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12th Annual Rocky Mountain Bioinformatics Conference

SPONSOR OPPORTUNITIES


Rocky 2014 Sponsor Signup

A key part of the success of this event is the financial support and active involvement of our industry sponsors. This is a great opportunity to meet the key individuals in the field of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology from around the world, and gain international exposure to your products or services through the ISCB marketing efforts.

Please take a moment to review the opportunities below. Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 352-665-1763 to sponsor this event.

Platinum: $10,000
  • Sponsor of Conference Banquet
  • Prominent logo placement on website
  • Keynote speaker time slot
  • Display space 8' wide x 6' deep
  • Three conference registrations
  • Company logo on printed materials
  • Company logo on signage
  • Company logo on session screen
  • Company brochure in delegate bags
  • Recognition from the podium
Gold: $5,000
  • Sponsor of Conference Poster Session
  • Two conference registrations
  • Company logo on printed materials
  • Company logo on signage
  • Company logo on session screen
  • Company one-page flyer in delegate bags
Silver: $3,000
  • Sponsor of Conference Refreshment break
  • Company logo on printed materials
  • Company logo on signage
  • Company logo on session screen
  • Company one-page flyer in delegate bags

Other Sponsorship Opportunities:

Industry Tech Talk: $1,500
  • Tech talks are 15 minutes in length allowing for a 10 minute presentation and up to 5 minutes for Q&A. These presentations are designed to allow organizations to create awareness of new technologies, services, etc.
  • One complimentary conference registration
  • 15 minute presentation in the Conference Agenda
  • Company logo on the conference website identified as a Tech Talk Presenter
  • Company name in the conference booklet identified as a Tech Talk Presenter
  • Logo slide at opening session
  • Company name included on signage in registration area

Requests for Tech Talks are reviewed for approval by the Organizing Committee. Space is limited and it may not be possible to accept all requests. Deadline to be included in the agenda is November 5, 2014.

Display Table: $500
  • Display space 8' wide x 6' deep
  • Company name on printed materials
Delegate Bags: $1000
  • Company name on bags
  • Company name on printed materials
  • Company promotional brochure in delegate bags
Keynote Speaker: $1,000
  • Sponsor one of our invited speakers by helping support of with their travel expenses
  • Company name on keynote slide
  • Keynote speaker introduction
  • Company flyer in delegate bags
Delegate Lanyards: $500
  • Company name on lanyards
  • Company name on printed materials
Conference Program Book: $1000
  • Company logo on booklets as sponsor
Student Travel Scholarship: $550
  • Help support a student attendance and hotel room
  • Company name on printed materials

Customized Sponsorship:

Other customized sponsorship opportunities may be available.
To discuss opportunities please contact

Rocky Conference Coordinator
Stephanie Hagstrom
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
352-665-1763

Rocky 2014 Sponsor Signup


[Top]

 

12th Annual Rocky Mountain Bioinformatics Conference

AGENDA AT A GLANCE

Updated Dec 1, 2014


Go directly to: [Friday - December 12] [Saturday - December 13]

WEDNESDAY – December 10, 2014
START TIME END TIME SESSION TYPE
04:00 pm 06:00 pm Registration

THURSDAY – December 11, 2014
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
LOCATION: Ballroom
START TIME END TIME SESSION TYPE
08:00 am 09:00 am Breakfast
08:00 am 06:00 pm Registration
09:00 am 09:45 am Keynote 1
JILL MESIROV
The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard

Integrative Computational Approaches for Genomic Medicine
09:45 am 10:25 am Oral Presentations 1 - 4
10:25 am 10:45 am Break
10:45 am 11:15 am Keynote 2
JOANNA RODER
Biodesix, Inc.

Deep Learning, "Deep Data", and Molecular Diagnostics
11:15 am 11:55 am Oral Presentations 5 - 8
11:55 am 04:00 pm Ski Break
04:00 pm 04:30 pm Keynote 3
ELMAR A. PRUESSE
Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology
AND University of Colorado Denver

Tackling the rRNA Big-data Problem with ARB and SILVA
04:30 pm 05:10 pm Oral Presentations 9 - 12
05:10 pm 05:30 pm Break
05:30 pm 06:00 pm Keynote 4
ROBERT KIRK DELISLE
SomaLogic, Inc.

SOMAscan™– Based Prediction of Early Kidney Function Decline
06:00 pm 06:30 pm Oral Presentations 13 - 15
07:00 pm 10:00 pm Banquet, Thursday
December 11, 2014

Location: Il Poggio Restaurant
Snowmass Village
(Transportation provided from Viceroy Hotel Lobby beginning at 6:45pm)

FRIDAY – December 12, 2014
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
LOCATION: Ballroom
START TIME END TIME SESSION TYPE
08:00 am 09:00 am Breakfast
08:00 am 05:30 pm Registration
09:00 am 09:45 am Keynote 5
DONNA K. SLONIM
Tufts University

Human Developmental Bioinformatics: A Case Study in Overcoming Data Limitations
09:45 am 10:25 am Oral Presentations 16 - 19
10:25 am 10:45 am Break
10:45 am 11:00 am Technical Talk
RAYMOND TECOTZKY
Illumina, Inc.

Progress Report: From Sample to Answer - Sequencing in the Cloud Era with the Illumina BaseSpace®Bioinformatics Platform
11:00 am 11:50 am Oral Presentations 20 - 24
11:50 am 04:00 pm -->Ski Break

-->
Group Hike
(see Suzi at Registration Desk)
04:00 pm 05:00 pm Keynote 6
KIRK JORDAN
IBM T.J. Watson Research

Experience in Improving de novo Transcriptome Assembly to Address Large Data Sets

and

FRANK LEE
I
BM Technical & Platform Computing Worldwide

Tackling Big Data Challenges of Genomics by PowerGene
05:00 pm 06:00 pm Oral Presentations 25 - 30
06:00 pm 08:00 pm Poster Session
-->Information for presenters
-->Detailed Poster Abstracts
-->Brief Poster List

SATURDAY – December 13, 2014
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
LOCATION: Ballroom
START TIME END TIME SESSION TYPE
08:00 am 09:00 am Breakfast
08:00 am 11:30 am Registration
09:00 am 09:30 am Keynote 7
KEVIN M. LIVINGSTON
University of Colorado


Complex Querying Across Multiple Data Sources Using a Common Biological Model
09:30 am 10:20 am Oral Presentations 31- 35
10:20 am 10:40 am Break
10:40 am 11:20 am Oral Presentations 36 - 39
11:20 am 12:00 pm Keynote 8
JUDITH BLAKE

The Jackson Laboratory


Glycolysis Pathways in the Gene Ontology: All Roads Lead to Pyruvate
12:00 pm   Closing

[Top]

12th Annual Rocky Mountain Bioinformatics Conference

SPONSORS

Updated Nov 14, 2014


PLATINUM SPONSOR:
IBM's Technical Computing organization
IBM's Technical Computing organization
is the high performance computing organization in IBM Systems and Technology Group. This group is responsible for the strategy, marketing and identification of areas that can benefit from IBM's high end technology. The life sciences is such an area, and IBM is and will continue to bring valued solutions to life sciences.

IBM's Research Division is a partner with IBM's Technical Computing organization, developing the next generation of high performance computers. In addition, the Research Division has many groups investigating numerous application areas in collaboration with IBM's customers and partners. This includes IBM’s Computational Biology Center with IBM’s new Computational Science Center.


GOLD:

The Gold Lab at the University of Colorado

The Gold Lab at the University of Colorado was established in 1971 by Dr. Larry Gold upon his arrival at the Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology. Starting with basic research on bacteria and bacteriophage, the lab shifted its focus to human disease following the invention of the SELEX process in 1989. While at the university, Dr. Gold served as the chairman of the department from 1988 to 1992. Dr. Gold is one of a handful of people associated with the beginnings of biotechnology in Colorado. He cofounded an early biotech company, Synergen, and then founded NeXstar, a company that discovered Macugen, a drug to treat age-related blindness. Dr. Gold is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Currently Dr. Gold serves as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of SomaLogic, a proteom.


SILVER:

Biodesix®

Biodesix® is a molecular diagnostics company advancing the development of innovative products for precision medicine. The company provides physicians with diagnostic tests for earlier disease detection, more accurate diagnosis, disease monitoring and better therapeutic guidance, which may lead to improved patient outcomes. Biodesix discovers, develops and commercializes multivariate protein diagnostics based on their proprietary advanced integrated analytics and mass spectrometry-based discovery platform. VeriStrat®, a multivariate serum protein test, included in standard of care and therapy, is developed with this technology. The commercially available test provides oncologists with information to help them select between erlotinib and single-agent chemotherapy for advanced lung cancer patients. For more information about Biodesix and the technology, please visit www.biodesix.com/technology/overview.


TECHNICAL TALK:

Illumina®

A global genomics leader, Illumina provides complete sample-to-answer solutions to the research and clinical communities. Illumina technology generates 90% of the world’s sequencing data. Through collaborative innovation, Illumina is fueling groundbreaking advancements in the fields of oncology, reproductive health, genetic disease, microbiology, agriculture, and forensic science. Learn more at www.illumina.com.


BOOK DONATION AND PRIZES PROVIDED BY:

F1000

http://f1000.com/

.........................................................................

Springer
www.springer.com/?SGWID=0-102-0-0-0


[Top]

12th Annual Rocky Mountain Bioinformatics Conference

DETAILED AGENDA

Updated Feb 09, 2015


ROCKY 2014 slidesPresentations with this icon indicate that the slides are available.  Click on icon to download. 

Go directly to: [Friday - December 12] [Saturday - December 13]

WEDNESDAY – December 10, 2014
START TIME END TIME SESSION TYPE
04:00 pm 06:00 pm Registration

THURSDAY – December 11, 2014
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
LOCATION: Ballroom
START TIME END TIME SESSION TYPE
08:00 am 09:00 am Breakfast
08:00 am 06:00 pm Registration
09:00 am 09:45 am Keynote 1
JILL MESIROV
The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard

Integrative Computational Approaches for Genomic Medicine
09:45 am 09:55 am Oral Presentation 1
Automatic Discovery of Regulatory Networks from Morphological Experimental Data

Presenting Author:
Daniel Lobo
Tufts University, USA
09:55 am 10:05 am ROCKY 2014 slidesOral Presentation 2
Polysaccharide A: a widely distributed immunoregulatory microbial product

Presenting Author:
Matthew Rhodes
University of Colorado, Denver
10:05 am 10:15 am Oral Presentation 3
Meta-analysis leads to deeper understanding of cellular senescence

Presenting Author:
Chris Morrissey
Buck Institute
10:15 am 10:25 am Oral Presentation 4
Characterizing the landscape of biomedical ontologies via deductive entailment

Presenting Author:
William Baumgartner Jr
University of Colorado Denver
10:25 am 10:45 am Break
10:45 am 11:15 am ROCKY 2014 slidesKeynote 2
JOANNA RODER
Biodesix, Inc.

Deep Learning, "Deep Data", and Molecular Diagnostics
11:15 am 11:25 am Oral Presentation 5
A Bayesian framework for Signature-driven Protein Quantification

Presenting Author:
Bobbie-Jo Webb-Robertson
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
11:25 am 11:35 am ROCKY 2014 slidesOral Presentation 6
Integrating Data in a Microbiome Context

Presenting Author:
Michael Shaffer
University of Colorado - Denver
11:35 am 11:45 am Oral Presentation 7
Dietary Influences on the Incidence of Alzheimer Disease: Converging Inferences by Disparate Algorithms

Presenting Author:
George Acquaah-Mensah
MCPHS University
11:45 am 11:55 am Oral Presentation 8
Comparative genomics between frogs Xenopus laevis and Xenopus tropicalis

Presenting Author:
Gonzalo Riadi
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
11:55 am 04:00 pm Ski Break
04:00 pm 04:30 pm Keynote 3
ELMAR A. PRUESSE
Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology
AND University of Colorado Denver

Tackling the rRNA Big-data Problem with ARB and SILVA
04:30 pm 04:40 pm Oral Presentation 9
Comparison of Phylogeographic Node Flux with Local Disease Trends

Presenting Author:
Daniel Magee
Arizona State University
04:40 pm 04:50 pm Oral Presentation 10
Co-expression Network Hubs in Hypoxia and Acclimatization to High Altitude

Presenting Author:
Daniel Dvorkin
University of Colorado
04:50 pm 05:00 pm Oral Presentation 11
Network-based analysis for large environment microbial genomics data

Presenting Author:
Erliang Zeng
University of South Dakota
05:00 pm 05:10 pm Oral Presentation 12
Predicting survival for diverse patient cohorts using large-scale cancer genomics data

Presenting Author:
Nicolle Witte
University of Colorado
- Anschutz Medical Campus
05:10 pm 05:30 pm Break
05:30 pm 06:00 pm Keynote 4
ROBERT KIRK DELISLE
SomaLogic, Inc.

SOMAscan™– Based Prediction of Early Kidney Function Decline
06:00 pm 06:10 pm Oral Presentation 13
Global Survey of Protein Complexes from the Sulfate Reducer Desulfovibrio vulgaris: evidence for lower connectivity within stable bacterial interactomes

Presenting Author:
Maxim Shatsky
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
06:10 pm 06:20 pm Oral Presentation 14
EMIRGE 2: Improved resolution of microbial community structure

Presenting Author:
Adrienne Narrowe
University of Colorado Denver
06:20 pm 06:30 pm ROCKY 2014 slidesOral Presentation 15
RNABindRPlus Predicts RNA-Protein Interface Residues in Multiple Protein Conformations

Presenting Author:
Carla Mann
Iowa State University
07:00 pm 10:00 pm Banquet, Thursday
December 11, 2014

Location: Il Poggio Restaurant
Snowmass Village
(Transportation provided from Viceroy Hotel Lobby beginning at 6:45pm)
[top]
FRIDAY – December 12, 2014
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
LOCATION: Ballroom
START TIME END TIME SESSION TYPE
08:00 am 09:00 am Breakfast
08:00 am 05:30 pm Registration
09:00 am 09:45 am Keynote 5
DONNA K. SLONIM
Tufts University

Human Developmental Bioinformatics: A Case Study in Overcoming Data Limitations
09:45 am 09:55 am Oral Presentation 16
Integrative Genomics Approaches for Predicting Drug Synergies

Presenting Author:
Andrew Goodspeed
University of Colorado-Anschutz
Medical Campus
09:55 am 10:05 am Oral Presentation 17
Prediction and validation of genes regulating breast cancer metastasis

Presenting Author:
Eran Andrechek
Michigan State University
10:05 am 10:15 am Oral Presentation 18
The Inverse Relationship Between Sample Size and Differentially Expressed Genes in the selected Microarray Experiments

Presenting Author:
Akram Samarikhalaj
Ryerson University
10:15 am 10:25 am Oral Presentation 19
Calculating prior and posterior probabilities of concepts in conceptually annotated corpora

Presenting Author:
Negacy Hailu
University of Colorado
10:25 am 10:45 am Break
10:45 am 11:00 am ROCKY 2014 slidesTechnical Talk
RAYMOND TECOTZKY
Illumina, Inc.

Progress Report: From Sample to Answer - Sequencing in the Cloud Era with the Illumina BaseSpace®Bioinformatics Platform
11:00 am 11:10 am Oral Presentation 20
RNABindRPlus Parallelization: Faster Prediction of RNA-Binding Residues in Proteins

Presenting Author:
John Hsieh
Iowa State University
11:10 am 11:20 am Oral Presentation 21
A phylogenomic approach to assess global genetic diversity and intrapatient evolution of clinical Mycobacterium abscessus strains

Presenting Author:
Rebecca Davidson
National Jewish Health
11:20 am 11:30 am Oral Presentation 22
Discovering Disease Associated Molecular Interactions Using Discordant Correlation

Presenting Author:
Charlotte Siska
University of Colorado
Anschutz Medical Campus
11:30 am 11:40 am Oral Presentation 23
A pipeline for virus phylogeography that accounts for geospatial observation error

Presenting Author:
Matthew Scotch
Arizona State University
11:40 am 11:50 am Oral Presentation 24
Prediction of bacteriocin associated operons

Presenting Author:
James Morton
University of Colorado Boulder
11:50 am 04:00 pm -->Ski Break

-->
Group Hike
(see Suzi at Registration Desk)
04:00 pm 05:00 pm Keynote 6
KIRK JORDAN
IBM T.J. Watson Research

Experience in Improving de novo Transcriptome Assembly to Address Large Data Sets

and

FRANK LEE
I
BM Technical & Platform Computing Worldwide

Tackling Big Data Challenges of Genomics by PowerGene
05:00 pm 05:10 pm Oral Presentation 25
A Novel Visualization Technique for the Discovery of Inter-strain Recombination in Apicomplexans

Presenting Author:
Javi Zhang
University of Toronto
05:10 pm 05:20 pm Oral Presentation 26
Computational Methods to Study Differential Transcription

Presenting Author:
Debra Goldberg, University of Colorado Boulder
05:20 pm 05:30 pm Oral Presentation 27
Modeling Binding Affinity of the Multiple Zinc-Finger Protein Prdm9

Presenting Author:
Greg Carter
The Jackson Laboratory
05:30 pm 05:40 pm Oral Presentation 28
Taking an omics approach to phenotype responses to cigarette smoke in humans in vivo and in vitro: comparison with healthy smokers and those with COPD

Presenting Author:
Mark Pau-Clark
Imperial College London
05:40 pm 05:50 pm ROCKY 2014 slidesOral Presentation 29
SASE-hunter – a method for detecting signatures of accelerated somatic evolution in cancer genomes

Presenting Author:
Kyle Smith
University of Colorado
05:50 pm 06:00 pm Oral Presentation 30
Phylogeny-wide Discovery of Bacterial Transcription Factor Binding Motifs by Protein Family-based Approach

Presenting Author:
Maxim Shatsky
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
06:00 pm 08:00 pm Poster Session:
-->Information for presenters
-->Detailed Poster Abstracts
-->Brief Poster List
[top]
SATURDAY – December 13, 2014
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
LOCATION: Ballroom
START TIME END TIME SESSION TYPE
08:00 am 09:00 am Breakfast
08:00 am 11:30 am Registration
09:00 am 09:30 am Keynote 7
KEVIN M. LIVINGSTON
University of Colorado


Complex Querying Across Multiple Data Sources Using a Common Biological Model
09:30 am 09:40 am ROCKY 2014 slidesOral Presentation 31
A Model of the Colonic Crypt Microenvironment

Presenting Author:
Violeta Kovacheva
University of Warwick
09:40 am 09:50 am Oral Presentation 32
Dev Ops and Automation, key tools in the bioinformaticians tool box

Presenting Author:
Simon Twigger
BioTeam
09:50 am 10:00 am Oral Presentation 33
Characterizing bladder cancer cell lines as models of solid tumor biology

Presenting Author:
Somsak Phattarasukol
University of Colorado
Anschutz Medical Campus
10:00 am 10:10 am Oral Presentation 34
A computational and experimental method for combinatorial drug discovery

Presenting Author:
Muhammad Kashif
Uppsala University
10:10 am 10:20 am ROCKY 2014 slidesOral Presentation 35
Biomed Summarization Of Topics

Presenting Author:
Prabha Yadav
University of Colorado
School of Medicine, Denver
10:20 am 10:40 am Break
10:40 am 10:50 am Oral Presentation 36
Beyond the coding mutations in Pan-cancer genomes

Presenting Author
:
Subhajyoti De
University of Colorado
10:50 am 11:00 am ROCKY 2014 slidesOral Presentation 37
MEseq, a software package for bisulfite sequencing data analysis by regression hidden Markov model

Presenting Author:
Kui Shen
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
11:00 am 11:10 am Oral Presentation 38
Coreference Annotations in the CRAFT Corpus – Statistics and Performance Analysis

Presenting Author:
Natalya Panteleyeva
University of Colorado
11:10 am 11:20 am Withdrawn

Oral Presentation 39
Virulence-Associated Role for the Universal Stress Protein in Helicobacter pylori Infections

Presenting Author:
Shaneka Simmons
Jackson State University
11:20 am 12:00 pm Keynote 8
JUDITH BLAKE

The Jackson Laboratory


Glycolysis Pathways in the Gene Ontology: All Roads Lead to Pyruvate
12:00 pm   Closing

[top]

 

12th Annual Rocky Mountain Bioinformatics Conference

TRAVEL FELLOWSHIPS


Application deadline:   October 31, 2014, 5:00pm Eastern Time
Award Amount: $1,850.00

FASEB will provide two categories of MARC travel fellowships for the Rocky 2014 Conference.

ELIGIBILITY AND REQUIREMENTS:  >>Click here<<

TRAVEL AWARD APPLICATIONS:  Scroll down this page to Applications and look for 2014 ISCB Meetings on the list. 

12th Annual Rocky Mountain Bioinformatics Conference

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Updated Nov 20, 2014


Links within this page:

Judith A Blake, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
The Jackson Laboratory

Title: Glycolysis Pathways in the Gene Ontology: All Roads Lead to Pyruvate

Abstract: The Gene Ontology (GO) is a freely-available resource that provides connections between gene products and a structured, controlled vocabulary of biological terms used to describe how gene products function. The representation of biochemical pathways presents a challenge because different species may utilize different enzymatic activities or substrates to carry out similar processes. Glycolysis is an example of an overall process that is well conserved among species, but varies with respect to input molecules and enzymatic activities. We describe a strategy to represent a taxonomy of glycolytic processes that accounts for variation seen in different biological contexts. We factor out core, conserved processes, and represent variations as subtypes. Glycolytic processes are defined by axioms that include the parent superclass process, the molecular functions that are necessary parts of the process and the input and output chemical entities. We group the conserved processes by shared intermediate substances, such as a shared glucose-6-phosphate intermediate. Creating formal definitions for pathways allows use of OWL-based reasoning for further inferred classification. Inclusion of necessary molecular functions not only aids ontology maintenance but also guides annotators in determining which genes are directly involved in a process. We use glycolysis in mouse sperm to show how curators can use the necessary functions associated with glycolytic process to infer that subtype for annotation and how users can explore annotations to determine which isoforms of an enzyme are used in a given biological context. This work supported by NIH:NHGRI grants U41HG002273 to GOC and U41HG003751 to Reactome Knowledgebase.

CV: web
Robert Kirk DeLisle, PhD Robert Kirk DeLisle, PhD
Principal Scientist
SomaLogic, Inc.
Colorado

Title:  SOMAscan™– Based Prediction of Early Kidney Function Decline

Robert Kirk DeLisle1; Laila Bruun2; Robert Mehler1; Britta Singer1; Stephen A. Williams1; Anders Christensson2

1SomaLogic, Boulder, CO; 2Dept. Nephrology, Skåne Univ. Hosp., Lund Univ., Malmö, Sweden

Abstract:  Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) is defined as the volume of fluid filtered by the kidney per unit time and is the best measure of renal function. Clearance of certain exogenous substances from the blood allows direct measure of GFR but is not suitable for routine clinical practice. Endogenous clearance markers creatinine and cystatin-C are attractive because they offer simpler means of estimating GFR. However, these estimates are relatively imprecise, especially above 60ml/min/1.73m2. Measuring both markers does not resolve this limitation. The result is that early, significant loss of functioning renal mass may go unrecognized, and the opportunity for timely, focused intervention is lost.

Using SOMAscan™, a high-throughput, multiplexed proteomic assay that simultaneously measures >1100 proteins from small volumes of biological samples, we assayed 183 plasma samples collected at Skåne University Hospital, Sweden from male subjects with GFR>60 as measured by Iohexol clearance, and developed models to assess the ability of protein levels to predict GFR above 60 ml/min/1.73m2. Model performances were compared to those of creatinine and cystatin C, and found to better predict measured GFR >60 (predictive correlation of 0.70 vs. 0.55).  We conclude that it will be possible to develop a more clinically useful blood test that measures GFR>60 ml/min/1.73 m2, enabling detection and intervention in cases of early, clinically relevant renal function loss.

CV:  pdf
Kirk E. Jordan, PhD
IBM Distinguished Engineer
Emerging Solutions Executive & Assoc. Prog. Director
Computational Science Center
IBM T.J. Watson Research

Title: Experience in Improving de novo Transcriptome Assembly to Address Large Data Sets

Co-Authors: Chang-Sik Kim, Vipin Sachdeva, Martyn Winn

Abstract: The world and the life sciences are awash in data. The problem for computing is no longer the ability to compute but the inability to move data and handle large data sets. In this talk, we will describe the work we have done to handle large data sets for de novo transcriptome assembly through developing parallel, distributed memory versions of the Broad Institute’s Trinity workflow. We will relate our efforts in using experimental hardware that gives insight into new systems architecture to better handle such data movement and large data sets.

CV: web
Frank Lee, Ph.D.
Lead Architect, IBM Genomics Solution
Technical Advisor for Life Sciences
Senior-certified Solution Architect
IBM Technical & Platform Computing Worldwide

Title: Tackling Big Data Challenges of Genomics by PowerGene

Abstract: I will discuss the challenges presented by the explosive growth of data and computation in genomics and share an architecture and best practice to 1) acquire, store, access data in scale; 2) build a high-speed (turnaround and throughput) computing infrastructure to process genomic and bioinformatics workload/workflow; 3) make the infrastructure smart by converging data river into data lake. Using real-life projects as case studies, I will share our approaches to tackle the challenges, the ecosystem we are enabling, some of the success stories, lesson learned and highlight potential for collaboration among genomic research communities.

Biography: pdf
Kevin M. Livingston, PhD
Research Associate
University of Colorado

Title: Complex Querying Across Multiple Data Sources Using a Common Biological Model

Abstract: A wealth of biomedical information currently exists spread out over numerous independent data sources. Querying across those data sources has historically been difficult. The Knowledge Base of Biomedicine (KaBOB) integrates information from 20 large prominent data sources and formally represents it in OWL using a common biomedical model grounded in the OBOs (Open Biomedical Ontologies). This enables complex queries across those data sources to be written in biomedical terms, as opposed to working with multiple source-specific data models and identifiers. We demonstrate how such a knowledge base can be interrogated in multiple ways to answer complex biomedical questions. Examples include looking for explanations of synthetic lethal drug-gene interactions in cells; or asking what drugs target what gene products that are in the mitochondria and involved in oxidative phosphorylation. The answers to these questions do not exist in a single database. Additionally KaBOB can answer these questions at multiple levels of granularity and abstraction, for example, querying about species-specific genes versus including information about homologous genes in other model organisms. Questions to KaBOB can be performed by direct querying of the underlying RDF using SPARQL, as well as by deriving results via back-chaining through the data using Prolog. The modeling used by KaBOB enables formal reasoning methods to be employed to derive deductively entailed relationships from the explicitly asserted knowledge. In the near future we hope to also explore abductive inference methods that hypothesize about missing information that if present would help produce more coherent explanations

CV: web
Jill P. Mesirov
Associate Director and Chief Informatics Officer
Director, Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
Cambridge, MA, USA

Title: Integrative Computational Approaches for Genomic Medicine

The acceleration of data acquisition, and the corresponding availability of increasing amounts of both genetic and functional data, is changing the face of biomedical research. Computational approaches and new methods can take advantage of these data and bring the promise of improved understanding and treatment of disease.  

I will describe some approaches that leverage multiple data types and emphasize the use of more biologically interpretable models.  In particular I’ll describe our work integrating high-level clinical and genomic features to stratify pediatric brain tumor patients into groups with high and low risk of relapse after treatment.  The approach is more accurate than previous models; highlights possible future drug targets; and represents one of the few such predictors that generalized to a completely independent patient cohort.  In addition, I will present a recently developed method to shed light on the functional correlates of genetic variants. Finally, I will review the software through which we make our methods available to the research community.

CV: web
Elmar A Pruesse, PhD Elmar A Pruesse, PhD
Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology
AND University of Colorado Denver

Title: Tackling the rRNA Big-data Problem with ARB and SILVA

Abstract: Since Fox and Woese pioneered the use of ribosomal RNA some four decades ago, related methods have become essential for characterizing microbial communities. Accordingly, a vast body of over 4 million rRNA sequences has been accumulated. As evidenced by dedicated databases and tools such as RDP, greengenes, mothur and qiime, specialized methods are required to successfully conduct analyses given the current volume of reference and study data. Here, we present recent improvements to the combination of resources, services and tools offered by ARB (from arbor, lat. tree) and SILVA (lat. forest) to facilitate rRNA-based studies. The SILVA database includes large and small subunit rRNA data from all three domains, data integration from various sources and an up-to-date curated taxonomy. The SILVA website (~400 users per day) offers services such as sequence classification with SINA or the TestPrime tool for primer coverage validation. ARB integrates a broad range of external tools, unique algorithms and data management and visualization features into a single desktop application with a graphical interface. Version 6 brings enhancements to performance, stability, memory footprint, automation and usability as well as additional or enhanced internal and external analysis methods.

The new SILVAngs service streamlines the analysis of rRNA amplicon data from next generation sequencing into an intuitive web interface. Built on top of the SILVA database pipeline, it always uses the most current reference data and requires no installation. Results include commonly computed microbial ecology statistics as well as novel plots and easy export of processed reads to ARB.
Joanna Roder, PhD Joanna Roder, PhD
Senior Director of Data Analytics
R&D
Biodesix, Inc.

Title: Deep Learning, "Deep Data", and Molecular Diagnostics

Abstract: Recent developments in machine learning techniques based on deep learning neural networks have led to huge increases in performance in many “Big Data” problems, such as image recognition and natural language processing. While “Big Data” problems typically consist of millions of instances with hundreds of attributes, data sets arising within the field of personalized medicine usually have thousands of attributes for only a few hundreds of samples. Thus, learning from data generated by molecular multiplexed probes, such as NextGen sequencing or Deep MALDI, in genomic or protein profiling, respectively, can be thought of as a “Deep Data” problem. This presentation will describe how ideas from deep learning can be applied to the “Deep Data” sets arising from molecular profiling of patient samples. We will present the main principles and give examples from the genomic and proteomic arenas to show how these methods can be tailored to the development of clinically useful, multivariate, molecular diagnostic tests.

Biography:
pdf
Donna K. Slonim
Associate Professor of Computer Science
Associate Professor of the Tufts School of Medicine
Genetics Faculty, Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences
Tufts University
Medford, MA, USA

Title: Human Developmental Bioinformatics: A Case Study in Overcoming Data Limitations

Abstract:
A growing awareness of developmental impacts on lifelong human health has increased interest in improving our understanding of human development at the molecular level. However, existing data collections characterizing gene function and disease relevance are typically imperfect, incomplete, and lacking in sufficient context. This state of affairs has limited the translational application of genomic data to developmental disorders. In this talk, we will discuss such barriers and our experiences addressing them. Adding context-specific functional annotation has improved our ability to interpret developmental data sets. Pooling imperfect gene-disease data across related disease processes has helped us link developmental processes to health outcomes. A new-anomaly detection paradigm for the analysis of expression data sets facilitates interpretation of individual samples. Our recent results in developmental bioinformatics illustrate how domain expertise, contextual awareness,and scaling up can help us overcome the limits of the data.

CV: .pdf
Raymond Tecotzky TECHNICAL TALK

Raymond Tecotzky
Market Manager, Informatics Ecosystem
Illumina, Inc.

Title:  Progress Report: From Sample to Answer - Sequencing in the Cloud Era with the Illumina BaseSpace®Bioinformatics Platform

Abstract:  There have been many improvements to the Illumina BaseSpace Informatics Platform and significant growth in its usage over the past year.  In my short talk, I will describe and demonstrate many of the new and exciting Sample to Answer Applications available from Illumina, including the Apps on BaseSpace and BaseSpace Onsite that enable them.  There are many choices for bioinformatics analysis available today in the genomics community and we will show you why we believe that BaseSpace and BaseSpace Onsite offer a better way to analyze your genomic data and represent the new trend for how all genomic data will be stored, analyzed, and shared in the future.

Biography:  pdf

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12th Annual Rocky Mountain Bioinformatics Conference

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS (Oral and Poster)


Abstract Submissions are closed.

Submission Deadline:  October 15, 2014

The Rocky 2014 Conference will provide opportunities for short "flash" presentations (10 minute talks) and poster presentations on current projects from as many attendees as possible. Original presentations (including significant works-in-progress) are solicited in all areas that involve the application of advanced computational methods to significant problems in biology or medicine.

Click on the link above to access the Submission Form you may select to give a "poster presentation", an "oral presentation", or "both". We will attempt to accommodate all requests and will confirm your request on November 8, 2014

Please note:   All presenters must register as a conference attendee by November 14 in order to give a presentation at Rocky 2014.

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