Untitled Document

BAY AREA BIOINFORMATICS DISCUSSION GROUP

www.bayareabioinformatics.org

Contact:
Steve Madden This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Daryl Thomas This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Vicky Markstein This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Mailing Address: 1089 West Parr Avenue, Campbell, CA 95008-6410, USA

Geographical area included: San Francisco Bay Area

Goal/Mission: Bay Area Bioinformatics is an organization open to all members of the San Francisco Bay Area who have an interest in the field of Bioinformatics. The purposes of the organization are to represent the local community of bioinformatics professionals; to provide a monthly forum for the presentation of current developments in bioinformatics and other topics of interest; to promote professional and career development in bioinformatics, by encouraging educational programs and the dissemination of job opportunities; and to foster communication among the diverse community of professionals who work in bioinformatics and related fields.

Structure: Monthly Meetings

Leadership: The Steering Committee is comprised of Steve Madden, Daryl Thomas and Vicky Markstein

History: Bay Area Bioinformatics Discussion Group was formed in December 1999. Some members of the U.C. Santa Cruz Extension Bioinformatics Advisory Board perceived the need for a regular forum to exchange ideas in bioinformatics. At the first meeting, a Steering Committee was recruited which oversees BAB.

Membership size and services:
~1000 on Announcements email list, monthly meeting attendance at Stanford University from 60-100. Sponsor This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Yahoo! group
Consultants Directory (Bay Area presence required)
Company Directory (Bay Area presence required)

Activities planned and/or past: Monthly speaker meeting (seehttp://www.bayareabioinformatics.org/meetings.html for upcoming meeting information as well as complete listing of past meetings including abstracts from nearly all meetings since December 2000. BAB also holds an annual special event

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BOSTON AREA MOLECULAR BIOLOGY COMPUTER TYPES (BAMBCT)



http://genetics.mgh.harvard.edu/bambct

Contact: Lance Davidow This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Geographical area included: Metropolitan Boston, MA USA
Goal/Mission: Bioinformatics and Computer usage in Molecular Biology

Leadership: (steering committee) Lance Davidow, Norbert Kremer, Matt Temple

History: Founded in approximately 1990 by Mike Cherry, Will Gilbert and Dave Merberg as a support group of academic and biotech molecular biologists using and administering the Genetics Computer Group program suite on DEC Vax computers. Expanded into all phases of bioinformatics including genomics and proteomics and the associated instrumentation and computer hardware.

Membership size: 104 members on email list

Activities planned and/or past: Monthly informal gatherings. Seminars, workshops and vendor demonstrations scheduled on an ad hoc basis. Serves as knowledge source and mutual support via email.

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CENTRAL VALLEY BIOINFORMATICS INTEREST GROUP (CVBIG)



www.cvbig.org

Contact: Eric Engelhard This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Mailing Address: CVBIG c/o Eric Engelhard, 704 Hudson Street, Davis, CA 95616

Geographical area included: Greater Sacramento Area, California

Goal/Mission: The Central Valley Bioinformatics Interest Group is a collection of
biologists and programmers using and developing bioinformatic tools to solve problems in fields ranging from gene discovery to directed evolution, diagnostics, and targeted therapy. Members come from both academic and industrial laboratories where they work on the bench or at the workstation. We present our work, ask questions, share tips and tricks, or just hang out at our monthly meetings. CVBIG also maintains a multiple mail lists. Membership is free and open to all.

Leadership: none

History: CVBIG evolved from a semi-regular meeting of four biologists actively using and/or creating bioformatics methods. The club was born out of a desire to attract more researchers from local industry and the UC Davis campus.

Membership size: >200 email list members, ~20 active meeting
Attendees. Sign up to the mailing list at http://www.cvbig.org/mailman/listinfo/cvbig

Activities planned and/or past: monthly meetings (see http://www.cvbig.org/meetings/ for upcoming and past meeting details)

Structure: Monthly Meetings

Mailing List: www.cvbig.org/mailman/listinfo/cvbig

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GREAT LAKES BIOINFORMATICS CONSORTIUM



www.greatlakesbioinformatics.org/

Contact: Christyne Bliton, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Goals: The Great Lakes Bioinformatics Consortium was created for the advancement and collaboration of experts in the field of advanced Bioinformatics, and to foster knowledge sharing with other Universities and private industry. GLBC serves bioinformatics groups in the Great Lakes regions of the U.S. and Canada.

Leadership:
President & Chairman: David States, M.D., Ph.D., UM Bioinformatics
Vice President: Brian Athey, Ph.D., MCBI
Secretary: TBD
Treasurer: Christyne Bliton, M.S., MCBI

Board members: Invitations/appointments in process

Method of election: Officers are elected by the Board of Directors. Board of Directors are nominated and elected by the membership. (Note the first set of officers and board of directors were selected by Dr. States & Athey, until elections can be held at the 3rd Annual Great Lakes Bioinformatics retreat, August of 2004.)

Method of renewal: Self-renewing board with annual elections

Geographical area included: Great Lakes regions of the U.S. and Canada

History: The GLBC was founded in 2003 through a collaboration of the University of Michigan’s Bioinformatics program, directed by Dr. David States, and the Michigan Center for Biological Information (MCBI), directed by Dr. Brian Athey. MCBI is a state-wide bioinformatics and bio-IT organization with members from University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Wayne State University, and the Van Andel Research Institute (www.ctaalliance.org ). The GLBC initial membership was drawn from academic and biotech attendees of the 2nd Annual Great Lakes Bioinformatics Retreat.

Membership size and benefits: Yearly retreats are attended by > 75 members. The retreats supply networking and internship opportunities. Small informal meetings are held by groups with common interests.
Membership dues: Retreat fees cover membership dues.

Previous Activities: 2nd Annual Great Lakes Bioinformatics Retreats, 2003

Planned Activities:
3rd Annual Great Lakes Bioinformatics Retreat, August 2004. The GLBC’s core activity is an annual retreat, which is meant to be an opportunity for graduate students and post-doctoral fellows to present their most current work in bioinformatics and computational biology, and to network with researchers from academia and industry from the Great Lakes region. It is also meant to be an opportunity for Great Lakes researchers to identify potential collaborative opportunities and to develop special interest groups. The first of these groups to develop is a cluster computing sig. National speakers are recruited from academia and biotech to give their views of the future in bioinformatics. In addition, organizational meetings for the GLBC are held at the retreat.

ISMB 2005, Detroit, Michigan. The UM Bioinformatics Program under Dr. David States is working with the GLBC and MCBI to host ISMB 2005. We are excited about the prospect of growing GLBC through this activity.

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MIDSOUTH COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY AND BIOINFORMATICS SOCIETY (MCBIOS)

www.MCBIOS.org

Contacts:
Dawn Wilkins This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Susan Bridges This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Geographic Area Included: MidSouth region of the US. This loosely includes the states of: Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee (western), and Texas (eastern)

Goals: The mission of MCBIOS is to foster networking and collaboration, and promote the professional development of the members. We have a strong orientation toward supporting our student members.

Leadership Structure
Dan Berleant, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , President-Elect (through 2011)
Ulisses Braga-Neto, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , Director (through 2009)
Susan Bridges, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , Director (through 2010)
Youping Deng, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , Director (through 2010)
James C. Fuscoe, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , Director (through 2009)
Raphael Isokpehi, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , Director (through2011)
Steve Jennings, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , Past-President (ex-officio)
Doris M. Kupfer, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , Director (through 2011)
William Slikker, Jr, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , Past-President (ex-officio)
Dawn Wilkins, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , President, (through 2010)
Stephen Winters-Hilt, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , Past-President (ex-officio)
Jonathan Wren, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , Past-President (through 2009)

History:
MCBIOS was formed in 2003 and is sponsored by the MidSouth Bioinformatics Center which is supported by the Arkansas BRIN/INBRE program from the National Institutes of Health, and by the CyberCollege at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

Activities planned and/or past:
Sixth Annual MCBIOS Conference in Starkville, MS on February 20-21, 2009

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OHIO BIOINFORMATICS CONSORTIUM



The Ohio Bioinformatics Consortium – OBC (formerly known as the Ohio Collaborative Conference on Bioinformatics – OCCBIO)

ohiobioinformaticsconsortium.org/ and www.occbio.org/2009/

Contacts:
Lonnie R. Welch, Stuckey Professor
Director of the Bioinformatics Laboratory
School of Elec. Eng. & Computer Science,
Biomedical Engineering Program,
Molecular and Cellular Biology Program
Ohio University
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
740-593-1575
www.ohio.edu/cidds/welch/

Geographic Area Included: Ohio

Goals and History: The Ohio Bioinformatics Consortium strives to enhance educational opportunities and research infrastructure throughout the state to make Ohio a world leader in bioinformatics and to facilitate new discoveries in data-intensive biomedical research.

We carry out this mission through several activities:

• Developing a statewide, comprehensive bioinformatics curriculum.
• Providing scholarships for undergraduate and graduate students who are studying bioinformatics.
• Performing outreach to encourage K-12 students to pursue careers in bioinformatics.
• Organizing the annual Ohio Collaborative Conference on Bioinformatics (OCCBIO).
• Developing bioinformatics infrastructure to facilitate new discoveries in biomedical research.
• Performing basic research that will lead to better bioinformatics algorithms and models.
• Discovering new knowledge by utilizing bioinformatics capabilities.
• Interacting with the bioinformatics-related industry to understand their needs.
• Facilitating industry internships and research experiences for students.

In August 2007 the OCCBIO conference leadership formally united to form a consortium to leverage the existing statewide research community to enhance Ohio’s national role in the area of bioinformatics. In May 2008 the consortium was awarded $9M from the University System of Ohio and 11 academic institutions. The funds will provide scholarships to 345 graduate and undergraduate students who will study bioinformatics in universities across the state of Ohio.

Leadership Structure and Officers:

The Consortium is led by the founders and Chairs of OCCBIO, Lonnie Welch of Ohio University and Terry Lewis of the Ohio Supercomputer Center. As Consortium Coordinators, Welch and Lewis provide oversight and facilitation for all Consortium activities.

As detailed below, the Coordinators are assisted by a Steering Committee composed of Consortium members who are responsible specific components of the Consortium:

• research and infrastructure:
  • Michael Raymer, Wright State University
  • Ashok Krishnamurthy, Ohio Supercomputer Center
• industry internships and research experiences:
  • Bill Tacon, BioOhio
  • Victor Chan, Air Force Research Laboratory
  • Kari Green-Church, Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center
• curriculum and education:
  • Zhong-Hui Duan, University of Akron
  • Steve Gordon, Ohio Supercomputer Center
  • Helen Piontkivska, Kent State University
• K-12 outreach and recruitment
  • Eric Stahlberg, Wittenberg University
  • Kelly Hall, of Clark State Community College
• scholarship program
  • Sarah Wyatt, Ohio University

The Consortium Steering Committee holds an annual meeting, and also conducts business via quarterly phone conferences that supplement e-mail and phone interactions. Each coordinator leads a subcommittee composed of faculty, staff and students involved with the Consortium.

Additionally, a Scholarship Committee facilitates and coordinates recruitment activities and to ensure successful and timely completion of the educational objectives. The committee includes one member from each of 11 academic institutions:

• Ohio University - Sarah Wyatt (Chair)
• Bowling Green State University - Neocles Leontis
• Case Western Reserve University - GQ Zhang
• Central State University - Anthony Arment
• Clark State Community College - Kelly Hall
• Miami University - Qingshun Quinn Li
• Ralph Regula School for Computational Science - Steve Gordon
• The Ohio State University - Erich Grotewold
• University of Akron - Zhong-Hui Duan
• University of Cincinnati - Bruce Aronow
• University of Toledo - Bob Blumenthal
• Wittenberg University - Eric Stahlberg
• Wright State University - Mike Raymer

The Consortium Advisory Board represents all regions of Ohio; has representatives from academia, government, and industry; and provides guidance to the Coordinators and Steering Committee about all aspects of the Consortium through annual meetings at the Ohio Collaborative Conference on Bioinformatics. The Advisory Board consists of the following:

• Xiu-Feng (Henry) Wan ( Senior Service Fellow at Georgia Institute of Technology and the Center for Disease Control; formerly with Miami University and Program Chair of OCCBIO’07)
• Gwenn Volkert (Associate Professor Computer Science, Kent State University)
• Chun Liang (Assistant Professor of Botany, Miami University)
• GQ Zhang (Associate Professor Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Case Western Reserve University)
• David Wight, (Director, Edison Biotechnology Institute)
• Anthony Dennis (President, BioOhio)
• Sarah Wyatt (Associate Professor, Environmental and Plant Biology, Ohio University and Faculty Advisor, OU Genomics Facility)
• Erich Grotewold, (Associate Professor Botany, The Ohio State University)
• Eric Stahlberg (Director of Computational Science, Wittenberg University)
• Kelly Hall (Director of Institutional Planning , Clark State Community College)
• Josh Ellis (Technical Sales Lead, EMC USA)
• Carla Purdy (Associate Professor ECE, University of Cincinnati )
• Gilbert Pacey ( Associate Dean for Research and Scholarship, Miami University)
• Jack Bantle ( Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies, Wright State University)
• Robert Blumenthal (Professor, Director, Program in Bioinformatics and Proteomics/Genomics, University of Toledo)
• Bruce Aronow (Professor, Co-director Center for Computational Medicine, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center)
• Anthony Johnson (Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Toledo)
• Victor Chan (Senior Research Biologist, Air Force Research Laboratory)

Activities planned and/or past:

Ohio researchers, educators and practitioners have collaboratively organized the annual Ohio Collaborative Conferences on Bioinformatics (OCCBIO) since its inaugural meeting in June 2006. The past and planned OCCBIO meetings are:

• OCCBIO 2006 – June 2006, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio (102 registered attendees) (www.occbio.org/2006/index.shtml)
• OCCBIO 2007 – July 2007, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio (164 registered attendees) (www.occbio.org/2007/index.shtml)
• OCCBIO 2008 – June 2008, University of Toledo and Medical University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio (198 registered attendees)
• (www.occbio.org/2008/index.shtml)
• OCCBIO 2009 – June 2009, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (http://www.occbio.org/2009/)
• OCCBIO 2010 – June 2010, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio
• OCCBIO 2011 – June 2011, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio
  
  

OKLAHOMA BIOINFORMATICS SOCIETY (OKBIOS)



www.okbios.org

Contact(s):
President: Jonathan Wren, Ph.D. - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Vice-President: Yuriy Gusev, Ph.D. - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Goal/Mission: Foster networking and collaboration for researchers and students interested in bioinformatics, whether from a theoretical standpoint (i.e. advancing bioinformatics methods/techniques/research) or an applied one (i.e. using existing methods/techniques). On a more day-to-day basis, we hope to develop a web portal that is of use to students/post-doctoral fellows seeking jobs and research opportunities as well as faculty members seeking funding, training materials, and potential sources of collaboration.

Geographical area: Oklahoma

Structure:
Officers:
President: Jonathan Wren, Ph.D. - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Vice-President: Yuriy Gusev, Ph.D. - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Candidates for officer positions are nominated by members, candidates need to have at least 2 nominations to be considered for office. Members then vote on all candidates for each officer position in an open forum by raising their hands, and officers are elected by popular vote.

History:
Founded April 28, 2004 by Jonathan Wren and Yuriy Gusev.
Informatics-based components to conducting biomedical research are becoming more prevalent world-wide and Oklahoma is no exception, having a world-class genome sequencing facility at OU, microarray facilities at OU, OSU, and TU, metabolomics facilities at SRNF, and proteomics facilities at OUHSC. There is a great deal of interest among Oklahoma researchers in developing and enhancing informatics methods to gather, analyze and model data being generated state-wide.

Membership:
As of June 17, 2008 we have 72 members.

Membership dues: None yet.

Activities planned and/or past:
We have occasional seminars at OUHSC on bioinformatics-related topics including Systems Biology. Annually, we either have planned our own conferences (OKBIOS 2004, OKBIOS 2005, MCBIOS 2008), or sponsored travel to MCBIOS.

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ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGIONAL CENTER FOR COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY

www.cudenver.edu/ccb

Contact: Harvey J. Greenberg This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Mailing Address: Harvey J. Greenberg, Director, Center for Computational Biology; Mathematics Dept -- Campus Box 170; University of Colorado at Denver; PO Box 173364; Denver, CO 80217-3364

Structure: Academic and Industrial Associates; free for students

Geographical area included: Rocky Mountain States (NM, CO, WY, MT, and more)

Previous activities: Multiday workshops, Lecture series, Problem solving clinics. See web site for more details.

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VANCOUVER BIOINFORMATICS USER GROUP

www.vanbug.org/

Contact: Stefanie Butland / Francis Ouellette / Ryan Brinkman / Stephen Montgomery

Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Mailing Address: VanBUG, c/o Francis Ouellette, 950 West 28th Ave, Vancouver,
British Columbia, Canada V5Z 4H4

Geographical area included: British Columbia Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island (by video conference of monthly meetings)

Goal/Mission: VanBUG (Vancouver Bioinformatics Users Group) is an association of researchers, other professionals and students in the B.C. Lower Mainland who have an interest in the field of bioinformatics.Through monthly presentations we present our work, ask questions,
share ideas, tips and tricks.

Leadership: Stefanie Butland / Francis Ouellette / Ryan Brinkman / Stephen
Montgomery

Year founded and brief history: VanBUG is an original idea from Ryan Brinkman and Stefanie Butland in 2001. This site is designed and maintained by Scott McMillan ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) based on original ideas from Ryan, Stefanie and Francis Ouellette, and the added support of Stephen Montgomery.

Membership size and services : Monthly meetings are attended by >150 bioinformatics-inclined individuals who listen to invited speakers and discuss topics of interest at post-talk mixers.

Acitivites planned and/or past:Monthly meetings are scheduled and displayed at www.vanbug.org/meetings/ and have attracted such luminaries as Lincoln Stein, John Quackenbush, Sean Eddy and Nat Goodman.

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MEXICO EMBNET (COLLADO)

embnet.cifn.unam.mx/

Contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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NEW ENGLAND BIOINFORMATICS GROUP (NEBiG)

informagen.com/NEBiG/

Contact: James Lyons-Weiler, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Mailing Address: University of Massachusetts Lowell, One University Avenue, Lowell, MA 01854, USA

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UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN, SOCIETY OF COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY

studentorgs.utexas.edu/compbio/new/home.html

Contact: Shailesh Date, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Mailing Address: Shailesh Date, 2500 Speedway, MBB 3.232, ICMB,
The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712

Structure: Student organization

Geographical area included: University of Texas

Previous activities: Seminar series, Poster sessions, Informal talk sessions

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