ISMB/ECCB 2013 Call for Special Sessions, Proceedings, Tech Track

Dear ISCB Members and Colleagues, and Past ISMB and ECCB Conference Attendees,

Following this year's separate and highly successful ISMB in Long Beach, California, and ECCB in Basel, Switzerland, we are pleased to announce these calls for participation for next year's joint ISMB/ECCB 2013, taking place July 21-23 in Berlin, Germany.

Call for Special Session Proposals - deadline October 26, 2012

>> Full details of the call and a link to the submission form can be accessed here <<

The Special Sessions run throughout the ISMB/ECCB conference in parallel to all other tracks. Specifically, Special Sessions are sought on "hot topics" of emerging themes that most attendees are not currently approaching with desired proficiency. Proposals should be of topics not covered in previous Special Sessions at ISMB or ISMB/ECCB meetings, but that nonetheless importantly influence bioinformatics and computational biology. If you are interested in organizing a Special Session at ISMB/ECCB 2013, please link to the details of the call and submission form above, and be sure to submit your proposal by the October 26th deadline.

Call for Proceedings Track Papers - deadline January 7, 2013

>> Full details of the call and a link to the submission form can be accessed here <<

Submissions are also being solicited for the Proceedings Track. These are original research papers that, if selected, will be presented as talks and published in the conference proceedings in an open access, online-only section of a regular issue of Bioinformatics. Papers should be submitted in their final form; poor quality submissions or insufficiently prepared papers are very often rejected. ISMB Proceedings result in fully citable articles, indexed by Medline and ISI. We encourage you to submit an unpublished paper of your very best work for consideration by January 7th.

Call for Technology Track Presentations - deadline April 26, 2013

>> Full details of the call and a link to the submission form can be accessed here <<

The Technology Track provides an opportunity for organizations to showcase their software and/or hardware that is relevant to the bioinformatics-molecular biology community. To apply for a Technology Track presentation slot, organizations must complete an online form by April 26th. Accepted Tech Track applicants are required to make a payment based on the organization's status as a non- or for-profit enterprise. This payment is in addition to the conference registration fees required of all attendees, including presenters in each of the parallel tracks.

On behalf of the ISMB/ECCB 2013 Steering and Scientific Organizing Committees, we look forward to seeing you in Berlin next July!br>
Sincerely,

Michal Linial, Special Sessions Chair

Nir Ben-Tal, Proceedings Track Chair

Rodrigo Lopez, Technology Track Chair

National Centers for Biomedical Computing (NCBC) Showcase

Dear Colleague:

Learn about the activities and impact of the NIH Common Fund’s National Centers for Biomedical Computing (NCBC) at a meeting on November 8-9, 2012 in the Natcher Conference Center (Building 45), Ruth L. Kirschtein Auditorium.  The meeting will be opened by Dr. Francis Collins.  In addition Dr. James Anderson will present opening remarks about the NIH Common Fund.  Registration is not required; see http://meetings.nigms.nih.gov/meetings/ncbc/ for an agenda and details.
 
Please share this information with colleagues who may be interested in attending.
 
Program Summary:  The National Centers for Biomedical Computing (NCBCs) are intended to be part of the national infrastructure in Biomedical Informatics and Computational Biology.  The consortium portal is www.ncbcs.org.   There are eight Centers that cover biophysical modeling, biomedical ontologies, information integration, tools for gene-phenotype and disease analysis, systems biology, image analysis, and health information modeling and analysis. The centers create innovative software programs and other tools that enable the biomedical community to integrate, analyze, model, simulate, and share data on human health and disease. Each Center has Cores that are focused on (i) biomedical computational science and (ii) driving biological projects (DBPs) with the intent to drive the interaction between computational and biomedical computational science. There are numerous efforts in education and training that emanate from the Centers and there is an annual all hands meeting.  In addition to the Centers, the NIH and other government agencies have a number of funding announcements that are summarized in the Biomedical Information Science and Technology Initiative (BISTI) Funding Page.  This also includes a program for Collaborations with National Centers for Biomedical Computing.  Under the collaborations program, over the course of the program 225 applications for funding have been reviewed at NIH and 33 have been awarded.
 
This meeting is the culmination of the Year of Outreach which has so far included a special session at the Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB) meeting 2012 in Long Beach on July 16 that focused on NCBC accomplishments.  In addition, a set of special articles was published in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association (JAMIA).
 
The main goal of the meeting is to showcase not only the research, training, and outreach in biocomputational science but also highlight the impact that the program has on other researchers and users.  The impact of this meeting is expected to be the lasting connections that are built up between programs in biomedical computing and computational biology at NIH.
 
Unfortunately, we cannot provide travel funds for this meeting. The meeting will not be videocast.
 
On behalf of the NCBC Project Team,
 
Peter Lyster, PhD, Program Director, Division of Biomedical Technology, Bioinformatics, and Computational Biology, NIH/NIGMS

 LAST CALL: Rocky 2012 Early Registration

December 6 - 8 , 2012, Snowmass/Aspen, Colorado, USA

Dear ISCB Members and Colleagues,

THE EARLY REGISTRATION DATE FOR ROCKY 2012 EXPIRES IN LESS THAN TWO DAYS! The 10th Annual Rocky Mountain Bioinformatics Conference is now just weeks away, and early registration expires this week. With a spotlight on regional development in the computational biosciences, this conference has grown into an international program over its ten year history. Invited and accepted presenters represent a broad spectrum of universities, industrial enterprises, government laboratories, and medical libraries from around the world. The meeting is a chance to get to know your colleagues near and far, seek collaborative opportunities, and find synergies that can drive our field forward.

EARLY REGISTRATION DATE IS APPROACHING: Be sure to take advantage of early registration rates while they last. If you are not a current member consider joining ISCB now for immediate additional savings on your conference registration to this and any other ISCB conference. Please note that accepted presenters must register at applicable conference attendee rates by November 6 in order to give a presentation at Rocky 2012.

Register Here Now
Early Registration Deadline: November 8, 2012

Until November 8th the Rocky conference also offers a special Academic Retreat package for groups attending from the same lab or school, including a free student registration. Gather your colleagues and collaborators and come for a lab retreat in addition to attending for the great science and networking.

HOTEL ACCOMMODATIONS SELLING OUT: Rocky 2012 will be held at the new Viceroy Snowmass Hotel, and a special group rate has been negotiated for attendees: $105 single or $140 double occupancy, plus tax. These rates are available until our contracted block of rooms is full, or November 14th, whichever comes first. You must enter the group code of Rocky2012 to secure rooms at the special rate.

Access Full Hotel Details Here

Please forward this mail to anyone you think should know about this conference. All participants are welcome, and we look forward to your participation!

Sincerely,

The Rocky 2012 Conference Organizing Team

CSHALS 2013 Last Call for Oral Presentation and Registration Now Open

Dear ISCB Members and Colleagues,

The last call for submitting your abstract for an oral presentation at the ISCB Conference on Semantics in Healthcare and Life Sciences is November 30th. Poster abstracts and online registration remain open into the New Year.

CSHALS is the premier annual event focused on the use of semantic technologies in the pharmaceutical industry, including hospitals/healthcare institutions and academic research labs. The conference will address the emerging field of data science, and if that is an important element of your research then CSHALS 2013 should be part of your plans for 2013!

Topics covered by CSHALS 2013 span the continuum between standards development and big data workflows - the scope between Life Science data representation and its analysis. To find out more about CSHALS topics follow the link here.

This is YOUR invitation to participate:

>> CALL FOR ORAL AND POSTER PRESENTATIONS IS NOW OPEN <<

Call for Oral Presentations closes - FINAL DAYS - November 30, 2012

Call for Poster Abstracts closes January 11, 2013

>> REGISTER NOW <<

Early Registration Discount closes January 25, 2013

We look forward to your participation and hope to be welcoming you to Cambridge/Boston in February!

Sincerely,

The CSHALS 2013 Organizing Committee