practical use of AI as a decision-support tool within accredited laboratory environments.

The workshop focuses on how AI supports variant prioritization by ranking variants based on phenotype–genotype correlations and predicted functional impact, aggregating and contextualizing evidence from diverse data sources (population databases, literature, functional data, and clinical annotations), and enabling systematic reanalysis as new evidence emerges. Throughout the process, the workshop emphasizes that expert human judgment remains essential for variant interpretation, classification, and clinical decision-making.

This 2-day short course is designed to give attendees a strong foundational understanding of the UCSC Genome Browser, including hands-on experience with its core functions and an introduction to its more advanced features.

While not intended to create expert-level users, attendees will leave equipped with the skills and confidence needed to navigate and more effectively use the Genome Browser in their work. Attendees should bring their laptops to fully participate.

This 2-day short course will lead participants through the development of variant curation curricula and active learning activities to meet the needs of variant science students.

Participants will be equipped to employ active learning and team-based approaches to increase students’ learning outcomes.

While the workshop will focus on in-person educational formats, there will also be discussion of how to adapt the same activities for synchronous and asynchronous online learners.

Step into the next stage of your leadership journey. This immersive workshop empowers attendees at every career level to lead with clarity, confidence, and purpose.

Whether you’re guiding a research team, shaping committee strategy, mentoring the next generation, or championing the impact of human genetics.

Through energizing peer exchange, focused self-reflection, and hands-on skill‑building, you’ll walk away with actionable tools and a supportive network that keeps you accountable long after the workshop ends.

Meet your people at the Trainee Reception! This is your chance to connect with other like-minded attendees and the Career Development Committee in a laid-back, social environment.

Mingle over appetizers, enjoy a complimentary drink, and jump into conversations that could spark your next collaboration — or your next friendship. It’s fun, it’s informal, and it’s exclusively for trainees and early career attendees ready to expand their network.

Adult DNA-based Population Genomic Screening: Moving from Pilots to Practice

DNA-based population health screening has the potential to significantly improve the early detection and prevention of cancers, heart disease, and other conditions associated with identifiable genomic risk. This session will bring together international expertise to discuss both the background of developing population-level screening and the implementation and outcomes in diverse healthcare settings.

Beyond GWAS: Translating Human Genetic into Therapeutic Targets and Clinical Development

The session will highlight how artificial intelligence and experimental systems can be combined to guide target prioritization and experimental design, with validation through RNAi and CRISPR-based perturbation screens, organoids, and model organisms. Examples from cancer genetics and rare disease will illustrate how genetics-informed strategies can accelerate clinical development and reduce late-stage failure.

Unique Considerations for Deceased Human Donor Tissue Biobanks to Support Innovative Genomic Studies

This session will present opportunities and challenges in identifying suitable donor cohorts, tissue recovery and preservation methodologies, metadata collection and utility of deceased donor tissues for the advancement of clinical genetics including the advancement of large-scale genomic research efforts. In addition, there are unique ethical, legal and social implications (ELSI) related to deceased donation for genomic research. The session will include a discussion of those challenges, including addressing health equity in human genomic studies.

The All of Us Research Program At 10 years: 500,000+ Genomes Advancing Precision Medicine

This session will explore the present and future of genomics in the All of Us Research Program at ten years from launch. A moderated panel will examine lessons learned for the development of future large resources, discuss how All of Us resources is/will enable rapid scientific breakthroughs and offer diverse perspectives on the benefits/challenges of centralized resource development for catalyzing discovery.

Genomics of Sex Differences Across the Life Course: Context, Timing, and Biological Transitions

This symposium highlights advances demonstrating the importance of modeling sex as a dynamic biological context. Integrating population-scale studies, biobank-linked analyses, and investigations of complex and sex-specific traits, the session emphasizes how sex-aware approaches improve discovery, interpretation, and translation in human genetics.

Human Mutational Processes Underlying Genomic Signatures, Cancer, and Evolution

This session highlights discoveries enabled by large-scale and single-cell sequencing, structured around two paired themes. One-half focuses on DNA damage that persists across replication. The second examines mutagenesis shared across cells and species. Together, the talks connect mechanisms to signatures and sharpen interpretation for disease studies, aging, and clinical inference.

Integrating AI and Knowledge Graphs for Human Genetics and Beyond: Innovations from the NIH Common Fund Data Ecosystem

This session introduces open-access resources for human genetics developed within the NIH Common Fund Data Ecosystem (CFDE), an initiative that promotes reuse and integration of data and resources generated by NIH Common Fund programs, and, will show how CFDE resources support integrative and reproducible analyses, and how artificial intelligence (AI) and knowledge graphs can be leveraged more broadly for discovery within human genetics and biomedicine.

Autism Genetics: Integrating Biological Insights with Societal Impacts

This symposium brings together leading voices in autism genetics, genetic testing, and community engagement. Speakers will highlight recent research findings, ongoing challenges, and future directions in genetic autism research with a focus on diverse community perspectives.

Industry Education

Shared Interest Group (SIG) Meetups: SIG meetups offer a unique opportunity to connect with like-minded peers on a specific topic of interest, fostering collaboration and conversation.

Industry Education

Ethical and Cultural Implications: Navigating the Future of Genomics Research Luncheon *

Want to know what your future might look like? Come to the ASHG 2026 Speed Mentoring session, where trainees and early-career attendees rotate through a series of 15-minute conversations with established leaders who’ve walked a variety of career paths.

Through candid exchanges, you’ll have the rare chance to ask questions, gain clarity, and gather advice you won’t find anywhere else. Leave with new ideas, renewed motivation, and a clearer vision for your next steps.

Communicating Science in an Uncertain World: Evidence, Storytelling, and Public Trust

A thought-provoking session curated by the ASHG President. This year’s topic explores the growing gap between rapid scientific advancement and public trust and will offer practical strategies for communicating science with clarity and impact.

Moderated by ASHG President, Susan A. Slaugenhaupt, Ph.D., Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School

Speakers
Alex Dainis, Ph.D., Helicase Media
Neal Baer, MD, MA, MEd, Harvard Medical School
Natalie (Talia) Stroud, Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin

Industry Education

Engagement and Belonging Community Conversations

Join colleagues from around the globe for an interactive session centered on authentic community dialogue. This is your chance to slow down, share your perspective, and hear from others in a supportive, inclusive environment. Whether you’re looking to exchange ideas, gain new insights, or simply connect with peers, these conversations are designed to be thoughtful, energizing, and welcoming to all.

Shared Interest Group (SIG) Meetups: SIG meetups offer a unique opportunity to connect with like-minded peers on a specific topic of interest, fostering collaboration and conversation.

• Bioinformatics and Computational Methods SIG

Join NHGRI’s extramural leadership for a timely update on NHGRI and NIH strategic priorities and activities shaping the Forefront of Genomics. This session will also offer practical guidance on key topics such as extramural policies, data sharing, and funding opportunities, with a focus on topics most relevant to the research community. Bring your questions for an interactive Q&A at the end.

Speakers/Panelists:

• Carolyn Hutter, Ph.D., Acting Director
• Larry Brody, Ph.D., Director, Division of Genomics and Society
• Teri Manolio, M.D., Ph.D., Director, Division of Genomic Medicine
• Erin Ramos, Ph.D., M.P.H., Director, Division of Genome Sciences

Industry Education

Explore the conversations that can shape your future. This dynamic networking event invites you to rotate through small-group discussions on topics ranging from career transitions and leadership development to networking strategies and the evolving landscape of genetics and genomics.

Along the way, you’ll meet mentors, connect with peers, and discover collaborators who share your interests. Open to professionals at every stage, this is a powerful opportunity to grow your community and expand your career possibilities.

Industry Education

Translational Models for Substance Use Disorders

This symposium will illustrate how experimental approaches and analysis methods that integrate human studies with model organisms can lead to new insights into the neurogenetic architecture that underlies variation in substance use disorders (SUD) and addiction with potential for the development of new therapies.

Emergence Of Complex Traits at the Intersection of Genomics, Exposomic, and Time

Recent advances in genetic epidemiology, molecular biology, and population genetics are enabling us to describe more precisely how genetics, environment, and time jointly shape complex traits and diseases. This symposium will illustrate how these advances can be translated into methodological and applied public health research using both experimental and population-level data.

Pharmacogenomics: Moving Beyond Gene-Drug Pairs

Pharmacogenomics is entering a new era, one that extends far beyond the traditional focus on the simple interaction between a single gene and drug pairs. This session will showcase trainees at the forefront of this transformation, presenting innovative approaches that push pharmacogenomics into new territory. Presentations will include models that incorporate omics profiling of cellular models under drug perturbation, understudied populations, functional genomics that specifically assay drug response and environmental/social interactions to variability in drug response and adverse event outcomes.

AI Across the Diagnostic Odyssey: From Variant Interpretation to Computable Phenotypes

The rapid expansion of genomic datasets has outpaced traditional bioinformatics, creating a bottleneck in translating sequencing into scientific and clinical insight. Artificial intelligence (AI), including Large Language Models (LLMs), offers a solution by converging two frontiers: AI-assisted variant interpretation and AI-enabled phenotyping. This session highlights how AI can interpret genetic variants, extract clinical features from medical records, and integrate multiple data types (DNA, RNA, phenotype) to uncover disease insights that traditional bioinformatics struggles to deliver at scale.

Host-Pathogen Coevolution: Shaping Genetic Diversity and Disease Resistance

This symposium will explore the dynamic interplay of host-pathogen coevolution, revealing how past selective pressures create contemporary health disparities. A fuller understanding demands closer integration between evolutionary genetics and clinical medicine, advancing precision approaches to infectious disease prevention and treatment.

The IGVF Consortium: Deciphering the Impact of Genomic Variation on Genome Function

This session will introduce the NHGRI Impact of Genomic Variation on Function (IGVF) Consortium and summarize resources developed to date and available at catalog.igvf.org. Session talks will describe advances in understanding coding variants, noncoding variants, and molecular networks, and in applying these insights to understand and diagnose disease.

Epi-Mutations: The Underrepresented Paradigm in Genetics

This session uniquely bridges computational structural biology, clinical genomics, and precision medicine to address diagnostic gaps affecting thousands of patients annually.

Recent Advances and Opportunities Across the African Disease Genomics Landscape

This symposium will highlight recent advances in African genomics as seen through the lens of common and rare disease studies from South Africa, DR Congo, Ghana, Uganda, Mali, and Nigeria that showcase unique genetic variation, and will be complemented by a discussion of the collaboration and governance needed to ensure an equitable future for human genetics.

Industry Education

Shared Interest Group (SIG) Meetups: SIG meetups offer a unique opportunity to connect with like-minded peers on a specific topic of interest, fostering collaboration and conversation.

• Emerging Laboratory Technologies SIG

See how the next generation of advocates is shaping the policy landscape. During this session, ACGT Program participants will present their capstone advocacy projects, each designed to advance the responsible integration of human genetics and genomics into public policy.

Following the presentations, join colleagues and peers for a networking session connecting anyone interested in ASHG advocacy, including current trainees, ACGT alumni, and incoming participants. It’s an ideal space to learn about ASHG advocacy priorities, exchange insights, explore collaboration opportunities, and see how you can get involved.

Industry Education

2026 Behind the Scenes: ASHG Publications Workshop

Join us for an interactive workshop designed to demystify the scientific publishing process and equip you with practical insights for getting your work into print. This session features small group discussions led by experienced journal editors who will share candid, behind-the-scenes perspectives on how editorial decisions are made, what makes a manuscript stand out, and common pitfalls to avoid.

You’ll have ample opportunity to ask questions and engage directly with editors from leading genetics journals, including AJHG and HGG Advances in an informal, conversational setting. This workshop is ideal for trainees and early-career faculty who are new to scientific publishing and looking to build confidence, skills, and connections within the editorial community.

This policy forum will bring together experts across disciplines to examine the policy, economic, and ethical opportunities for accelerating safe and affordable gene therapies.

Discussion will focus on scaling individualized therapies, evaluating global regulatory approaches to gene editing and gene therapy, and exploring the FDA’s “plausible mechanism” pathway for expedited review.

Want to know what your future might look like? Come to the ASHG 2026 Speed Mentoring session, where trainees and early-career attendees rotate through a series of 15-minute conversations with established leaders who’ve walked a variety of career paths.

Through candid exchanges, you’ll have the rare chance to ask questions, gain clarity, and gather advice you won’t find anywhere else. Leave with new ideas, renewed motivation, and a clearer vision for your next steps.

Human genetics is everywhere, from ancestry kits to medical news. While geneticists value public engagement, building outreach from scratch is a massive time commitment most do not have. This workshop lowers that barrier. Instead of reinventing the wheel, we provide the “how-to” and hands-on experience needed to engage all ages effectively.

Bypass the trial-and-error of public engagement and gain ready-to-use skills. Join us to transition from “wanting to do outreach” to having skills you can implement in your community immediately.

At this workshop we will introduce participants to the HPRC Release 3 and offer instruction for the following:

(1) Pangenome 101: What it is and where to download the data;

(2) Functional Applications: e.g. Kinnex and Fiber-seq datasets for functional inference;

(3) Population Genetics Applications: e.g. Sampling and Local Ancestry Inference;

(4) Tools for variant calling: Hands-on instruction for mapping reads to pangenome/VCF and how to report SV typing; and

(5) Interactive discussions on Ethics and Future Data Governance: How to implement the FAIR and CARE principals.

Join us for an interactive workshop focused on evaluating disease-causing DNA variants for their eligibility for antisense oligonucleotide and gene editing therapies. Gain hands-on experience with the N1C guidelines, the first international consensus framework on assessing therapeutic eligibility of pathogenic variants.

Through live variant assessments, participants will learn how to apply these guidelines in both clinical and research settings, equipping them with the knowledge and tools to implement in their own amenability screening programs.

Globalizing Human Genetics: From Discovery through Implementation

As the field of human genetics advances toward precision medicine, the imperative to globalize research efforts has never been more urgent. This session will explore strategies for incorporating ancestral and global variation across all stages of genetics–from genetic discovery and functional interrogation to clinical translation and implications.

Experts will share strategies for building globally representative datasets, integrating disparate genomes, and translating findings into meaningful health outcomes.

Moderators

Oyesola Ojewunmi, Ph.D., Queen Mary University of London
Michèle Ramsay, Ph.D., University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg

Speakers

Eimear Kenny, Ph.D., Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Gonçalo Abecasis, Ph.D., Regeneron Genetics Center (RGC)
Pradeep Natarajan, MD, MMSc, Massachusetts General Hospital / Harvard Medical School
Genevieve Wojcik, Ph.D., Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health