The South African Society for Bioinformatics (SASBi) and the South African Genetics Society (SAGS) held their first joint hybrid conference at the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS) from 24 to 27 April 2022. The theme of the BIO2022 conference was Bioscience, Big Data and The Fourth Industrial Revolution. The University of Pretoria was well-represented, with ten staff members and six postgraduate students from the Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology (BGM) in attendance. As executive council members of SAGS, Prof Sanushka Naidoo (president), Prof Irene Barnes (vice-president) and Prof Steven Hussey (secretary) played prominent roles leading up to and during the meeting. The conference provided an excellent opportunity for researchers to present their work to their peers. The quality and impact of the research being conducted at UP was evident during presentations by, amongst others, Prof Fourie Joubert, Prof Oleg Reva, Dr Nanette Christie, Leandri Klynsmith, Hannes Strydom and Graeme Ford. UP staff members and students were also honoured with a number of medals and awards at the gala dinner on 27 April. Prof Joubert was awarded with the first SASBi gold medal, Prof Steven Hussey won the SAGS silver medal, Graeme Ford won the prize for the best MSc presentation and Mary Ranketse was awarded with the prize for the best poster. The Fourth Industrial Revolution creates exciting opportunities in the field of Biosciences, and UP is well equipped to spearhead research during this important era.