Bioinformatics Panel

Our live panel discussion will talk about the paths of our panel members, students and professionals, in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology.  Prepare to hear offered opinions and responses to questions about university and career choices.  

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MODERATOR
	Lauren Quattrochi, , MA, MA, PhD NIH Senior Neuroscience Informaticist Clinical Quality Informatics Dr. Lauren Quattrochi is a Senior Neuroscience Informaticist at MITRE, who seeks to empower the scientific community through accelerating biomedical research funding opportunities. Dr. Quattrochi has a diverse background ranging from experiences in the pharmaceutical industry, non-profits and government-funded entities - which she integrates to identify systemic research gaps and challenges. She obtained her doctorate from Brown University, where she discovered a novel type of ganglion photoreceptor - the M6 cell. Prior to MITRE, Dr. Quattrochi directed a national initiative to align the interests of the public with the medical community in clinical trial publication bias and design, as well as facilitating evidence-based advancements at Sense About Science USA.
PANELISTS
	Keylie Gibson Ph.D. Student George Washington University I attended the University of Central Oklahoma for my undergraduate degree where I earned a B.S. in Forensic Science – Molecular Biology and a B.S. in Biology with a minor in chemistry. I am currently a first year in the Ph.D. program in Biological Sciences at George Washington University and am advised in the Computation Biology Institute. I am broadly interested in population genetics, bioinformatics, and molecular biology and evolution related to infectious diseases, forensic science, and Monarch butterflies. I am also interested in biological anthropology and applying computational biology approaches to the social sciences. Outside of science, I enjoy baking and being outdoors, and I am an avid movie goer.
	Keith Hughitt Ph.D. Student University of Maryland, College Park Fifth year graduate student working in the lab of Najib El-Sayed. Research interests include co-expression and network analysis of dual-species transcriptomics datasets, network parameter optimization, and gene regulatory element prediction. Passionate about open and reproducible research methods and efficient software engineering approaches for the sciences. Prior to studying at UMD, I spent close to five years working on visualization and data analysis problems in the solar physics division at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD.
	Eldred A. Ribeiro, Ph. D Healthcare Systems, Principal MITRE Dr. Eldred Ribeiro is interested in solving complex problems in Healthcare and Clinical Research by leveraging interdisciplinary scientific knowledge and information technology. Prior to joining MITRE, he served as the data manager on the Biomedical Translational Research Information System (BTRIS), utilized by the National Institutes of Health to aggregate patient information used in Clinical Trials. While serving for nearly a decade as an R&D scientist at Bio-Rad Laboratories (California), Eldred was instrumental in the design of many recognition and signal processing algorithms, biotechnology applications and instruments for use in Genomics and Proteomics research.  His interest in bioinformatics and biotechnology instrumentation was fueled during his post-doctoral work at Brookhaven National Laboratory (New York) where he developed computer analysis for DNA electrophoresis patterns used in sequencing and mapping during the Human Genome Project.  During the seminal years of the use of DNA Profiling to establish identity for forensic purposes, Eldred served as an expert scientific witness in the California court system. Eldred has a Doctorate in Physics from Clemson University, where he developed biophysical techniques for quantifying UV-induced damage to DNA using gel electrophoresis.  He is a National Science Talent Scholar, with a Masters in Physics from the Indian Institute of Technology. Eldred advocates instilling STEM interest in youth by conducting seminars in biomedical topics for high school students and by serving as a judge in science fairs at the regional, state, and international levels.
	Dr. Amarda Shehu Associate Professor Department of Computer Science George Mason University Fairfax, VA Workshop: Of Mice and Men: From DNA and Mutations to Cellular Activities and Aberrations Dr. Amarda Shehu is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at George Mason University. She holds affiliated appointments in the School of Systems Biology and the Department of Bioengineering at George Mason University. She received her B.S. in Computer Science and Mathematics from Clarkson University in Potsdam, NY in 2002 and her Ph.D. in Computer Science from Rice University in Houston, TX in 2008, where she was an NIH fellow of the Nanobiology Training Program of the Gulf Coast Consortia. Shehu's research contributions are in computational structural biology, biophysics, and bioinformatics with a focus on issues concerning the relationship between sequence, structure, dynamics, and function in biological molecules. Her research on probabilistic search and optimization algorithms for protein structure modeling is supported by various NSF programs, including Intelligent Information Systems, Computing Core Foundations, and Software Infrastructure. Shehu is also the recipient of an NSF CAREER award and two Jeffress Memorial Trust Awards.
	Nick Weber Lead, Translational Bioinformatics Program NIAID OCICB Bioinformatics and Computational Biosciences Branch (BCBB) Rockville, MD Since 2009, Nick Weber has served as an intern, analyst, project manager, product owner, and program lead at the National Institutes of Health. He has a passion for leading “learning teams” that strive to deliver novel, useful, and sustainable applications and databases for the global scientific research community. Nick applies his interdisciplinary education in science, technology, and management to innovative projects that include Nephele, a platform for enabling scalable and standardized microbiome data analysis using the Amazon cloud, and the NIH 3D Print Exchange, a toolkit and repository for creating and sharing 3D-printable models for biomedicine.

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CONTACT

Belinda (Bel) Humes Hanson
Operations and Programs Manager
International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB)
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
1 315 767 5568
www.iscb.org

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CODE OF CONDUCT

The International Society for Computational Biology, Inc. (ISCB) assumes that most people are intelligent and well-intended, and we're not inclined to tell people what to do. However, we want every ISCB conference to be a safe and productive environment for everyone. Attendees should respect common sense rules for public behavior, personal interaction, common courtesy, and respect for private property.

ISCB doesn’t condone harassment or offensive behavior, at our conference venues or anywhere. It's counter to our organization values. More importantly, it's counter to our values as human beings.

Abusive, racist, sexist, harassing, or threatening behavior towards any other participant or directed at any organizer, student volunteer, ISCB staff, convention center staff, or security will not be tolerated.

We invite you to help us make each ISCB conference a place that is welcoming and respectful to all participants, regardless of race, gender, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, national origin, ethnicity, or religion. This allows everyone the opportunity to focus on the conference itself, and the great networking and community richness that happens when we get together in person. Please report any incidents in which an attendee of the meeting is abusive, insulting, intimidating, bothersome, or acting in an unsafe or illegal manner to ISCB staff or security immediately.

We expect all participants to follow the Code of Conduct during the conference. This includes conference-related social events at off-site locations, and in related online communities and social media. Participants asked to stop any harassing behavior are expected to comply immediately. Conference participants violating this Code of Conduct may be expelled from the conference without a refund.

Please bring any concerns to the immediate attention of the event staff, or contact our Executive Director, Diane Kovats, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. We thank our participants for your help in keeping the event welcoming, respectful, and friendly to all participants.

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PLANNING COMMITTEE

• Avramma Blackwell, George Mason University
• Keith Crandall, George Washington University
• Bel Hanson, ISCB
• Diane Kovats, ISCB
• Adam Lee, University of Maryland
• Prathik Naidu, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology
• Lauren Quattrochi, MITRE
• Kamaljeet Sanghera, George Mason University
• Iosif Vaisman, George Mason University

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SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

• Click here for the PDF version of Sponsorship Opportunities

The International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB) in partnership with George Mason University, is hosting the second annual the Youth Bioinformatics Symposium (YBS), Exploring Computational Biology Fall 2017.

Last year nearly 100 students from the greater Washington DC area gathered for this event. This engaging one-day event introduces students to the amazing world of computational biology, allowing them to engage with and learn about popular tools used in research in our hands-on workshop, inform them of the many career areas that bioinformatics is now appearing in, and spark the spirit of competition in our team-based mini science challenges. ISCB is seeking sponsorship for the 2017 YBS at any contributable amount. ISCB hopes to raise enough funding to give the students participating a better experience by providing travel fellowships to future conferences and prizes for the science challenges. Supports of the conference will be recognized during the event as well as in post event articles.

RECOMMENDED SPONSORSHIP LEVEL AND BENEFITS

• Logo prominently displayed on symposium website under highest level sponsorship
• Logo on signage at event
• Logo on event re-cap article in ISCB Newsletter
• Recognition in ISCB annual report for support of the event with logo
• Opportunity to present science award prize
• Organization recognized as travel fellowship donor

• Logo displayed on symposium website under silver level sponsorship
• Logo on signage at event
• Logo on event re-cap article in ISCB Newsletter
• Recognition in ISCB annual report for support of the event
• Opportunity to present science award prize

• Logo displayed on symposium website under bronze level sponsorship
• Logo on signage at event
• Logo on event re-cap article in ISCB newsletter
• Recognition in ISCB annual report for support of the event

• Organization listed on conference website
• Organization listed on signage at event
• Recognition in ISCB annual report

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WORKSHOPS & PANEL

• Workshops
• Panel

LOCATION & PARKING

Click here to download PDF of the George Mason University map.

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THE STORY BEHIND THE SYMPOSIUM

The Youth Bioinformatics symposium was inspired by a local high school student who attended ISMB, the flagship meeting of ISCB, in Dublin, Ireland.

Prathik Naidu is a Junior at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. After presenting at various conferences and science fairs, Prathik was inspired to create the Youth Bioinformatics Symposium in an effort to share with other students about the growing importance of using computer science to study biological data. Previously, Prathik was an intern at Johns Hopkins University for two summers, where he worked on projects ranging from developing algorithms to study genetic variations in different ethnic groups to simulating antimicrobial peptides using a supercomputer. He is now particularly interested in the field of cancer genomics and has conducted research on identifying new cancer mutation patterns from large amounts of genomic data. Outside of research, Prathik is the vice-president of his school’s Bioinformatics Society, where he has led various lectures and presentations on topics in computational biology. In the future, Prathik hopes to pursue a career that combines his interests in computer science, biology, and entrepreneurship.

ISCB is grateful for Prathik's vision and passion and honored to work with him to make his vision a reality!

ISCB would also like to thank the many member volunteers that came together to help produce the symposium. We gratefully acknowledge their efforts, time, and dedication to the society and the field.

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