BioMed Central and Genome Biology’s conference ‘Beyond the Genome: The true gene count, human evolution and disease genomics’ takes place at Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA on 11-13 October 2010. This international conference will see leading researchers and industry representatives review recent progress in key areas of post-genomic research in biology and medicine and chart future developments, including the Human Microbiome Project and the resequencing of matched tumour and normal genomes from specific types of cancers. All participants are invited to submit abstracts for oral and poster presentations by 6 August 2010. Visit www.beyondthegenome2010.com for further information.