ISMB/ECCB 2021 Call for SARS-Cov-2 / COVID-19 Abstracts

COVID-19 Track Chairs:
Co-chair: Thomas Lengauer, Max Planck Institute for Informatics, Saarbucken, Germany
Co-chair: Shoshana Wodak, VIB‐VUB Center for Structural Biology, Brussels, Belgium

We invite abstracts for computational biology research that is topical to the current SARS-Cov-2/COVID-19 pandemic for consideration for presentation during the ISMB/ECCB 2021 conference. Issues pertaining to the pandemic or the SARS-Cov-2 virus must lie at the center of the contribution and not just be a use case for an otherwise broader research result.  The contributions should contain significant components of computational biology, bioinfomatics, or data science.

Research topics may include but are not limited to:

• Evolving methods of modeling epidemics, and their effects
• Phylogenetic analysis of SARS-CoV-2 data and variants
• Reports on various open science initiatives on SARS-CoV-2
• Structure prediction of relevant proteins and protein complexes
• New PPI data and analyses
• COVID-19 drug discovery/ drug repurposing efforts
• COVID-19 related data collections/ resources
• Various biophysical modeling/ simulation studies of viral proteins
• Sars-Cov2 interactions with antibodies and nano-bodies
• Host genetics and epigenetics of COVID-19

Your abstract should be submitted to the SARS-Cov-2 / COVID-19 submission portal no later than May 6, 2021.

Multiple talks: The same research is not permitted to be given more than once as an oral presentation at ISMB/ECCB 2021. 

Submission Deadlines:

Any recent research, published or unpublished is eligible for submission and should be received by May 6, 2021. Acceptance notifications will be sent no later than Thursday, May 20, 2021.

Submission Guidelines:

The presenter should be identified during the submission process.  One is able to identify the presenter directly in the EasyChair submission portal. Presenters of accepted abstracts are required to make the presentation themselves, and must register and pay to attend the conference.

• All abstracts must be submitted using the conference submission site by the abstract deadline: May 6, 2021 (You have until 11:59 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time).
• Accepted abstracts (maximum 200 words) will be posted on the conference web site. Authors should upload an extended abstract of up to at most two (2) pages of text and one (1) additional page of graphics/figures in PDF format during the submission process. *Do not submit extended abstracts exceeding three (3) pages total*
• The 200 word abstract should be a brief and concise summary of the background/motivation for the study, method and result(s), as well as conclusion/statement of significance. The abstract is submitted through the EasyChair submission system. The PDF (two (2) pages text plus one (1) page graphics maximum) can be uploaded to provide additional details including figures and graphics that support the main points of the abstract.
• Your abstract must not contain your title/position or any personal information (e.g. affiliation). These details will be collected through the EasyChair submission system.
• Selected Abstract talks will be presented in a special track that runs in parallel with other tracks on other topics during the conference. The length of a talk is 12 minutes plus 3 minutes for Q&A (15 minutes total).
  
• Your abstract should convey a scientific result and should not be an advertisement for any commercial software package.
  
• All submissions will be evaluated by the Track Chairs and Conference Steering committee.
  
  
  For questions concerning the scientific content of submissions, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
  

ISMB/ECCB 2021 - Key Dates
*dates may be subject to change

ISMB/ECCB 2021 News

Registration

To be announced

ISMB/ECCB 2021

Mark your calendars and join us July 25 - 30
All times are UTC

ISCB Summer Newsletter

Special Issue of Bioinformatics Featuring ISMB/ECCB 2021

Explore the Scientific Program

ISMB/ECCB 2021 scientific program is poised to enlighten all.  Click on the track areas to learn more about the science that will be presented July 25-30. Registered participants will be able to build personalized schedules within the virtual platform.

What is ISMB and Why Attend?

The ISMB/ECCB conference alliance has become synonymous with collaboration, fostering fresh dialogue, and providing inumerable learning opportunities.  Moving the conference to a state of the art virtual interface will not change what attendees have come to expect from this conference. The virtual interface will only enhance the attendee experience and ensure that more of you can enjoy it.

 Here is what to expect in the virtual environment:

• Training workshops and tutorials
• Student Council Symposium
• Live and on-demand sessions to benefit attendees from all time zones
• 500+ expected scientific talks
• Live question and answer feature to engage with the speaker during sessions
• Live chat feature to engage with other participants within your session room
• Dedicated time for research presentation within the Research Exchange Forum (formerly Poster Hall)
• Ability to serendipitously make new connections when utilizing the attendee profile and match maker features
• Schedule one-on-one time with speakers, poster presenters, exhibitors, and sponsors to learn more about their work, products, or services
• Exclusive access to the ISMB/ECCB 2021 on-demand repository of talks and poster presentations for viewing at your leisure after conference dates

Though we realize nothing replaces trying to run across a convention center between sessions, ISCB is making every effort to create a virtual experience that mirrors an in-person experience with less sore feet at the end of the day.  Opportunities to present your research are still available.  

Thank you for your continued support of ISCB and ECCB, and we look forward to “seeing” you in July for ISMB/ECCB 2021, the premier virtual event of the year!

About the ISMB/ECCB 2021 Conference

The annual international conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB) is the flagship meeting of the International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB). The 2021 conference is the 29th ISMB conference, which has grown to become the world's largest bioinformatics and computational biology conference. Joining forces with the European Conference on Computational Biology (20th Annual Conference) ISMB/ECCB 2021 will be the year's most important computational biology event globally. The conference will be held as a virtual conference due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Bioinformatics and computational biology, an interdisciplinary field, combines biology, computer science, information engineering, mathematics and statistics to analyze and interpret biological data. Powered by a technological revolution, the life sciences currently generate massive datasets that require unique expertise in handling, processing and transferring information; in addition to the biological expertise. At the start of the data revolution in biology, experts in computation and biology came together to work collaborative to turn data into discoveries. Computational skills have become integral to the analysis of the large volumes of biomedical and agricultural data currently being generated in the life sciences, and to understanding complex biological systems. Conferences like ISMB/ECCB play a critical role in the dissemination of research findings and information sharing. Enabling researchers to gather, learn, and collaborate will lead to the acceleration of science and the opportunity to make advances towards cures for disease, novel drug development, and personalized healthcare.

ISMB/ECCB 2021 will provide an intense multidisciplinary forum for disseminating the latest developments in bioinformatics and computational biology. The conference fosters fresh dialogues, collaboration and learning opportunities, and is a gathering which shapes the future of the field. At the heart of the scientific program are the ISCB’s Communities of Special Interest (COSIs), enabling intensified community involvement and bolstering its reputation as a conference with strong scientific and technical program, which showcases the best international developments in the field. The open conference format retains key features, which have proven successful for more than 25 years. Each day of the conference includes outstanding keynote lectures, technical talks, proceedings talks from the published conference proceedings in Bioinformatics, additional published and unpublished talks thematically organized in the COSI tracks, a variety of workshops, special sessions, equal opportunities activities, a students organized symposium, a virtual experience including an exhibition hall,  posters, and a career fair. The structure is intended to bring a new energy and flow to the conference by centering it thematically around the vibrant ISCB COSIs. Further, with the COSIs more central to the conference, networking within and between the scientific communities is greatly enhanced.

ISMB/ECCB 2021 is the premier conference in the field and a must participate event!

ISMB/ECCB 2021 Committees

• Conference Chairs
• Committees
• COSI Track Leads & Abstract Chairs

General Information

• About ISCB
• About ISMB/ECCB
• Awards
• Learn more about ISCB COSIs
• Proceedings Publication Fees