ISMB/ECCB 2007

**Call for Tutorials Now Closed**

Notice:
Tutorial submitters – if you have submitted a Tutorial and have not received a confirmation notice please contact Steven Leard: steven@iscb.org

Tutorial submissions should be made at:
http://www.iscb.org/cms_addon/conferences/ismb07/tutorials.php

ISMB/ECCB 2007 will feature half-day tutorial sessions. The tutorials will be given on Saturday, July 21 prior to the start of the ISMB scientific program. The purpose of the tutorial program is to provide participants with lectures and instruction covering either well-established or new “cutting-edge” topics, relevant to the bioinformatics field. It offers participants an opportunity to learn about new areas of bioinformatics research, to get an introduction to important established topics, or to develop advanced skills in areas about which they are already knowledgeable. The list and descriptions of the final tutorials will be available here after March 1, 2007. Tutorial registration fees will be announced in early 2007.

This call is an invitation for scientists and professionals working in the fields of bioinformatics and computational biology to submit proposals for high quality tutorials for ISMB 2007. Tutorials must be designed as half-day (four hour) sessions, including a 30 minute break at their midpoint. ISMB will offer up to 14 tutorials covering a range of topics reflective of the multi-disciplinary nature of our field.

Proposals for ISMB 2007 tutorials can be submitted from October 20, 2006. Please submit proposals prior to December 15, 2006. Tutorial submissions should not exceed a maximum of 4 pages, and must include a detailed description of what will be taught. Proposals should contain the following information:

• A brief description of the instructor(s) indicating the relevant qualifications and teaching experience.
• Based on feedback received from earlier years, please note that in general graduate students are not permitted to participate as instructors.
• Each tutorial should have a maximum of two presenters.
• Title and expected goals, objectives and motivation of the tutorial
• Tutorial level: Introductory, Intermediate or Advanced.
• Intended audience: it should be clearly and precisely indicated to whom the tutorial is aimed and at which level it would be taught with respect to the different underlying scientific fields. In particular if any background (biology, algorithmics, statistics, etc) is expected, this should be very precisely described.
• Detailed outline of the presentation. Please adhere to the page limit, but provide sufficient information for a thorough evaluation to be possible

Proposals must be submitted using the MS Word or PDF templates provided
and uploaded when submitting to
http://www.iscb.org/cms_addon/conferences/ismb07/tutorials.php

All submissions will be evaluated by a committee, which will consider the following criteria:

• Relevance, interest, and value of the topic to ISMB attendees
• Completeness, clarity, and quality of the tutorial proposal and materials
• Expertise and experience of the presenters in the proposed topic
• Expertise and experience of the presenters in delivering a successful educational experience
• Effectiveness of the proposed presentation approach.

Tutorials serve an educational function and are expected to provide a balanced perspective on a field of research. They should not focus on the presenters’ own research or software. Tutorial attendees often consider the reputation and standing of the presenters as one of their criteria for choosing particular sessions. It is therefore expected that the presenters listed on the submitted proposal will attend the conference to present their tutorials.

Submitters of successful tutorial proposals will be notified of their acceptance by January, 19 2007. A maximum of 14 proposals will be accepted for presentation at ISMB 2007. ISMB tutorial presenters may also be invited to develop tutorials for publication in the journal PLoS Computational Biology.

Final handouts for reproduction must be received by June 1, 2007. The slides may be submitted as PowerPoint or PDF files, and the handouts should be PDF files. ISMB will provide a template to be used by presenters.

Tutorial Handouts
The tutorial presenters agree to provide participants with teaching materials that include:

• A detailed outline of the presentation and explanatory text, which will be a document equivalent to the oral component of the tutorial, in a standard template.
• Copies of the slides, in Powerpoint or PDF format.
• Copies of relevant articles/book chapters published by the tutors may be provided as Supplementary Information but cannot replace the text material of the handout. Presenters will have to obtain copyright permission from their publishers, as required.

Copyright
The authors will grant copyright to tutorial materials to the ISCB for a period to extend from acceptance through August 1, 2008, and they agree that their materials may be made available for sale in perpetuity through ISCB.

Compensation

Each tutorial team will be provided:

• Free tutorial registration for team members presenting the tutorial (ISMB/ECCB 2007 full conference registration not included and must be registered and paid for separately by team members planning to attend the main conference)
• 1 x US$500 honorarium

Tutorial submissions should be made at:
http://www.iscb.org/cms_addon/conferences/ismb07/tutorials.php

• Tutorial Proposal Template — MS Word
• Tutorial Proposal Template — PDF

Correspondence from prospective tutorial instructors should be sent to: tutorials07@ismbconf.org