An international genetics conference returned to Bermuda today for the fourth time.

The Bermuda Principles Impact Conference will kick off at the Fairmont Southampton with genetics experts from around the world to tackle the subject of transcriptomics — how the body regulates the interpretation of genetic code.

Bermuda College science majors have joined PhD students from the University of Oxford, Queen Mary University of London, Weill Cornell Medical College in New York and Emory University in Atlanta for a school tour this week.

Middle and high school pupils will be able to participate in DNA workshops on how sickle-cell anaemia is diagnosed.

Carika Weldon, the founder and executive director of the Bermuda Principles Foundation, said the charity wanted to promote science education in Bermuda.

Dr Weldon added: “Having started with a vision of an international science conference in early 2016, it is overwhelming to now see it grow to a well-known conference in the science calendar.

“I am proud to use my network to bring science tourism to the island during our slow period of February. This year, we have our highest number of delegates flying in, from all over the world.”

The conference will also include the fourth annual youth parliament science ethics debate tomorrow, which will tackle the controversial topic of mandatory genetic testing.

The conference will organise a public session with special presentations from international scientists as well as Sierra Pacheco, an International Baccalaureate Year 2 Bermuda High School student, who will copresent with Dr Weldon on Friday.

The duo will discuss the findings of Sierra’s genetics study on sleep patterns.

The conference will also feature special guest Amoy Antunet, a nine-year-old neuroscientist who gives online lectures from her Atlanta, Georgia bedroom to millions of viewers.

The conference will culminate on Saturday with the second annual awards gala, which will honour Joan Steitz, a professor of molecular biophysics and biochemistry at the Yale School of Medicine.

The conference takes its name from a landmark agreement signed in Bermuda in 1996 on the release of the results of the human genome project.

• For more details, visit bermudaprinciples.org