With its great biodiversity and potential, marine life has been comprehensively explored in the past decade. Especially in the recent years, marine genomic researches have been accelerated with proceedings in genome studies of economically and evolutionarily important marine species, and meta-genomic studies of the ocean environments. Despite these proceedings, plans of large-scale marine genomic researches should be discussed and developed with coordination of global sampling efforts. Also, technical innovations are required for further genomic studies with the complexities of marine genomes. Thus comprehensive discussions on marine genomic researches to summarize current proceedings and problems, and also to develop future plans for collaborative large-scale genomic research projects, are necessary.

Following the success of the International Conference on Genomics (ICG), and to further accelerate marine genomic researches, BGI initiated the first Ocean symposium of ICG (ICG-Ocean), which focuses on marine omics researches and applications. We invite leading scientist to present their research proceedings, experiences and ideas on marine genomics. It would not only provide a unique platform for understanding the current situation of marine genomics and exchanging resources for future researches.