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ISCB NEWSLETTER October 13, 1999 - Vol. 2 #8
  1. PSB ONLINE PROCEEDINGS NOW AVAILABLE
  2. ISCB MEMBERSHIP AND SUBSCRIPTION UPDATES
  3. CALL FOR ISMB SITE PROPOSALS
  4. CONFERENCES
  5. COLD SPRING HARBOR LABORATORY PRESS - Genome Research Discount
  6. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AND PARKE DAVIS ESTABLISH BIOINFORMATICS PROGRAM

PSB ONLINE PROCEEDINGS NOW AVAILABLE
The online proceedings of the Pacific Symposium on Biocomputing 2000 are now available on the web at http://www-smi.stanford.edu/projects/helix/psb-online/. The sessions at PSB this year include: Protein evolution and structural genomics, protein structure prediction, tools for visualization and interaction, molecular network modeling, data mining, identification of coordinated gene expression, natural language processing, computer-aided combinatorial chemistry, information theory in biology and analysis of SNP data. The keynote speaker will be Dr. Robert Huber, Nobel Laureate. The meeting will take place January 4 through January 9, 2000, and further information is available at http://www.cgl.ucsf.edu/psb/.


ISCB MEMBERSHIP AND SUBSCRIPTION UPDATES
There has been some confusion about ISCB subscription benefits, and we are still improving the procedures we follow with the publishers. We are also just getting our own renewal system together. This article should help clear up the confusion, and note some current difficulties. First, subscription benefits, like ISCB membership itself, are provided on a calendar year basis, that is, membership and associated subscriptions run from January 1 to December 31 no matter when during the year you join. If you join the Society after the last issue of the journal has been published for the year, you will be automatically enrolled for the following year. Membership renewal notices will go out in the fall, and using our renewal form will be the best way to ensure getting the Society discounts on our publications. Currently, Oxford University Press, the publisher of the Society journal Bioinformatics, is in the process of updating its computer systems, and is unable to process anything until September 30. We regret that this may have adversely affected some of our members, and we will catch up as soon as possible after the system is running. Basic membership includes electronic access to the Society journal, Bioinformatics. You should receive your eight digit subscriber number shortly after joining the Society. Currently the process for generating this involves manual intervention. In the future, we hope to automate this process so that your access to the journal is effective immediately after payment of your dues. Many members also take advantage of the other affiliated Society publications. The Journal of Computational Biology recently sent erroneous renewal notices to many Society members; they did not mention the Society benefit, nor use the discounted Society price. If you renew your Journal of Computational Biology subscription as part of your membership renewal, there should be no problems. We appreciate your patience with us as we work out these growing pains. If you have any questions or problems, please contact the Society administrator, Janice Cole.



CALL FOR ISMB SITE PROPOSALS FOR ISMB 2001 through 2004 International Conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology
SITE PROPOSAL SUBMISSION DEADLINES:
We solicit site proposals by potential organizers of the summer 2001 International Conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB'01) and subsequent meetings. The conference provides a general forum for disseminating the latest developments in bioinformatics. It is run under the auspices of the International Society for Computational Biology, which provides some organizational assistance to conference organizers. The multidisciplinary ISMB conference brings together scientists from molecular biology, computer science, mathematics, and statistics. Its scope includes the development and application of advanced computational methods for biological problems. Biological areas of interest include molecular structure, genomics, molecular sequence analysis, evolution and phylogenetics, metabolic pathways, regulatory networks, developmental control, and molecular biology generally. Relevant computational techniques include, but are not limited to, machine learning, pattern recognition, knowledge representation, databases, combinatorics, stochastic modeling, string and graph algorithms, linguistic methods, robotics, constraint satisfaction, and parallel computation. Emphasis is placed on the validation of methods using real data sets, on practical application in the biological sciences, and on development of novel computational techniques. Past ISMB conferences have been held inside and outside North America in alternate years. Therefore, the selection committee will give some preference to proposals to hold ISMB'01 outside of North America. The conference typically is held in late June or July, but has flexibility to accommodate special circumstances. The submission deadline for site proposals for summer 2001 (ISMB'01) is December 1, 1999. The deadline for site proposals for the years 2002 and 2003 is November 1, 2000. The deadlines for site proposals for the year 2004 is November 1, 2001. CONTACT INFO:

If you are interested in submitting a proposal, please see first the information at http://www.iscb.org/guidelines.html. If you do indeed plan to submit a proposal, please send an email message to that effect to Rick Lathrop at rickl@uci.edu He will send you additional information on preparing proposals.

CONFERENCES ISCB and Cambridge Healthtech Institute (CHI) have recently agreed that ISCB will become a co-sponsoring society of the following CHI bioinformatics-related conferences:

Members of ISCB from academic institutions will receive a $50 registration discount for these conferences, and ISCB members from commercial institutions will receive a $100 discount. Other conferences for which ISCB members receive registration discounts are: ISMB, PSB, and RECOMB. Please see the ISCB conferences web page for more details.

COLD SPRING HARBOR LABORATORY PRESS
Genome Research Discount Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press would like to make a special offer to the members of the ISCB. Beginning in 2000, you can subscribe to its journal on Genome Research at a 25% discount. That translates to a rate of $90 (US) and $142 (rest of world) for 12 monthly issues beginning in January 2000. It also includes online access to the full text. The journal Genome Research focuses on genome studies in all species, and presents research that provides or aids in genome-based analyses of biological processes. The journal is a nexus point where genomic information, applications, and technology come together with biological information to create a more global understanding of all biological systems. One important area for the journal is presentation of reports on bioinformatics systems and software that are of interest to both producers and users of genomic information. New data in these areas are published as research papers in the form of articles and letters, or methods and resource reports. The journal's web site offers opportunity to publish online supplementary material as well. The journal also provides review articles, perspectives, and Insight/Outlook articles, which present commentary on the latest advances published both here and elsewhere, placing progress in these areas in its broader context. Genome Research bridges the technology and biology gap by providing one of the few arenas where the two are presented together. If you're interested in subscribing to Genome Research at the 25% discount, please call Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press at 516-349-1930, or fax them at 516-349-1946, or e-mail them at cshpress@cshl.org. In each case, you must identify yourself as a member of ISCB in order to get the discount.

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AND PARKE DAVIS ESTABLISH BIOINFORMATICS ANN ARBOR
The University of Michigan will receive $5 million from the Parke Davis Pharmaceutical Research Division of Warner-Lambert Company to help the University establish a new Program in Bioinformatics. This interdisciplinary program will offer graduate education and support pilot research studies in the emerging scientific field of bioinformatics, one of the areas highlighted in the U-M's Life Sciences Initiative. A portion of the University of Michigan funding will be used to finish renovating a 5,000-square-foot area, which will be equipped with advanced computer hardware, software and network support. The area will include five research laboratories for new faculty plus a 500-square-foot Bioinformatics Core Facility. There will be office space for a director and support staff to assist faculty, graduate students and collaborating scientists from Parke Davis who use the facility. Faculty recruitment is a major goal of the new program. See http://www.bioinformatics.med.umich.edu/um-pd.html for more information.

Present Paid ISCB Members: 426
Pending Payment: 44

Copyright © 1999 International Society for Computational Biology. All rights reserved.