ISCB 2017 Accomplishments by a Senior Scientist Award Keynote

Pavel Pevzner
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
University of California at San Diego
La Jolla, United States
http://cseweb.ucsd.edu/~ppevzner/

Presentation Title: Bioinformatics: a Servant or the Queen of Molecular Biology?
Time: Tuesday, July 25 — 4:45 pm - 5:45 pm
Introduction by: Alfonso Valencia, ISCB President
Room: Forum

Abstract
While some experimental biologists view bioinformatics as a servant, I argue that it is rapidly turning into the queen of molecular biology. I will illustrate this view by showing how some recent computational developments brought down biological dogmas that remained unchallenged for at least three decades. Finally, I will discuss a century-old dogma and describe the recent efforts to repudiate it.

Biography
Pavel Pevzner is Ronald R. Taylor Professor of Computer Science and Engineering and Director of the NIH Center for Computational Mass Spectrometry at University of California, San Diego. He holds Ph.D. from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Russia. He was named Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor in 2006. He was elected the Association for Computing Machinery Fellow in 2010, the International Society for Computational Biology Fellow in 2012, and European Academy of Sciences member (Academia Europaea) in 2016. He was awarded a Honoris Causa (2011) from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. Dr. Pevzner authored textbooks "Computational Molecular Biology: An Algorithmic Approach", "Introduction to Bioinformatics Algorithms" (with Neal Jones) and “Bioinformatics Algorithms: an Active Learning Approach” (with Phillip Compeau). In 2015, jointly with Phillip Compeau, he developed a Bioinformatics specialization on Coursera. In 2016, Compeau and Pevzner developed Biology Meets Programming online course on Coursera that introduces biologists to programming.

The Story Behind the ISMB/ECCB 2017 Logo

The ISMB/ECCB 2017 logo may appear to be “wrongly” twisted, but our intent was purposeful. This less frequent biologically relevant DNA form symbolizes ISCB's respect for minorities and its support of equal opportunity options in science. As an organization, we value diversity by striving for (towards) greater global diversity of our membership and leadership. We are aware and respect the many differences in culture, geographic origin, affiliation, gender, age, level of expertise and area of scientific research. ISCB strives as an organization to promote diversity and encourages the community to do the same.

Speaker Information

• Presentation Overview
• Presentation computer, slides and video release form
• Information about the presentation computers
• Slide Template
• Speaker Tips
• Presentation information for Students, Post Docs and Young Investigators!

Presentation Overview

Speakers are requested to review the conference schedules available on the conference website. Please note that minor schedule changes may continue to be made. Schedules are available at: https://www.iscb.org/ismbeccb2017-program

Presentation computer, slides and video release form:

Presentation rooms will have a computer provided - details below. You can use your own computer if you prefer but please ensure that you bring any connecting VGA adapter required to connect to the VGA cable. If you prefer you can place slides on the presentation computer - ideally at least 1 hour prior to your talk. We will have AV staff in the room to assist you. We suggest the file be labelled as: LastNameTalkCOSI (e.g. JonesTransMed)

Each room will be equipped with a "splitter" so you can use your computer without disconnecting the presentation computer provided.

Many presentations at ISMB/ECCB 2017 are recorded for the purpose of developing an archival library of ISMB presentations to share the history, growth and development of the science. Selections are published on the ISCB website for viewing. Your permission to allow ISCB to record your presentation for these purposes is required. Please take a moment to either allow or deny permission of the recording by completing the form at: https://www.iscb.org/submissions/permissionForm/index.php

Specifications:

HP ProBook 450 G2
15" FullHD, 8GB, i5 2.2Ghz, SSD
Windows 10 Home, Office 365

Don't use "embedded fonts" in PowerPoint especially if there's video/audio or any other linked information in the presentation. Make sure that the Powerpoint file and video / audio-clips are put into the same folder.

Projector Info: 16:9 Ratio / 1280 x 720 resolution

Pre-drafted slides to promote your talk evaluation using the conference app.

Speakers we would like you to encourage delegates to rate your talk on the conference app. The following slides can be used in your presentation to promote the use of the app to specifically rate your presentation at the conference.

Download Slides

Speaker Tips

Click here to download speaker tips

Attention Students, Post Docs and Young Investigators!

Please read these helpful tips on giving a quality talk at the conference.

As you prepare to give an oral presentation the following are some helpful tips for ensuring that both you and the international and interdisciplinary conference audience get the most out of your talk. As some talks will be recorded for viewing by our community for years to come, following these tips can also serve to make certain your best possible presentation serves you well in your future career.

Limit the number of slides to be presented.
A common mistake among presenters at all levels of experience is including too many slides for the allotted presentation time. We have all attended talks where the presenter either had to rush through or skip entire sections of slides due to having too many slides for the amount of time allotted to the talk. Worse is the presenter whose talk goes beyond the allotted time, and he or she ignores the session chair and/or session timer in order to give the full presentation detailed in the slides.

A rule of thumb is to have just one robust and informative slide for each minute of the presentation. Two or more slides per minute is sometimes possible, but this typically only works if half of the slides are updates to the slides shown before them, rather than completely new slides of different information. Keep in mind that an oral presentation slot has a time limit, and it will never be enough to fully explain all of your research efforts and results. The goal should be to give enough of an overview, with just enough depth, to make the audience understand your project, believe in your results, and pique their interest to follow up for further information available in your paper, on the web or in a follow up conversation with you after the talk.

ISMB is a conference of several parallel sessions that must all start and stop at the precisely scheduled time, so if some talks go beyond the allotted time limit the entire schedule could be thrown off. With over 150 scheduled talks, one can imagine the havoc that this could create. Therefore, the ISMB schedule will be strictly adhered to by the session chairs, and presenters must be cut off if they are unable to finish their presentations on time. Please ensure you are not one of those presenters!

Prepare slides that show well from a distance.
There are two important aspects of slide preparation: Visibility and readability.

Regarding visibility, color backgrounds and text can look great on a computer screen but awful when projected, and some colors don't display well under any circumstances. Microsoft has some tips on this subject that, for the most part, apply to any presentation software (see http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint/HA010120721033.aspx). Important details can fail to be projected with the wrong use of colors, so keeping colors simple and compatible is a safe bet.

Regarding readability, the devil is always in the details, and the highly data-driven aspect of computational biology can make this tip hard to follow. But, if a slide has too much data squeezed into it most audience members will not be able to see or decipher the data. If the data is important for the audience to see or follow, such a slide will serve little or no purpose.

So, this tip is intended to encourage you to consider the data included in your slides. Is it essential for the audience to be able to see it to understand it? If yes, go with simple colors and find ways to highlight and feature the most relevant data through the bold and/or color graphics such as arrows, circles, or magnified zoom options available in your presentation software.

It is also to your benefit to give your slides to the technical staff as early as possible and ask to check out how each slide displays under the actual projection display environment. This will give you time to make changes if the layout shifts using the equipment of the venue, and/or if the color washes out and needs to be changed.

Practice, practice, practice.
You can never over-rehearse an oral scientific presentation. Although slides will prompt you through each topic, it is important to practice out-loud several times. This will help you develop a suitable pace, attain a natural rhythm, and try out several options of words and phrases to find the ones that best communicate your research. It will also ensure you are able to make it through all of your slides without running out of time. If after a few run-throughs you still cannot meet the time limit, you will need to make adjustments.

Practicing is important for everyone, but it can be even more important if English is not your native language. The conference is expected to have attendees from over 50 countries. Because you will be communicating to many other non-native English speakers your pronunciation should be well exercised. If at all possible, you should ask a family member, friend, colleague from your lab or your advisor to listen to at least one practice session so you can work out the nerves of speaking to a live audience and gain valuable feedback. If possible, self-recording your presentation is another valuable tool.

Practice sessions should start well before you travel to the conference. Please make time the night before your talk to practice again. If you are scheduled to give a 20-minute talk, you should schedule one full hour of practice time that final night to allow yourself at least two or three rehearsals.

Each time you practice you will say things slightly differently, which is fine. When you give the actual conference presentation from the podium, it should sound like you have given this talk before, but not sound like you are reading from a script.

Relax and learn from your presentation experience.
Each time you give a talk you will improve your presentation skills and gain confidence in your public speaking abilities. Pay attention to what you did well and where you might have room to improve, and make a note of it for your next talk.

Whether this is the first for fifty-first time you are speaking at a major international conference, you will likely become nervous as the time of your talk approaches (even if you have given this same talk before). These nerves will likely stay with you as you start to give your talk. But, please know that almost everyone experiences this. The audience is interested in your presentation and not nearly as aware of your nerves as you are. Take a deep breath and try to slow down if needed - many speakers talk too fast when they are nervous. If you have rehearsed in advance, the nerves will subside as you hit your stride and you will do very well.

Last but not least, thank you!
There are many conference options these days, but none that are as large and internationally diverse in the field of bioinformatics/computational biology as this one. Thank you for choosing to submit your research and congratulations on having your work accepted for presentation. We hope this proves to be a positive experience, and that we will see you again at many more ISMB conferences in the future.

Sincerely,
Your ISMB Conference Organizers

p.s. For additional oral presentation tips, please read "Ten Simple Rules for Making Good Oral Presentations" in ISCB's official open access journal, PLoS Computational Biology, at http://www.ploscompbiol.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pcbi.0030077 .

Awards - ISMB/ECCB 2017

Ian Lawson Van Toch Memorial Award for Outstanding Student Paper
F1000Research Poster Award
RCSB PDB Poster Prize

The Outstanding Student Paper Award is given to the student who presents the most thought-provoking or original paper at the Conference, as judged by our panel of experts.

This award is given in memory of Ian Lawson Van Toch, a 23 year old Medical Biophysics graduate student at the University of Toronto who passed away in August 2007. Ian was fortunate to have already discovered his passion for computational biology and how it can - and will - lead to quantum breakthroughs in cancer research. This passion was sparked when Dr Igor Jurisica hired Ian to work in his lab at the Ontario Cancer Institute as a researcher during the summer of 2006. That introduction blossomed into a mentoring relationship that is so vital to helping young students launch their careers.

Our thanks go to the Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation, and IBM who have sponsored this award since 2008.

Past recipients of this special award include:

• ISMB/ECCB 2017: Kymberleigh Pagel, Indiana University, United States
• ISMB 2016: Yaron Orenstein, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States
• ISMB/ECCB 2015: Farhad Hormozdiari, University of California, Los Angeles, United States
• ISMB 2014: Andrey D. Prjibelski, St. Petersburg Academic University, Russia
• ISMB/ECCB 2013:Wyatt Clark, Indiana University, United States
• ISMB 2012: Deniz Yorukoglu, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States
• ISMB/ECCB 2011: Sara Berthoumieux, Inria, France
• ISMB 2010: Keren Yizhak, Tel Aviv University, Israel
• ISMB/ECCB 2009: Manfred Claassen, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
• ISMB 2008: Lucas Ward, Columbia University, United States

F1000Research will present five (5) poster awards for outstanding ISMB 2016 poster presentations. Prizes include a one year subscription to F1000Prime and access to the new F1000 Workspace, plus a free article submission to F1000Research (value $1000).

The RCSB and PDB Poster Prize will be awarded for the best student poster presentation in the category of Structure and Function Prediction. The award will consist of a related educational book.

Other information is at
http://www.rcsb.org/pdb/static.do?p=general_information/about_pdb/poster_prize.html

Industry Posters - ISMB/ECCB 2017

Nicola Bonzanni, ENPICOM, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Alvise Trevisan, ENPICOM, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

An essential part in discovering, developing, selecting and monitoring immunotherapies is the identification and quantification of an individual’s immune repertoire from DNA and RNA sequencing data. Due to advances in Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) it is now possible to obtain such an ‘immune fingerprint’ by sequencing T- and B-cell receptors. However, a specialized software solution is required to make sense of the somatic gene recombinations that characterize mature T- and B-cell receptors.

ENPICOM provides researchers with end-to-end software for the analysis of immunogenomic data. ImmunoGenomiX Profiler is a comprehensive software solution for the analysis of T- and B-cell receptor repertoires. Accurate and fast, it supports multiple sequencing platforms and library preparation protocols. Importantly, ImmunoGenomiX Profiler allows to monitor and compare immune repertoires over time or across patients.

In addition, ImmunoGenomiX Toxscreen is an in-silico screening solution for off-target reactivity of antigen receptors. Using antigen patterns, it accurately predicts potential binding.

Carlos Menor, BioBam Bioinformatics S.L., Valencia, Spain
David. Seide, BioBam Bioinformatics S.L., Valencia, Spain
Robert Nica, BioBam Bioinformatics S.L., Valencia, Spain
Mariana Monteiro, BioBam Bioinformatics S.L., Valencia, Spain
Alejandro Rocamonde, BioBam Bioinformatics S.L., Valencia, Spain
Stefan Götz, BioBam Bioinformatics S.L., Valencia, Spain

Functional genomics is an important field in applied bioinformatics and the functional characterization of novel sequence data is a primary requirement for genomics research.

Blast2GO is a well known bioinformatics software solution for functional genomics and RNA-seq analysis. It is also considered best-practice for the functional annotation of novel genomes. Recent improvements of the platform allow to perform structural annotations of genome assemblies (prokaryotes and eukaryotes), its functional characterization as well as to directly continue with the analysis of RNA-seq experiments. This allows to detect changes in expression and to perform functional enrichment analysis. The software runs out of the box, is biologist-oriented and very user-friendly.

This poster provides an overview of the workflows available in the latest version of Blast2GO. It describes key features of the gene finding process, transcriptomic analysis and the functional characterization of novel sequence data.

For more details please visit: https://www.blast2go.com

Birds of a Feather (BoF) - ISMB/ECCB 2017

Room: Meeting Hall IA Saturday, July 22 (12:45 pm - 1:45 pm)

Organizers:

Fran Lewitter, Whitehead Institute (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
Teresa Attwood, University of Manchester
Lonnie Welch, Ohio University

Presentation Overview:

A major goal of CoBE is to foster a collaborative community in which bioscientists can share bioinformatics education/training resources and experiences. Thus, we invite you to join us for an interactive discussion with the ISCB education committee, GOBLET and others to kickstart this community. Please come with your ideas.

Room: Meeting Hall IB Saturday, July 22 (12:45 pm - 1:45 pm)

Organizer:

Lucia Peixoto, Washington State University (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

Presentation Overview:

In this roundtable discussion, group leaders (established and new) will provide guidance on how to lead your team effectively, manage your people and your time to maximize productivity and quality of life.

Panelists:
Larry Hunter, PhD. Director Computational Bioscience Program. Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Computer Science. University of Colorado.
Janet Kelso, PhD. Group leader of the Minerva Research Group for Bioinformatics at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
Nils Gehlenborg, PhD. Assistant Professor. Department of Biomedical Informatics. Harvard Medical School.

Room: North Hall Saturday, July 22 (12:45 pm - 1:45 pm)

Organizer:

Konstantina Topouridou, European Research Council Executive Agency (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

Presentation Overview:

Presenting ERC funding schemes. There will be a panel discussion with ERC grantees.

Room: Terrace 1 Saturday, July 22 (12:45 pm - 1:45 pm)

Organizer:

Malvika Sharan, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

Presentation Overview:

One of the major concerns in scientific fields is the lack of gender diversity. In this BoF, using the format of unseminars (http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003905), I would like to discuss various causes, challenges and possible solutions to combat this problem. Furthermore, I aim to increase awareness among the bioinformatics community on this issue.

Room: Panorama Saturday, July 22 (12:45 pm - 1:45 pm)

Organizer:

Numrah Fadra, University of Minnesota, Mayo Clinic (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )

Presentation Overview:

Development of computational techniques using a combination of advanced bioinformatics approaches as well as machine learning models is extremely important for achieving maximum diagnostic value for rare Mendelian diseases. I would like to discuss the approaches used worldwide clinically to address the problem of understanding the genetic foundations of rare genetic disorders.

Room:Meeting Hall V Saturday, July 22 (12:45 pm - 1:45 pm)

Organizer:

Jenny Vuong, Sandeep Kaur
CSIRO, Garvan, UNSW

Presentation Overview:

Advancement in high-throughput mass spectrometry allows the studying of phosphoproteomic time-series events in unprecedented detail, producing data on >10,000 molecular events. This meeting has the goal to discuss the future of handling large-scale proteomics time-series data, in the context of visualization methods/tools, modelling, etc. Come and open your brain!

Room: Meeting Hall IB Monday, July 24 (12:45 pm - 1:45 pm)

Organizer:

Lucia Peixoto, Washington State University (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

Presentation Overview:

ISCB has long been a supporter of open data practices . Young investigators have a unique chance to propagate them. In this roundtable experienced leaders in the open data movement will share their advice on how to advance in your career while simultaneously sharing your work and data openly.

Panelists:
Philip E. Bourne, Director of the Data Science Institute, and Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Virginia.
Casey Greene, Assistant professor in the Department of Systems Pharmacology and Translational Therapeutics in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
Michael Markie, F100 Research

Room: Meeting Hall IV Monday, July 24 (12:45 pm - 1:45 pm)

Organizer:

Farzana Rahman, ISCB Student Council
Dan DeBlasio, ISCB Student Council (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
Diane E Kovats, ISCB

Presentation Overview:

A session dedicated to addressing career-related needs and questions of young researchers in the area of computational biology. We will host inspiring talks and opinions from experts and lively discussions with the audience on career guidance, tips and skills. The ISCB Student Council and ISCB's Industry Advisory Council welcomes all curious minds to the event.

Room: Terrace 1 Monday, July 24 (12:45 pm - 1:45 pm)

Organizer:

Barry Demchak
University of California at San Diego

Presentation Overview:

The Cytoscape Consortium will be hosting an open public meeting for the community of users, app developers and scripters to learn about the latest features and to engage with core developers and roadmap for the future. If you are new to Cytoscape or a long-time power user, you are welcome to join.

Room: Meeting Hall V Monday, July 24 (12:45 pm - 1:45 pm)

Organizer:

Martin Čech
Galaxy Team, Penn State University

Presentation Overview:

Our activities reach far and wide and as such can be a bit overwhelming. We oversee deployments range in size from single user instances to large public servers serving tens of thousands of researchers. Thousands of tools are available and hundreds of tool developers make tools accessible to a bigger audience. Our setups can achieve unprecedented levels of reproducibility and we can connect to various clusters.

Share your challenges and let's discuss what the Galaxy Project can do for you.

Join us for a Minorities and Women in Science event - details here.

Room: Meeting Hall IA Monday, July 24 (12:45 pm - 1:45 pm)

Organizer:

Kieran O’Neill, Aurora Blucher, Monica Munoz-Torres, Malvika Sharan

Presentation Overview:

This BoF will be a round table discussion of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, with a focus on listening and ensuring that the voices and experiences of attendees are heard. The challenges, barriers, and possible solutions discussed will be taken forward by the ISCB EDI Task Force.

Join us for a Minorities and Women in Science event - details here.

Room: Panorama Monday, July 24 (12:45 pm - 1:45 pm)

Organizer:

Benedetta Frida Baldi, Sean O’Donoghue
The Garvan Institute of Medical Research UNSW, CSIRO

Presentation Overview:

We are just now getting know the 3D arrangement of chromosomes thanks to Hi-C data. How should we use this knowledge and where should to push it? Come to discuss what Hi-C can and cannot do, how we can improve it and how we should look at it.

Exhibitor Info

Please read the following information carefully and ensure that you have viewed the Exhibitor Description and Floor Plan available here. If you have questions contact:

Steven Leard
ISMB Conference Director
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Telephone: 1-780-414-1663 (Alberta, Canada)

• Audio Visual Equipment
• Badges
• Catering
• Conference Venue & Location
• Damage to Premises
• Delivery Information / In-house Transport (Shipping Instructions)
• Demonstrations
• Exhibitor After Hours Access
• Exhibitor Package
• Exhibitor Registration
• Exhibition Schedule
• Exhibitor Services
• Helium Balloons
• Hotel Accommodation
• Indemnification
• Internet
• ISCB / ISMB Mailing Address
• ISMB Exhibitor Rules
• Lead Generation
• Leaflet Distribution
• Security
• Travel Visa Application
  
  

GENERAL INFORMATION

For additional assistance regarding Audio Visual requirements contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Exhibitors who are participating only as exhibitors (exhibit hall only) should pick their badges up from the registration counter identified with:  Exhibitors

All catering at the Prague Congress Centre must be coordinated through This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The conference will be held at the Prague Congress Centre (PCC) located at:

5. kvetna 1640/65, Nusle
140 00 Prague 4, Czech Republic
Phone: +420 261 171 111 

The Prague Congress Centre is adjacent to the Vyšehrad station on Line C of the Prague underground railway network, providing convenient access by public transport from the city’s airport and all major rail and bus stations. A map of the network is available here.

Maps, timetables, fares and route planning are available in English on the Prague Public Transport website www.dpp.cz/en/

If you are travelling by car to the PCC you can find parking details here.

The venue is a non-smoking facility and smoking is not allowed in the building at any time. Designated smoking areas are located outside the building.

No nails, screws or other fixtures may be driven into any part of the premises including the floors. Should any damage occur, the Exhibitor would be invoiced for repair charges incurred.

BECKSPEDITION is the official freight handling company for ISMB/ECCB 2017:

Chrastavská 113/4
190 00  Praha 9
Contact: Pavel Beck Phone: +420 602 311 950
e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Contact: Monika Vesela Phone: +420 724 328 380
e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Shipping Instructions: Download PDF
Shipping Label: Download Doc 

Demonstrations and other special activities must be located so that crowds will be comfortably contained within the contracted display space and not blocking any of the aisles. Distracting activities are subject to adjacent exhibitor and ISMB/ECCB approval. Exhibitors may not play loud music on their stand.

Exhibitors are allowed access to their stands during set up and tear down hours as well as one hour prior to and one hour after official opening hours. Exhibitors requiring access beyond these times, must receive approval from an ISMB/ECCB representative.

ISMB/ECCB Exhibitors receive the following package:

• One complimentary conference registration
• Organization listed on conference website in conference program
• Two (2) exhibit hall passes
• Organization name on exhibition signage
• Display space (4 x 2 sqm or 3 x 3 sqm), booth & furniture package includes: one electrical (power) socket,
  table, waste bin, two chairs.
• Wireless internet available in exhibit area - if you require a dedicated internet connection please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
  
  

ISMB/ECCB 2017 Exhibitors receive two (2) exhibit hall passes. Instructions will be provided by This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. regarding details on how to sign up.

Exhibitors wishing to purchase conference registrations can find details at:
https://www.iscb.org/ismbeccb2017-registration

Sponsors and Exhibitors receiving complimentary registration as part of their package will receive instructions for registration sign-up from This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by June 1, 2017.

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Installation

Friday, July 21: Noon—4:00 PM - For Exhibitors
All crates must be removed in the evening for overnight cleaning.
Opening Reception with Exhibitors: 7:15 pm - 8:30 pm (Exhibitors are asked to be at their booth by 7:00 pm)

Hall Hours
Saturday, July 22: 9:30 AM - 4:30 PM
Sunday, July 23: 9:30 AM - 4:30 PM
Monday, July 24: 9:30 AM - 4:30 PM
Tuesday, July 25: 9:30 AM - 11:00 AM

Coffee Breaks:
Morning: 9:30 am - 10:00 am (Daily)
Afternoon: 4:00 pm - 4:30 pm (Daily, no break Tuesday afternoon)

Dismantling / Exhibitor Move out:
Tuesday, July 25: 11:00 am

Conference Schedule Overview: https://www.iscb.org/cms_addon/conferences/ismbeccb2017/schedule/scheduleOverview.php

For questions please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

General Information on ISMB/ECCB 2017 is available by visiting:
https://www.iscb.org/ismbeccb2017general

If you require additional information contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Helium balloons are not permitted.

The conference organizers through ISMB's official housing partner, onPeak, have reduced hotel rates for your trip to Prague. Book through the simple-to-use reservation website or with helpful and friendly booking agents. Full details available at: https://www.iscb.org/ismbeccb2017-accommodation

It is understood that the exhibitor assumes entire responsibility for and agrees to protect, indemnify, defend and save ISCB, ISMB/ECCB, the Prague Congress Centre and their respective consultants, agents, directors, employees, licensees and assigns them harmless from and against all claims, losses and damages to persons or property, governmental charges of fines and attorney's fees arising out of or caused by exhibitor's installation, removal, maintenance, occupancy or the use of or part thereof negligently or otherwise, excluding any such liability caused by the sole negligence of ISCB, ISMB/ECCB, the Prague Congress Centre, or its employees and agents.

The exhibitor shall indemnify the ISCB, ISMB/ECCB, the Prague Congress Centre, against, and hold it and its representatives harmless from complaints, suits or liabilities resulting from negligence of the exhibitor in connection with the exhibits use of display space. ISCB, ISMB/ECCB, the Prague Congress Centre shall have no liability for loss, damage or theft, through any cause, of goods, hand carried items, exhibits, or other materials owned, rented or leased by the exhibitor. Personal effects, souvenir handouts and other small, easily removed valuable items should not be left unattended. In no event will ISCB, ISMB/ECCB, the Prague Congress Centre have any liability for incidental, consequential, special, indirect or punitive damages for any harm arising from, or related to, the use of exhibit space under the contract agreement.

Complimentary wifi is available in the exhibit area - however if you require a dedicated internet connection for demonstrations, etc please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

(for mail only - please see Delivery Information/Shipping for booths to the Prague Congress Centre)

International Society for Computational Biology
9650 Rockville Pike
Bethesda, MD, United States
20814

Full Exhibitor Rules and Regulations are available at time of exhibitor sign up and are available to view here.

Leaflets may not be distributed from anywhere other than the exhibition stand without receiving prior permission from the Organizers. Leaflets displayed or distributed at any other point throughout the venue, without prior permission, will be removed and destroyed by the Organizers.

ISMB/ECCB delegate badges will include a QR code. This code will work with most Apple and Smartphone apps available online. Lead Generation is open to all delegates and exhibiting companies for the exchange of contact information (with permission by the attendee). Contact information will be limited to: Name, Affiliation, email and phone number.

Free QR reader suggestions:

For Android: https://play.google.com/store/search?q=QR%20reader&c=apps&price=1
For iPhone: http://www.freemake.com/blog/top-5-qr-code-and-barcode-scanners-for-iphone/
Test your reader at: http://iscbconferences.org/BadgeSample2015.pdf

ISMB/ECCB will provide security in the exhibit area during all off-hours and will take reasonable precautions to safe guard exhibitor's property. Exhibitors are encouraged to remove any valuable items from the exhibit area each evening. Please note that ISMB/ECCB, ISCB and the Prague Congress Centre are not responsible for missing or lost articles at the conference.

The Czech Republic has been a member of the European Union since 2004. Inhabitants of the EU require passports or other form of valid identification in order to enter the country. The same applies for the citizens of Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway or Switzerland, who can move freely within the European Union.

Visitors from other countries must have passports valid for at least further six months after the date of arrival and in some cases visa. The list of countries whose citizens require a visa in order to visit the Czech Republic can be found here.

The Czech Republic is a member of the Schengen agreement. Inhabitants of the Schengen countries can move freely within the Schengen area without having to go through border checkpoints. However, they still must have their passports or identification cards with them when travelling.

Additional Information is available at: http://www.schengenvisainfo.com/czech-republic-visa/

IMPORTANT:  If you require a visa please apply at soon as possible. If you require an invitation letter to support your visa application contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.