Practical information
Credits / ECTS / examination
Together with the precourse study material we recommend 5 ECTS for attendance at MESB24, which will be rewarded after passing the exam at the end of the course. The student will receive a certificate confirming their participation.
Course prerequisites
There are no formal prerequisites to attend the course. However, the course schedule is intense and will address a variety of topics in just a few days. It is therefore
The precourse study material will include introductory material to the use of R and MATLAB (plus installation instructions and licenses), for those who have not used those softwares before. You should of course have interest in computational approaches, as this will be a major focus of the course.
Computer access
The students should bring their own laptop computer. This can be Windows/Mac/Unix. If required, a temporary license for MATLAB will be distributed. All software should be installed prior to the course, instructions will be given in the precourse study material.
WiFi access will be via the Eduroam network. If a student does not have Eduroam access via their home university, temporary login credentials will be provided.
Student presentation
Introduction
On the first day, each student will briefly (2 mins) present themselves and their research and/or research interest. For this, each student should prepare a 1-slide PowerPoint. Further instructions will be given in the precourse study material.
Poster session
On the third day, each student will present a poster of their research. Many students will be in the beginning of their PhD studies and will not have many results to show yet. Instead, one can instead choose to present research plans. Moreover, it is acceptable to reuse a recent relevant poster from another conference or meeting. During registration, an abstract for this poster needs to be submitted, these will be distributed to all course participants.
The poster should not be larger than A0 portrait format (width x height: 841 x 1188 mm). Posters will be hanged on the morning of the third day, before the first lecture, and will be removed after the last lecture of the third day.
Location
MESB24 is hosted by the Systems and Synthetic Biology group of the Department of Biology and Biological Engineering at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden.
All lectures, computer exercises, coffee breaks and poster session will be held at the Chemistry building on the Chalmers campus in Johanneberg. The exact rooms will be indicated in the schedule. You can enter the building at Kemigården 4, 412 58 Gothenburg, the nearest tram/bus stops are Kapellplatsen, Chalmers and Chalmers tvärgata (bus only).
Travel and arrival information
Gothenburg is serviced by Göteborg Landvetter Airport (GOT), located 20 km from the city center.
Arriving via Landvetter Airport
Taxis are located in front of the airport, with fixed prices for rides into different parts of the city. A taxi ride to Chalmers should cost approximately 550 SEK, and the taxi rank is located in front of the terminal building, across the road.
A more economical option is the airport bus (managed by Flygbussarna) that stops just outside the airport and takes you to Gothenburg in about 20 minutes for 129/239 SEK for a single/return ticket (return is valid for 3 months, and tickets are cheaper to buy online).
To make your way to Chalmers, get off the airport bus at Korsvägen, and take tram 6 (Länsmansgården) or 8 (Frölunda torg) for a direct connection to Chalmers.
Note: You cannot pay with cash on the airport bus.
Arriving via Central Station
Gothenburg Central train station is located approximately 4 km away from Chalmers. Upon exiting the central station, keep walking straight to locate the tram and bus stop. Take tram 7 (Tynnered / Opaltorget) or bus 16 (Högsbohöjd / Fyrktorget) for a direct connection to Chalmers.
The taxi service is located just outside the exit on the left hand side.
Getting around Gothenburg
The public transport in Gothenburg is run by Västtrafik, please refer to them for times and schedules.
Note: You cannot pay with cash on public transport!
The most convenient ways to pay for your travel is to tap with a credit card, or to use the Västtrafik To Go app (iOS/Android). In the app, you do not need to make an account, but your phone should be connected to the internet as long as your ticket is valid, so with non-Swedish phones this only works if you accept dataroaming. A Zone A ticket costs 36 SEK and is valid for 90 min on all Västtrafik busses and trams inside Gothenburg.
Alternatively, you can get a contactless pay-as-you-go Västtrafikkort travel card. This card can be bought and recharged in many shops (Pressbyrån, 7-Eleven, etc.). The fee structure is the same as for the app: 36 SEK for 90 min inside Gothenburg.
To make our way to the course dinner on 14 June, we will take a ferry ride, which is included in the Västtrafik-system.
Hotels
Participants are responsible to book their own accommodation. We do not provide any pre-booked rooms, but below are a number of suggested hotels. This is by no means an exhaustive list of options, you can also find many other alternative accommodations. Regardless, do not wait with making reservations, as hotels are filling up quickly.
Below 500 SEK/night
Slottsskogens Hostel and Hotel - from 289 SEK/night
Linnéplatsens Hotel and Hostel - from 335 SEK/night
Up to 1000 SEK/night
Quality Hotel Panorama - from 956 SEK/night
Over 1000 SEK/night
Comfort Hotel - from 1074 SEK/night
Scandic Rubinen - from 1074 SEK/night
Elite Park Avenue Hotel - from 1149 SEK/night
Hotel Riverton - from 1228 SEK/night
Visit Gothenburg and Sweden
Weather
Mid June in Gothenburg means sunrise at 04:10 and sunset at 22:16, the daily average high and low temperatures are between 10 and 18 °C, so make sure you bring appropriate clothing. To make our way to the course dinner, we will take a ferry ride, while the BBQ will be served outside on a pier, so you are recommended to bring some warm clothing for the evening.
Currency
Swedish uses the Swedish krona, indicated with SEK or kr, and 11 SEK is currently worth roughly 1€. The use of debit and credit cards (Visa/MasterCard) is very common and widely accepted, so as visitor you are recommended not to exchange large amounts of cash.