Giuliano Preparata (Rome 1942 - Frascati 2000) was a brilliant theoretical physicist who graduated in Rome. He worked in several highest-rank universities including Princeton, Harvard, New York University and others. He has devoted much of his scientific activities to high-energy physics bringing relevant contributions to the construction of the Standard Model, the new synthesis of sub-nuclear interactions.

Giuliano Preparata had also a strong interest in topics related to Biology, and gave important and enlightening contributions to the field of Bioinformatics. The Italian Society of Bioinformatics starts each year its Annual Conference with the Preparata Lecture, delivered by a distinguished keynote speaker. Over the years, the Society, thanks to the contribution of the Preparata Foundation, also delivered Travel Grants to young researchers for the participation to BITS Annual Conferences.

The first annual Preparata Lecture was in 2004, and every year the BITS select a Preparata Lecture choosing a keynote among the invited speakers of the BITS annual meeting.

In the following the Preparata Lecture organized during the BITS Annual Meeting:

Graziano Pesole - University of Bari - BITS2026 Padova

Sylvia Richardson - MRC Biostatistics Unit, University of Cambridge & Norwegian Centre for Knowledge-driven Mach - BITS2025 Napoli

Nicola Segata - University of Trento and European Institute of Oncology, Milan - BITS2024 Trento

Silvio Tosatto - University of Padova - BITS2023 Bari

Giorgio Valle  - University of Padua - BITS2022 Verona

Pedro Beltrao - EMBL-EBI, Cambridge UK - BITS2021 Virtual conference

Stefano Gustincich - SISSA and IIT - BITS2018 Torino

Andrew C.R. Martin - University of Oxford - BITS2017 Cagliari

Janusz Bujnicki - IIMCB in Warsaw - BITS2016 Salerno

Charles Cantor - Boston University, Boston USA - BITS2015 Milano

Ewan Birney, Joint Associate Director and Senior Scientist at EBI, BITS2014 Roma

Mauno Vihinen, Lund University Cancer Centre, BITS2013 Udine

Eugene Myers - BITS2012, Catania

Arthur Lesk - Penn State University, PA, USA, BITS2011 - Pisa

Cecilia Saccone - Univerisita' di Bari, BITS2010 - Bari

Alex Bateman, Sanger Center, Hinxton, UK - BITS2009 - Genova

Eske Willerslev, Centre for Ancient Genetics, Biological Institute e Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen - ECCB08/BITS2008 Cagliari

Roderic Guigo, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcellona - BITS2007, Napoli

Alfonso Valencia, Spanish National Cancer Research Center, Madrid, Spain - BITS2006, Bologna

David Lipman, NCBI (National Center for Biotechnology Information), Bethesda, USA - BITS2005, Milano

Franco Preparata - Brown University, USA - BITS2004 - Padova