Maite Alvarez, head technician of the Bank of DNA in the Unit of the General Research Services (SGIker), participated in the XVII Conference on Research on October19th 2016, organized by the Campus of Araba UPV/EHU and the Integrated Health Organization (OSI) Araba-BioAraba.

The main objective of this conference was to facilitate the exchange of knowledge and experience to generate new research projects and innovation and will be released the work being done in research and innovation in health to the general population in Álava.

This year it was the first time the UPV/EHU has participated in this conference in an actively and important way. They operated as a mini-conference with a part (morning) dedicated to professionals and elsewhere (later) dedicated to citizens.

The morning part was the formation of 8 discussion forums as a 'workshops' that led to 17 working groups, and with the participation of over 100 professionals dedicated or interested in research related to the health sector, the UPV/EHU, Lascaray Research Center, the Institute of Health Research and OSI BioAraba University Araba Hospital. In the forums it was focused the main themes of research and innovation developed by both entities to exchange experiences. They came together in future collaborations between researchers from the UPV/EHU and clinical OSI Araba-BioAraba, expected to concrete in research and innovation projects, defined and tangible.

The DNA bank participated in the table 'New Technologies' in order to give visibility to both the unit and the SGIker in general and strengthen possible non routine services with OSI Araba-BioAraba. In addition, it provided an opportunity to know which research projects are developed and can be developed to provide a more suitable support to the different research groups of the UPV/EHU, since there was a final session in which future collaborations and research projects that emerged in each of the tables were presented.