Conference Venue

The conference was held at the “Centro de Extensión of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile”, which is located near Santiago’s downtown, at the main campus of this University. [Check the exact location in the map here].

How do I reach the conference venue from my hotel?

By public transport:

The best way to get to the “Centro de Extensión UC” is by subway. You must take Line 1 (red) in the right direction and get off at “Universidad Católica” station. At this station, take the south exit and walk one block to the west (you will have to cross one traffic light at Portugal street and you will pass in front of the main entrance of the Catholic University). You can also reach the conference venue by bus by taking the right route number (210, 226, 401, 403, 404, 406, 407, 412, 413, 418, 419, 421, 422, 423, 426, 427 or 431). To use the public transport you must get Bip! the contactless smart card that allows you to access the entire system and to reduce or free transfer fare. Be aware that buses do not accept cash, only Bip card. You can buy and charge the card in Subway stations or Bip Centers located throughout the city. The price of the card is CL$1300 (US$ 2.8). The fare in the subway depends on the time of the day while in the buses the fare is flat.

Bip card (Spanish)

Fares (English/Spanish)

TranSantiago trip planner (Spanish)

By cab:

Another alternative is by cab. You should tell the cab driver that you are going to “Alameda con Portugal” at the “Universidad Católica”. From “El Golf” area, the cab should cost about 8-10 US dollars. The required time in this case will vary depending if it is rush hour (40 min) or not (15-20 min).


How long does it take to get to the conference venue from my hotel ?

From “El Golf” area, where most of the recommended hotels are located, it takes about 12-15 minutes by subway to get to “Universidad Católica” station. You should take the subway either at “El Golf” or “Tobalaba” stations and follow the Line 1 (red) in the “San Pablo” direction. It is recommended that you use “El Golf” station if the time is between 8:00 and 8:30 am, since it will be less crowded (Tobalaba station connects two subway lines). You should add 5-10 minutes walk time to get to the subway station.

Welcome to ISCB Latin America 2012 Conference on Bioinformatics

The second International Society for Computational Biology Latin American regional meeting (ISCB-Latin America) took place in March 17^th-21^st 2012 in Santiago, Chile. More than 250 people attended, primarily from countries in Latin America. As a scientific conference with an international audience, all oral and poster presentations, as well as all printed materials, were in English.

The major aim of ISCB-Latin America 2012 was to deeply motivate and inspire young Latin American students and post-docs to conduct the best research possible in the areas of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology.

The first two days of the meeting (March 17-18) were dedicated to hands-on practical tutorials and workshops covering different topics of interest.

The main conference took place March 19^th-21^st and featured the following six topic sessions:

Session I.   Comparative Genomics and Evolution
Session II.  Genomics, Proteomics, Metagenomics and Metabolomics
Session III. Macromolecule Structure/Function Prediction
Session IV. Computer Aided Drug Design and Docking Simulations
Session V.  Biomedicine and Immunoinformatics
Session VI. Functional Genomics and Systems Biology

Each session had two keynote speakers and six oral presentations. There were also two poster sessions.

Travel Information

CLICK HERE TO GO WWW.CHILE.TRAVEL: SANTIAGO

All international flights to Santiago will arrive to "Arturo Merino Benitez" airport (airport code is SCL). All major airlines have direct flights to Santiago from major cities in Latin America (Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, Río de Janeiro, Montevideo, Lima, Bogotá, Quito, Caracas and Mexico City). From Europe, there are direct flights to Santiago from London, Paris, Madrid and Frankfurt. From the US, there are direct flights to Santiago from New York, Dallas, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Miami.

The airport is connected to the city by a highway. It takes about 35 minutes by car to get to the suggested hotel area in “El Golf” neighborhood (if it is rush time, in a week day, it can take between 45 min to 1 hour maximum).

The best way to reach the city from the airport is by cab. It is recommended to hire only the official cabs (the fare is about US$ 35) right after the custom control (just before exiting the controlled airport area).

Alternatively, there is a bus that will drop you at the central bus station near downtown, right next to the subway station "Pajaritos" in the Line 1 (red). From there, you should take the direction “Los Domínicos” to reach the suggested hotel area and to get off at "El Golf" station (about 25-30 min ride). The bus fare is about US$ 4. The subway fare for a single ride is between US$ 1 and US$ 1.5, depending on the time of the day.

Airport to Subway station

The subway in Santiago is closed between 11:30 pm and 6:30 am. Therefore, if you arrive in that period, the only option is to take a cab.

Currency

The currency in Chile is the Chilean peso (CL). US$ 1 is about CL$ 480. EU$ 1 is about CL$ 640. These conversion rates may fluctuate in the range of 5-10%. All major credit cards are generally accepted (Visa and Mastercard are the most popular). Most of ATMs in Chile are compatible with Maestro and Cirrus (check the logo in the back of your debit or credit card). It may be more convenient to get money in an ATM machine than in currency exchange booths at the airport. There are many ATM machines inside the airport and a couple of machines just after exiting the controlled airport area (you must walk a few meters to the right, after exiting the customs).

VERY IMPORTANT NOTICE: Chile is a country free of many agriculture pathogens. Therefore, there is a very strict control by the customs (ie. all your belongings will pass through x-ray check points). If you bring any food, wood or beverages that were acquired outside Chile you must declare them in the custom form. If not, you can risk expensive fines and a lot of time wasted at the customs before being able to leave the airport.

S.O.S.

If it happens that you run into serious trouble upon arrival (loss of documents, money, etc), call to the cell phone of the Chair of Conference (Francisco Melo) from a public phone at: 9732 1374 (at any time). In that situation you may need to beg for a coin to someone at the airport to make the call ... (or contact representatives from your airline). However, Chilean people are very charming thus that should not be a problem at all ...

Key Dates

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Thank you for registering for the ISCB LA2012 Conference. You will receive an e-mail detailing your information and transaction process. If you have any questions, please contact the ISCB LA2012 Conference Chair, Francisco Melo, at Info-ISCBLatinAmerica [at] iscb [dot] org.

Material for Promotion of ISCB-Latin America 2012

PROMOTIONAL POSTER

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Conference and Tutorial Registration Information

JOIN OR RENEW NOW AND SAVE!

PLEASE NOTE: If you are not yet an ISCB member you will save money by first becoming an ISCB member and then proceeding with the conference registration, rather than registering to the conference as a non-ISCB member. The combined cost of membership plus conference registration is at least 50% less than the difference between the member and non-member registrations fees. To know what an ISCB membership would cost you, please use this Membership Dues Calculator.

JOIN OR RENEW WITH ISCB HERE

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CONFERENCE REGISTRATION FEES (ALL PRICES ARE IN US DOLLARS):

* All attendees paying the Non-Member of ISCB registration fees will be offered a complimentary one-year ISCB membership as part of their higher conference registration payment. But please notice per the note at the top of this page that paying ISCB membership dues and then the conference registration saves money over simply paying the non-member fees.

TUTORIAL REGISTRATION FEES (SEE TUTORIAL TITLES HERE):

Since most tutorials are hands-on, and a limited infrastructure is available, priority for tutorials will be given for students and postdocs (priorities will be based only on a basis of sequential numbering request). Tutorial attendees must register to attend the main conference in order to be able to apply for tutorials at the early rates; tutorials are expected to sell out, so be sure to register early.

* All attendees paying the Non-Member of ISCB registration fees will be offered a complimentary one-year ISCB membership as part of their higher conference registration payment. But please notice per the note at the top of this page that paying ISCB membership dues and then the conference registration saves money over simply paying the non-member fees.

CANCELLATION & REFUND POLICIES

Request for registration cancellation must be made in writing and mailed to:

ISCB Registration Office
c/o Suzi Smith
12127 Royal Lytham Row
San Diego, CA 92128
USA

or sent via e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

or faxed to +1-619-374-2890.

All refunds will be processed within six weeks following the conference. Refunds will be made in accordance with the following schedule:

-- Cancellations received by February 10, 2012 will receive a 50% refund.
-- No refund of fees will be made for cancellations received on or after February 11, 2012.

If you have any questions regarding your registration, please contact the ISCB Conferences Registrar at the contact details noted above.

Sponsors of ISCB-Latin America 2012

	ROCHE
	Life Technologies
	Genesys Chile
	Center for Mathematical Modeling, University of Chile (CMM)
	Millenium Institute for Immunology and Immunotherapy (MIII)

	OMICS Solutions
	National Laboratory for High Performance Computing Chile (NLHPC)
	Grupo Bios
	Illumina
	The Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS)

	Centro de Regulación del Genoma (CGR)
	CONICYT-Chile

	European Molecular Biology Network (EMBnet)
	European Molecular Biology Laboratory European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI)
	FreeBIT
	CYTED

	International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB)
	Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC)
	Asociación Argentina de Bioinformática y Biología Computacional (A2B2C)
	Associação Brasileira de Bioinformática e Biologia Computacional (AB3C)
	Sociedad Iberoamericana de Bioinformática (SoIBIO)