General Information on the Scientific Program of ISMB/ECCB 2007

Background

The Fifteenth International Conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB 2007) will be held jointly with the Sixth European Conference on Computational Biology (ECCB 2007) in Vienna, Austria on July 21-25, 2007.

The ISMB conferences began in 1993 and have been the driving force for the founding of the International Society for Computational Biology in 1997, which has been organizing this conference ever since. ISCB is the only society representing computational biology on a worldwide scale and its flagship conference ISMB has become the largest conference on computational biology worldwide. The ECCB Conference has been organized annually by a panel of European Computational Biologists since 2002 and is the only pan-European conference series in this field. At Glasgow in 2004, ISMB and ECCB joined forces in a common meeting that was by many standards perceived as the most successful such meeting in computational biology.

For ISMB/ECCB 2007 we will encourage increased participation of experimental biology, as well as from industry. This guiding goal will impact the organization of the meeting in many ways including a Special Session Track for related disciplines, an Industry Track, and Highlights Track for work published in journals frequented by experimental biologists. In addition an increase in the number of keynote presentations will provide insights into open areas of research from experimental perspectives.

The paper review process for submitted manuscripts will put increased weight on work that opens new directions and is likely to impact molecular and medical biology, in general. Some new focus will be on work representing the special sessions on cheminformatics, statistics, and the RNA world.

We expect over 2000 attendees in Vienna in July 2007. The conference program will include around 70-100 contributed papers that will be selected by an international program committee during a rigorous review process rivaling the editorial procedure for top-rate scientific journals with an acceptance rate of 10-15%. Selected papers will be collected in a volume published through a mechanism that will imply indexing in MEDLINE. The mechanism of the past was the publication through the OUP Journal Bioinformatics. All published papers will be available to the participants at the meeting.

Additionally, there will be tracks for the presentation of high impact papers – some of which may have been published in highly ranked journals will be presented. Several hundred posters will be displayed and presented during the conference.

Novelties at ISMB/ECCB 2007:

  • Superlatives:
    We expect the numbers of participants, submitted manuscripts, displayed posters, software Demonstrations, Tutorials, and Special Interest Group meetings (SIGs) to significantly exceed those of previous years’ conferences.

  • Parallel tracks:
    ISMB introduced parallel tracks in 2002. Despite some concerns over the multi-track approach, it has become obvious that a meeting cannot grow and include new and relevant areas of research without adopting a multi-track solution. ISMB’06 had seven parallel tracks. The meeting center in Vienna offers the opportunity for ISMB/ECCB 2007 to have more parallel tracks than any previous ISMB meeting. Timing of the multi-track sessions will be tightly managed to ensure that participants are able to attend as many presentations as possible, and all tracks will run for the duration of the meeting. Keynote addresses will be given as plenary lectures; all other events will be presented in parallel.

  • Widening the perspective:
    Two cultures with very different publishing philosophies intersect in computational biology meetings such as ISMB: In the computational sciences there is a long tradition of publishing the most important results in the proceedings of meetings. In contrast, in the life sciences publications are targeted to the journals with the highest possible impact read by peers.

    At ISMB/ECCB we will provide a means of joining these two cultures: there will be two tracks (parallel sessions) that follow the traditional system of submitting original manuscripts that are then reviewed and published in a prominent journal. However, there will also be 2-3 full tracks for the presentation of selected high impact research that may be pre- or post-publication (Highlights Track).

    Additionally, we will reach out to other communities such as experimental biologists, colleagues in industry, and other disciplines by two new mechanisms: Special Session Track, and an Industry track.

  • Special Sessions Tracks:
    ISMB/ECCB 2007 will feature a new track of half-day special sessions that will run throughout the conference. These sessions have the purpose of introducing the ISMB community to relevant issues and topics that are typically are not within the focus of an ISMB meeting. Areas will be peripheral to, but impacting, bioinformatics; emerging areas or areas that the ISMB community is facing but is not currently approaching with the desired proficiency.

    Special sessions will take the format of half-day (two-and-a-half to three hour) sessions, including a 30-minute break at their midpoint. The final number of such sessions will depend on the quality of the proposals (Proposals have to be submitted by Oct 29). Sessions on cheminformatics, statistics, and RNA have already been solicited. Any field of particular interest to the ISMB community is eligible for a special session. Preference will be given to emerging fields and to neighboring fields about which the ISMB community needs to acquire higher proficiency (Special Session Call for Proposal)

  • Industry Track:
    ISMB/ECCB 2007 will pioneer an entire track dedicated to related industry. This track will present material that is tailored to the interest of participants from industry. We currently anticipate that most presentations will consist of regular scientific talks selected with the particular targeted audience in mind. However, we also imagine that we may provide opportunities such as an “industry-restricted” access to some individuals or talks, and may possibly organize podium discussions or similar panels.

  • Highlights Track:
    Manuscripts submitted to the ISMB/ECCB proceedings will have to be original research work that has not been published elsewhere and if accepted will not be publishable elsewhere.
    A call will invite the submission of full papers that have been published between 2006 and the submission deadline (or are in press). A group of experts will select the papers to be presented at the meeting considering the impact of the work on the field, the likelihood that the work makes a good presentation, and the relevance for molecular and medical biology, in general.

  • PLoS Track at ISMB/ECCB 2007:
    The Public Library of Science, through the official journal of ISCB, PLoS Computational Biology, is pleased to offer the PLoS Track at ISMB/ECCB 2007. The PLoS Track will consist of oral presentations of work of exceptional scientific merit, which focuses on the application of computational methods to solving problems of biological significance. A one page abstract of the work to be presented (including figures and references) will be reviewed by session chairs drawn from the PLoS Computational Biology Editorial Board (http://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/edboard.php) and the ISCB Board (http://www.iscb.org/cms_addon/conferences/board.shtml).

    Chairs will seek work which is scientifically novel and appeals to a broad audience of computational biologists and biologists. Approximately 40 abstracts will be accepted and made available on the PLoS Computational Biology and ISMB/ECCB 2007 web sites as personal communications. As such this does not preclude publishing the work elsewhere. One author of each successful abstract must be available to orally present the work at ISMB/ECCB 2007.

  • ISCB Student Council Symposium (SCS3)
    The 3rd ISCB Student Council Symposium is a student-organized event featuring keynote lectures, oral presentations and a poster session. In addition to previous years, a career event will be organized with a variety of distinguished speakers from industry and academia. The Symposium is tailored mainly to undergraduate and graduate students as well as post-docs in computational biology and related disciplines. This is once again a unique opportunity to meet fellow students and researchers for networking and exchange of ideas in a great setting.
  • Posters permanent:
    Several hundred posters are presented at each ISMB Meeting. In Vienna, all posters will be on exhibition during the whole conference and not only on the days of their session. This eases the viewing of posters substantially.

  • Family-friendliness:
    Numerous activities will be offered for accompanying family members. Tours to some of Vienna’s favorite sites will be offered during the conference, and extended tours on dates surrounding the conference will also be provided. For those attendees traveling with children we hope to offer childcare options which would enable parents to attend the meeting while children are safely entertained.

ISMB History

Year

Location

Participants

Submitted /Accepted Papers

Submitted /Accepted Posters

Tutorials

Special Interest Groups

Software Demos

Exhibitors

1999

Heidelberg,
Germany

655

91/34

170/139

10

2

31

13

2000

San Diego, USA

1272

141/42

280/275

14

1

10

20

2001

Copenhagen, Denmark

1251

180 /38

355/345

14

6

29

23

2002

Edmonton, Canada

1624

207/42

494/494

15

6

20

36

2003

Brisbane, Australia

927

342/48

414/435

16

5

13

27

2004

Glasgow, UK

2136

496/67

1006/952

14

8

47

42

2005

Detroit, USA

1731

426/56

631/622

14

8

76

42

2006

Fortaleza, Brazil

880

407/67

586/556

12

4

39

20