From 31 August to 4 September 2026, SYNTHIA will be presenting at the European Conference on Computational Biology (ECCB 2026) in Geneva, Switzerland, where leading researchers from across Europe will come together to discuss the latest advances in computational biology, artificial intelligence, genomics, systems biology, and digital health.

SYNTHIA partner Styliani-Christina (Stella) Fragkouli from The Centre for Research & Technology Hellas (CERTH) will present a poster on the publication "An ELIXIR scoping review on domain-specific evaluation metrics for synthetic data in life sciences", published in NAR Genomics & Bioinformatics.

 

The publication addresses one of the most important questions surrounding synthetic data: how can we determine whether synthetic data is reliable? As synthetic data becomes increasingly important for enabling AI-driven biomedical research while protecting privacy, robust evaluation methods are essential to ensure scientific validity, patient safety, and trust.

By reviewing more than 8,000 publications across six life science domains, the research maps the current landscape of synthetic data evaluation and identifies 156 evaluation metrics, revealing that most approaches remain highly domain-specific and that common evaluation standards are still lacking. These findings provide an important foundation for developing shared evaluation frameworks that will support the responsible adoption of synthetic data across healthcare and life sciences.

About ECCB 2026

The European Conference on Computational Biology (ECCB 2026) brings together leading researchers, clinicians, and innovators to explore the latest developments in computational biology, bioinformatics, artificial intelligence, and health. Under this year's theme, "Biodiversity, AI & Health: computational biology to address the challenges of our time," the conference will highlight how computational approaches are helping tackle some of today's most pressing scientific and healthcare challenges.

Hosted in Geneva for the first time, ECCB 2026 offers five days of keynote lectures, scientific presentations, poster sessions, tutorials, workshops, and networking opportunities, creating a unique forum for exchanging ideas and fostering collaboration across academia, healthcare, and industry.