RECOMB/ISCB 2013 Conference on Regulatory & Systems Genomics with DREAM Challenges - Early Registration Deadline: October 11!

Register Now and SAVE!!

Join your colleagues at the RECOMB/ISCB Conference on Regulatory & Systems Genomics with DREAM Challenges, a premier annual meeting for computational and experimental scientists in the following areas:

• Regulatory Genomics

• Systems Biology

• DREAM reverse engineering challenges

Don't miss your opportunity to hear the latest findings about regulatory and systems genomics, foster discussion about current research directions, and establish new collaborations that will advance the development of a systems-level understanding of gene regulation.

**New: Check out the Agenda at a Glance!**

Register now and join us in Toronto!

Conference: November 8 - 12, 2013
 
Visit RECOMB/ISCB 2013 for the latest conference and DREAM8 Challenges information 

CALL FOR ANNUAL AWARDS NOMINATIONS!

2014 Overton Prize and 2014 Accomplishment by a Senior Scientist Award

Nomination deadline: December 2, 2013

www.iscb.org/iscb-awards

ISCB's annual awards are the most prestigious international awards designated exclusively to researchers in the field of computational biology/bioinformatics, and you are invited to submit nominations for the 2014 Overton Prize and the 2014 Accomplishment by a Senior Scientist Award.

The Overton Prize is awarded to an early career scientist, generally within ten years post-degree, and the Accomplishment by a Senior Scientist Award is in recognition of highly significant, long-term career achievement. The winners of both awards will deliver keynote talks at ISCB's annual meeting, ISMB 2014 in Boston, Mass. USA.

Nominations from all regions of the world are encouraged, and the selection of award winners will be made by an international panel of current and past members of the ISCB Board of Directors. The nomination form, list of past winners with links to their bios, and a link to the full policies and procedures of these ISCB awards, are all accessed at the above URL.

Please consider nominating your highly accomplished peers and senior researchers who have helped to advance our field in significant and meaningful ways, and then proceed to the nomination form to ensure they are considered for these prestigious awards.

Thank you,

Bonnie Berger

Chair, ISCB Awards Committee

ISCB CELEBRATES KARPLUS, LEVITT, WARSHEL FOR 2013 NOBEL PRIZE 

The International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB) celebrates the recognition of Professors Martin Karplus, Michael Levitt, and Arieh Warshel with the 2013 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Karplus, affiliated with the Université de Strasbourg and Harvard University, Levitt of Stanford University, and Warshel of the University of Southern California were recognized “for the development of multiscale models for complex chemical systems.”

Karplus, Levitt, and Warshel developed computer models in the 1970s that were seminal to the formation of computational systems that can simulate and predict chemical processes.  These computer models were uniquely powerful because they were able to apply both quantum physics, which was needed for understanding atomic-level reactions, and classical Newtonian physics, which was essential to modeling the structures of large macro-molecules crucial for life.

Genomes contain the blueprint for all parts of life’s machinery.  Proteins comprise this essential machinery, and are formed by the assembly of amino acids into chains.  In water, many proteins rapidly collapse from  stretched out chains into unique three-dimensional (3D) structures through a process referred to as protein folding. The intricate details of these 3D structures are required for proteins to function.  The methods developed by Karplus, Levitt and Warshel have been vital to understanding how proteins fold and function, and their work has also provided essential foundations for the field of computational biology. The 2013 Nobel Prize in Chemistry affirms the coming of age of a field that bridges the material and life sciences.

Since the 1970s, Levitt has continuously been a strong pillar, visionary, and supporter of the growing field of computational biology. Like his co-laureates, Karplus and Warshel, he succeeded in the quest to move from the atomic and subatomic phenomena involved in chemical reactions to providing computational methods that are able to predict static and dynamical aspects of 3D structure for protein molecules with thousands to millions of atoms.

Levitt’s research has been essential to establishing the legitimacy and validity of computational biology, and he is a respected scientist within the ISCB community.  In 2009, at ISMB/ECCB in Stockholm, Sweden, the 3Dsig: Structural Bioinformatics & Computational Biophysics Satellite Meeting hosted Levitt as the EMBO Plenary Lecture where he gave an illuminating talk on the protien universe.

Levitt is an inspiring role model within the computational biology community who advocates for the good that science can bring to society. His enthusiasm and humility persist in the face of this recognition, as he stated in his own words, “The Nobel is recognition and it's fun to get it, and it's good for the university, it's good for Israel and it's good for our science. Levitt also told Associated Press, “It’s sort of nice in more general terms to see that computational science, computational biology is being recognized.” He added, “It’s become a very large field and it’s always in some ways been the poor sister, or the ugly sister, to experimental biology.”

ISCB is grateful to all three laureates for all that they did to strengthen the field of computational biology and is looking forward to their continued contributions to excellence in science.

About ISCB:
The International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB) - www.iscb.org - has been the first and continues to be the only society representing computational biology and bioinformatics on a worldwide scale.  ISCB serves a global community of over 3,000 scientists dedicated to advancing the scientific understanding of living systems through computation. It convenes the world’s experts and future leaders in top conferences, is the host of the Intelligent Systems in Molecular Biology (ISMB) Conference, and partners with publications that promote discovery and expand access to computational biology and bioinformatics. It delivers valuable information about training, education, employment, and relevant news. ISCB also provides an influential voice on government and scientific policies that are important to its members and benefit the public.

About 3Dsig: Structural Bioinformatics & Computational Biophysics:
3Dsig, a Satellite Meeting of the ISMB conference, focused on structural bioinformatics and computational biophysics and has become the largest meeting in this growing field.

In addition to keynotes, our diverse program will include talks selected from submitted abstracts, our traditional after dinner speaker, daily discussion on important topics to this community and hybrid laptop/poster sessions. Simply put, 3DSIG is the most comprehensive conference in the field and should not be missed by anyone using macromolecular structure to computationally unravel the mysteries of living systems.

Over the years, 3DSig has brought the leaders of the field of Structural Bioinformatics and Computational Biophysics in an ideal environment for personal contacts and discussions. For more information about 3Dsig, please visit our website http://bcb.med.usherbrooke.ca/3dsig.

Contact:
Diane E. Kovats, Executive Director
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

RECOMB 2014: The 18th International Conference on Research in Computational Molecular Biology -- DEADLINE EXTENSION

April 2-5, 2014, Pittsburgh, PA
 
Submission open: September 2, 2013
 
Submission deadline: October 19, 2013
 
Submission entry:  www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=recomb2014
 
Conference website:  www.compbio.cmu.edu/recomb/

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Dear RECOMB community,

Due to the continuing US government shutdown, which affects some of the research groups, we have decided to extend the deadline for paper submissions to Oct 19, 23:59 PST.

**This extension is valid for regular RECOMB papers only**

Papers that are submitted in parallel to PLoS Computational Biology must adhere to the original deadline (Oct 15, 23:59 GMT, note the different time zone).

There will be no further extensions to the deadline.

Full details on manuscript preparation and submission procedures can be found on the conference website.

Best Regards,

Roded Sharan, Program Chair

Russell Schwartz and Panagiotis Benos, Conference Chairs