GLBIO 2013 - Program Schedule Now Available

Dear ISCB Members, Colleagues, and Past GLBIO Attendees:

The Great Lakes Bioinformatics Conference is ISCB's annual event focused on providing an interdisciplinary forum for the discussion of research findings and methods within the North American Great Lakes region. The conference fosters long-term relationships, provides networking opportunities for researchers from within the region, and creates a collaborative environment for participants from around the world. The 2013 program has been retooled with new elements that will increase the opportunities to present research at many different stages of development. GLBIO will kick off with tutorials and will include a full program of keynotes, selected original research presentations, highlights of published works, flash presentations and posters. Your participation is encouraged!

The Program Schedule for the GLBIO 2013 Conference is now posted: www.iscb.org/glbio2013-program/glbio2013-full-agenda. Note that early registration pricing is available through April 24, 2013 at: www.iscb.org/glbio2013-register/

The hotel reservation deadline is April 23, 2013. To obtain the conference rate of $141/night plus tax, reservations can be made following the links on the "Accommodations" page: www.iscb.org/glbio2013-general-info/glbio2013-accommodations.

"Birds of a Feather": GLBIO 2013 will offer a number of 'spontaneous' open meetings for participants to meet and talk about topics of mutual interest. The "Birds-of-a-Feather" (BoF) meetings offer an opportunity for colleague interaction in a relaxed atmosphere. Participants are encouraged to submit a topic for discussion to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and to recruit as many (or as few) interested participants as desired by the topic leader. Additional details will be provided prior to the Conference.

A Group Hike is planned for Monday, May 13th from 5:00pm - 7:00pm through beautiful Schenley Park www.pittsburghparks.org/schenley. Hikers will meet at the Registration Desk at the GLBIO Conference and additional details will be provided.

GLBIO topic areas include: Algorithm Development & Machine Learning; Databases and Ontologies; Text Mining & Natural Language Processing; Bioimage Analysis; Biological Networks; Chemical Biology; Clinical Informatics & Epidemiology; Disease Models & Molecular Medicine; Evolutionary, Comparative, and Meta-Genomics, Gene Regulation & Transcriptomics; Mass Spectrometry & Proteomics; Personalized Genetics and Genomics: Exome, Genome, Transcriptome; RNA & Protein: Structure, Modification, Localizations, Interaction, Function

This year's keynote presenters exemplify the diversity of the field within this region: Ivet Bahar of University of Pittsburgh; Ziv Bar-Joseph of Carnegie Mellon University (and recipient of the 2012 ISCB Overton Prize); Jing Li of Case Western Reserve University; and Isidore Rigoutsos of Thomas Jefferson University.

Tutorial topics and presenters will include: Spatial Rule-based Modeling of Cellular Biochemistry with MCell/BioNetGen/CellBlender presented by James Faeder (University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine; Exploring and Enabling Biomedical Data Analysis with Galaxy presented by Anton Nekrutenko (Penn State University) and Machine Learning in Biology presented by Seyoung Kim and Eric Xing (Carnegie Mellon University).

We look forward to your participation! Please help spread the word by sharing this information with your colleagues and collaborators.

Sincerely,

Bruce Aronow, Elodie Ghedin, and Russell Schwartz

GLBIO 2013 Conference Chairs

Last Call for ISCB Board of Directors Nominations

The Nomination Period for Board of Directors is coming to a close!

The International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB) is encouraging members to submit nominations for the Society's Board of Directors.  Nominations are submitted at www.iscb.org/nominate (you must login to your membership record to access the nomination form). In all cases, self-nominations will not be accepted.

If you know of excellent candidates that meet the eligibility requirements below, please be sure to submit your nomination(s). Details of the positions, procedures and timeline are available on the ISCB website at: www.iscb.org/leadership-nominations-and-elections.

Nominations for Board of Directors will be accepted through April 12, 2013.

Nominations for Society Officers and Student Council Leaders will be accepted through June 9, 2013.

In order to be eligible to be a Director candidate, a person must be an ISCB member in good standing, and must pledge to make every reasonable effort to attend the bi-monthly Board of Director teleconference meetings, and, at their own expense, the face-to-face Annual Board Meeting held in conjunction with the ISMB conference.

We are looking forward to an active participation by the ISCB membership in the nominations and election process, and we thank you in advance for your qualified nominations.

Respectfully,

Scott Markel and Anna Tramontano
Co-Chairs, ISCB Nominations Committee

Register Now for ISMB/ECCB 2013!

Dear Colleague,

Registration is now open for ISMB/ECCB 2013 - the world's largest bioinformatics and computational biology conference attracting nearly 1500 attendees from around the world!  

Don't miss a chance to connect, network and learn!

Register NOW!

Early Registration discount available through June 7.

The ISMB/ECCB 2013 Conference will be held July 21-23 at the ICC Berlin, Germany.

We look forward to seeing you this summer.

Sincerely,

Burkhard Rost, Anna Tramontano, Martin Vingron, Conference Co-chairs, ISMB/ECCB 2013

Upcoming Key Dates for ISCB Affiliated Conferences

Dear ISCB Members and Colleagues,

Don't miss your chance to network, connect and collaborate with your colleagues at these ISCB affiliated conferences!  Registration discounts are available for ISCB members.
 
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RECOMB 2013, Apr 7-10, 2013, Beijing, China

17th annual international conference on Research in Computational Molecular Biology. The conference aims at bridging the computational, mathematical, statistical ad biological sciences.

• Online registration open through: April 1, 2013
• ISCB members receive a 10% registration discount

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Bio-IT World Conference & Expo 2013, Apr 9-11, 2013, Boston, USA

11th annual Cambridge HealthTech Institute conference includes 12 parallel tracks.  The Expo plans to unite 2,500+ life sciences, pharmaceutical, clinical, healthcare, and IT professionals from 30+ countries. The Expo provides the perfect venue to share information and discuss enabling technologies that are driving biomedical research and the drug development process.

• ISCB members receive a 10% registration discount

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Bio-IT World Asia 2013, May 28-30, 2013, Singapore

The conference will showcase the innovative and disruptive technologies in the field of big data processing and analytics, genomics, molecular diagnostics and translational informatics that have a direct or indirect impact on improving the efficiency of clinical research, healthcare delivery and drug discovery.

• Early registration through: April 19, 2013
• ISCB members receive a 10% registration discount

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Cambridge HealthTech Institute (CHI) Structure-Based Drug Design Conference, June 19-21, 2013, Boston, MA

The 13th annual conference, with Bio-IT World, focusing on developments in insilico technology, as well as experimental approaches useful for accurately predicting and modeling the structures of proteins in structure-based drug design efforts.

• Early registration through: March 29, 2013
• ISCB members receive a 10% registration discount

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InCoB2013 12th International Conference on Bioinformatics, September 20-22, 2013, Taicang, China

This 12th annual InCoB Conference has an overall objective to provide a platform for experts and budding bioinformaticians to discuss and exchange ideas and thoughts on the development of bioinformatics in the Asia Pacific region.

• Paper Submission deadline: March 31, 2013
• Poster and Demo Abstract submission deadline: May 11, 2013
• Early Registration discount deadline: July 15, 2013
• ISCB members receive a 10% registration discount

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ISCB Asia TBC 2013, October 3-5, 2013, Seoul, Korea

Translational Bioinformatics Conference 2013,  brings together computer scientists, biologists, scientists, engineers, physicists, statisticians, and physicians to create a unique intellectual environment.

• Paper and Oral Presentations deadline: June 17, 2013
• Poster submission deadline: August 12, 2013
• Early Registration discount deadline: August 9, 2013
• ISCB members receive a %20 registration discount

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IEEE BioVis 2013, October 13-14, 2013, Atlanta, GA

Come to the 3rd Annual conference on Biological Data Visualization

• Paper and Oral Presentations deadline: April 30, 2013
• Poster submission deadline: August 2, 2013
• ISCB members receive a registration discount

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Pacific Symposium on Biocomputing, Jan 3-7, 2014, The Big Island of Hawaii

This 19th annual conference is a great way to start the new year among colleagues and friends.

• Call for papers deadline: July 31, 2013
• Registration available: August 1, 2014
• ISCB members receive a US$50 registration discount

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We look forward to seeing you at some of these conferences and events, enjoying a member benefit discount!

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Early Registration for The Next NGS Challenge Ends Friday, March 22!

Get Your Discount and Register Now!

The Next NGS Challenge will bring together computational biologists and bioinformaticians to discuss new challenges on high-throughput sequencing and new trends in NGS-based genome research.

The conference will be held in Valencia, Spain, on May 14-16, 2013.  

There will be keynote lectures, oral presentations and poster sessions, and will be preceded by an EMBnet Workshop on data analysis.

We are proud to announce the participation of the following keynote speakers:

• Ivo Gut, National Centre for Genome Analysis (CNAG), Barcelona, Spain

• Janet Kelso, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipig, Germany.

• Leif Andersson, Uppsala University, Sweden.

The Next NGS Challenge is a joint event of the EU COST Action SeqAhead, the EMBnet, the International Society of Computational Biology (ISCB) and the 7FP Project STATegra.

You can find further information at the Conference site: www.thenextngschallenge.org/.

Register now to receive a discount and secure your participation in this exciting discussion.  We look forward to seeing you in Spain!

Ana Conesa, CIPF (Spain)

Chair,  The Next NGS Conference 2013

ISMB/ECCB 2013 - Last Call for Posters!

Dear Colleague,

ISMB/ECCB 2013 will bring together scientists from a wide range of disciplines, including molecular biology, biology, medicine, computer science, mathematics and statistics. We are soliciting high-quality research posters in any aspect of computational biology.

The poster submission deadline is this Friday, March 22!

< learn about poster submission here >

Don't miss this chance to share your research in Berlin!

Posters submitted may cover any area of computational biology. We also encourage submission of purely experimental work and experimental posters should be submitted to the category most accurately reflecting the area of this work and will be displayed accordingly. Posters must include original work that is unpublished or published after August 1, 2012.

Submitted posters will be reviewed by the poster selection committee and notification of acceptance will be provided to the corresponding author no later than Monday, April 12, 2013.

We look forward to seeing you in Berlin.

Sincerely,

Burkhard Rost, Anna Tramontano, Martin Vingron, Conference Co-chairs, ISMB/ECCB 2013

The Next NGS Challenge 2013 - Register Now for Early Discount!

The Next NGS Challenge Conference, a joint event of the EU COST Action SeqAhead, the EMBnet, the International Society of Computational Biology (ISCB) and the 7FP Project STATegra, is dedicated to the presentation of innovative computational approaches to the analysis of high-throughput sequencing data.  The goal of this Conference is to bring together computational biologist and bioinformaticians facing new challenges on high-throughput sequencing and to feature new trends in NGS-based genome research.

The conference will be held in Valencia, Spain, on May 14-16, 2013.

Early registration discount available through March 22!

Register Now!

The Conference will consist of keynote lectures, oral presentations and lively poster sessions, and will be preceded by an EMBnet Workshop on data analysis.

We are proud to announce the participation of the following keynote speakers:

• Ivo Gut, National Centre for Genome Analysis (CNAG), Barcelona, Spain

• Janet Kelso, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipig, Germany.

• Leif Andersson, Uppsala University, Sweden.

You can find further information at the Conference site: www.thenextngschallenge.org/.

 We look forward to seeing you in Spain!

Ana Conesa, CIPF (Spain)

Chair,  The Next NGS Conference 2013

ISMB/ECCB 2013 Student Council Symposium - Junior PI (new!) and Upcoming Submission Deadlines

Dear Colleague,

The ISMB/ECCB 2013 Conference is just a few months away and the opportunities to participate beyond attending, are closing soon.  The Student Council Symposium and a "New for 2013" opportunity - the Junior PI Satellite Meeting, are highlighted below.  Also, don't miss the upcoming deadlines for submitting abstracts of your research as appropriate.

ISCB Student Council Symposium - July 19, 2013

The Student Council Symposium is a forum for students, post docs, and young researchers in the fields of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics. Participants have the opportunity to present their work to an international audience, build a network within the computational biology community and develop important soft skills in an environment that fosters exchange of ideas and knowledge.

We encourage you to submit an abstract and to bring a poster for showcasing your work at the Symposium's poster session. As a central part of the Symposium, ten abstracts from among those submitted will be selected for an oral presentation. We accept abstracts covering both scientific studies as well as novel tools and applications in the field of computational biology and bioinformatics.

Submit your abstract today! Submission deadline is April 16.

Travel fellowships will be available for accepted abstracts, and awards will be given to best posters and presentations.

Junior PI meeting: a satellite of ISMB-ECCB 2013 - July 20, 2013

Transitioning from Post-doc to (junior) PI is a major step in the scientific career ladder bringing new challenges to the scientist. Key among these challenges is moving from a single project-based responsibility to being responsible for the projects of students, technicians, and postdocs. On top of this, the researcher is expected to be a successful grant writer, a human resources manager, an engaging speaker, etc.

In this meeting we aim to bring together scientists who have recently started or wish to start their own research group. This meeting will serve as a platform for building a community of junior PIs within the broader field of Computational Biology.

To participate you have to submit a short summary of your scientific research interests and future plans which will be distributed before the event to all participants to facilitate the interactions. They will also be peer-reviewed as part of the participant selection process. One of the most important goals of this meeting is to stimulate peer-to-peer interactions, which requires time and effort. We will thus require all participants to commit to the entire program duration.

The total number of delegates will be capped at 50, so don't wait to submit your abstract!    Submission deadline: April 19

Additional upcoming submission opportunities/deadlines for ISMB/ECCB 2013 include:

• Late Breaking Research: March 15

• Posters (including a new "Education" area): March 22

• Technology Track:  April 26

• Art and Science Exhibition: May 13

The ISMB/ECCB 2013 Conference will be held July 21-23 at the ICC Berlin, Germany.

ISMB/ECCB 2013 Registration opens April 1, 2013.

We look forward to seeing you in Berlin.
 
Sincerely,

Burkhard Rost, Anna Tramontano, Martin Vingron, Conference Co-chairs, ISMB/ECCB 2013

ISCB Announces Award Winners

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

David Eisenberg and Goncalo Abecasis Named 2013 ISCB Award Winners

The International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB) is pleased to announce the winners of the 2013 Senior Scientist Accomplishment Award and Overton Prize Award. This year's winner of the Senior Scientist Accomplishment Award is David S. Eisenberg of the University of California, Los Angeles. The Overton Prize Award winner is Goncalo Abecasis of the University of Michigan School of Public Health.

The ISCB Senior Scientist Accomplishment Award recognizes preeminent members of the computational biology community who have made major contributions to the field of computational biology through research, education, and service. David Eisenberg exemplifies these qualifications. Eisenberg is professor of chemistry and biochemistry and biological chemistry at UCLA, as well as HHMI Investigator and director of the UCLA-DOE Institute for Genomics and Proteomics. He studies protein interactions by X-ray crystallography, bioinformatics, and biochemistry, with an emphasis on amyloid-forming proteins. This recently recognized protein state offers opportunities to understand cells in health and disease, and in synthesizing new materials and in understanding processes as diverse as biofilms and corrosion.

Eisenberg has published over 300 papers, he has been cited nearly 50,000 times, and holds half a dozen patents. His numerous awards and accolades include the Harvey Prize in Human Health in 2008, the UCLA Seaborg Medal in 2004, the Stein and Moore Award of the Protein Society in 2000, and membership in the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the Institute of Medicine.

ISCB established the Overton Prize in memory of G. Christian Overton, a major contributor to the field of bioinformatics and founding member of the ISCB Board of Directors, who died unexpectedly in 2000. The Overton Prize is awarded annually to an emerging scientist, in the early to middle stage of their career, who is recognized for outstanding accomplishment and significant contribution to the field of computational biology through research, education, and/or service. ISCB is pleased to honor Goncalo Abecasis, Felix E. Moore Collegiate Professor of Biostatistics at the University of Michigan, with this award.

Abecasis has been instrumental in the development of computational and statistical approaches for the analysis of human variation and disease. His work focuses on the use of linkage disequilibrium derived from high-throughput data in order to map complex disease susceptibility genes. Methods developed by Abecasis enabled construction of the first chromosome-wide linkage disequilibrium map in humans, provided graphical tools for exploring haplotypes of interest, and provided software for variant calling which was used in the 1000 Genomes Project. Work in his lab is facilitating the identification of genes involved in diabetes, glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, and other age-related traits.

Abecasis has demonstrated an immense talent for identifying important challenges in modern, high-throughput biology, and has developed excellent computational and statistical methods to address these. He has produced many notable papers, with more than 150 well-quoted articles. Among his many awards and honors, Abecasis is the recipient of the University of Michigan School of Public Health Research Excellence Award in 2008 and was named a Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences in 2005. He was presented with the Fulker Award in 2000 from the Behavior Genetics Association.

In naming Abecasis as the 2013 Overton Prize Award winner, ISCB recognizes not only the outstanding contributions of Abecasis, but also the importance of the field of statistical genetics and its important relationship to computational biology and bioinformatics.

ISCB will present the Senior Scientist Award and Overton Prize Award at its 21st Annual Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology Conference, which takes place with the 12th European Conference on Computational Biology (ISMB/ECCB 2013) in Berlin, Germany, July 19-23, 2013.  Eisenberg and Abecasis will present their work in keynote talks at ISMB/ECCB 2013.

Full bibliographical articles highlighting the award recipients will be available in the ISMB/ECCB 2013 focus issue of the ISCB newsletter later this year.

About ISCB

ISCB, the International Society for Computational Biology, is a global community of 3000+ scientists dedicated to advancing the scientific understanding of living systems through computation. ISCB convenes the world's experts and future leaders in top conferences and publications that promote discovery and expand access to computational biology and bioinformatics. We deliver valuable information about training, education, employment, and relevant news. ISCB provides an influential voice on government and scientific policies that are important to our members and benefit the public.

www.iscb.org

 

ISCB Africa ASBCB 2013 (Morocco) - Last Chance for Online Registration!

The ISCB Africa ASBCB Conference on Bioinformatics is coming to Morocco, and on-line registration closes  

Wednesday, March 6th.  

Don't miss this exciting conference. Register NOW!

The conference will take place March 13-15, 2013 at the Novotel City Center Hotel in Casablanca, Morocco.  Pre-conference workshops will be offered March 11-12 at the Institut Pasteur in Morocco.

ISCB Africa ASBCB 2013 Conference on Bioinformatics will feature a broad Bioinformatics scope that includes a special focus on infectious diseases relevant to Africa.

Keynote Speakers are

• Erik Bongcam-Rudloff
  Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
  Next Generation Biotechnologies and society: New Insights
• Doumbia Seydou, University of Bamako, Mali.
  Bioinformatics for Public Health in Africa: Challenges and Opportunities
• Jean-Michel Claverie
  University of Mediterranée School of Medicine
  Open questions About Giant Viruses
• Muntaser Ibrahim
  University of Khartoum
  Genome Analysis Under Thrust of Diversity
• Dr. Alfonso Valencia
  Universidad Complutense de Madrid
  Cancer Genome Analysis

To view the entire program, visit www.iscb.org/iscbafrica2013-program/agenda

We look forward to seeing you in Casablanca!

Sincerely,

Alia Benkahla,  Conference Chair

Fouzia Radouani,  Conference Co-chair