Alfonso Valencia (Centro
Nacional de Biotecnologia) is the Vice President
Teri Klein (Stanford)
is the Treasurer
Phil Bourne (UC San
Diego) is the Secretary
Contact information for all
are at http:www.iscb.org. At the ISCB
Board of Directors meeting, it was decided that, effective 2001, officers will
be nominated and elected by the general membership. All officers automatically
serve three year appointments on the board, so over time, the board will become
entirely member-elected. Seven new members were elected to the board of directors
to serve a three-year term. They are:
Dietlind L. Gerloff
of the University of Edinburg, Scotland
Minoru Kanehisa of the
Institute of Chemical Research in Kyoto University, Japan
Masaru (Tommy) Tomita,
professor and Director for Laboratory for Bioinformatics, Keio University,
Japan
Gary Stormo, Professor,
Dept of Genetics, Washington University Medical School
Gunnar Von Heijne Stockhom
University, Dept of Biochemistry
Cathy Wu, director of
Bioinformatics, National Biochemedical Research Foundation at Georgetown University
Medical Center
Hershel Safer of Compugen
Ltd in Israel
ISMB2000 IN SAN DIEGO A TREMENDOUS SUCCESS ISMB 2000 in
San Diego placed special emphasis on knowledge discovery from the modeling and
simulation of complex biological systems. The intense interest in the field was
reflected by an attendance of 1211 scientists from 44 countries - almost double
the 1999 attendance. Attendees heard 42 papers selected from 141 submitted as
well as 7 keynotes, including a wonderful lecture delivered by David Searls as
the first Chris Overton Memorial Lecture. Approximately 280 posters were presented
over the four days of the conference and 14 tutorials were presented before the
main conference. An exhibitor showcase, job fare, and software demos completed
the program. In a survey conducted at the end of the conference 19% considered
the scientific content outstanding, 64% good, 14% okay, 1% poor and 2% did not
respond. Full details of the conference remain on the Web site at http://ismb00.sdsc.edu including pointers
to what will likely be an equally exciting and rewarding conference in Copenhagen
in 2001. Not only has bioinformatics arrived as a serious endeavor, so has ISMB
as a major scientific conference. In fact, more scientists attended ISMB than
the Protein Society Meeting held in San Diego two weeks prior to ISMB. Phil Bourne
& Michael Gribskov ISMB 2000 Co-chairmen
FOURTH ANNUAL CONFAB ON COMPUTATION GENOMICS
Title: Fourth Annual Conference on Computational Genomics
Time and place: November 16 - 19, 2000, Renaissance Harborplace Hotel, Baltimore,
MD
Organized by: The Institute for Genomic Research
URL: http://www.tigr.org/cet/gss/cg/index.shtml
Contact information: cg@tigr.org This
conference will bring together practitioners of the science of computational genomics
and promote the further interaction between the fields of computer science and
molecular biology in support of genomics.
CALL FOR PAPERS CPM 2001
The Twelfth Annual Symposium on Combinatorial Pattern Matching will be held in
Jerusalem, Israel, on July 1-4, 2001. The conference will be followed by STOC
2001 in Crete, a mere swimming distance away. Papers in all areas related to combinatorial
pattern matching and its applications will be considered, including, but not limited
to: string algorithms pattern recognition applications in molecular biology text
searching information retrieval data mining symbolic computing natural language
processing coding and data compression. string processing in databases Both papers
reporting on original research unpublished elsewhere and surveys of important
results are welcome. In addition, this year the committee welcomes poster submissions
as well. Proceedings will be published in the Springer-Verlag series, Lecture
Notes in Computer Science. Important dates:
CALL TO PARTICIPATE IN FIRST INTL SYSTEMS BIOLOGY CONFAB
The First International Conference on Systems Biology (ICSB2000) -The 9th JST
International Symposium-14-16 November, 2000 Royal Park Hotel@TCAT, Tokyo Japan
Organized by Japan Science and Technology Corporation
ADMISSION FREE / Registration deadline: Oct. 31, 2000
Registration can be made from our website: http://www.systems-biology.org
The First International Conference on Systems Biology aims at bringing together
researchers working in the field of Systems Biology and related field to present
the current status of their research and to discuss future directions of the field.
The importance of the system-level understanding of biological systems is receiving
increasing recognition recently. Nevertheless, the efforts are still sporadic
and there is no conference specifically focused on this topic. While there are
conferences on bioinformatics, the threads of these conferences are the use of
computers in various aspects of biology, and not necessarily viewed from the system-level
perspectives. Thus, these conferences cover broadly from sequence database, protein
structures to gene networks, and less emphasis on the system-level understanding.
Therefore, the goal of the conference is to create a forum of discussion for those
who are interested in system-level understanding from various approaches for various
biological systems, so that such efforts can form a coherent landscape. Systems
Biology that focuses on system level understanding can be a major thrust in biology
in the 21st century. A book based on this conference will be published from The
MIT Press, Springer. Inquiries on the participation shall be addressed to the
ICSB2000 Secretariat
E-mail: isjst@jsf.or.jp
TEL:03-3212-2454
FAX:03-3212-0014
COMPUBIO AND BIOINFORMATICS POSITION AVAILABLE AT UCSD Tenure-track Position The Department of Computer Science and Engineering
at UCSD has a tenure-track faculty position in computational biology and bioinformatics
open for Fall, 2001. The department is looking for applicants with outstanding
research credentials. Successful applicants are expected to lead a vigorous research
program and to have a strong commitment to teaching. The department is in a period
of exciting growth and has attracted extraordinary faculty in the past few years.
It has strong research programs in computer science and computer engineering as
well as a strong interdisciplinary research program in computational biology and
bioinformatics. UCSD's bioinformatics community includes not only the Computer
Science Department but also the Departments of Bioengineering, Physics, Chemistry,
Mathematics, and Biology, as well as UCSD Medical School and San Diego Supercomputing
Center. For more information, please consult our web page http://www-cse.ucsd.edu. We encourage
the candidates to send applications as soon as possible. Faculty applications
received by January 15, 2001, will be given full consideration. Salary and rank
will be commensurate with qualifications in conformance with University of California
policies. CSE faculty position announcement may be found at http://www-cse.ucsd.edu/recruitment.
Please send a letter of interest (cover letter), curriculum vitae including research
interests and plans, the names and email addresses of at least four references
to the Recruiting Chairman ( recruit@cs.ucsd.edu ), and cite the
position reference number 3-757-W. Recruiting Chairman; Dept of Computer Science
and Engineering-0114 University of California, San Diego; La Jolla, CA 92093-0114
COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGIST/GENETICIST FACULTY POSITION AT UNM
The University of New Mexico School of Medicine (SOM) invites applications for
one or more tenure track positions at the rank of Assistant, Associate or Full
Professor. The successful applicant will develop an independent research program
focused on the development and application of computational methods that complement
and support institutional interests in functional genomics, proteomics, structure-activity
relationships and drug design, cell signaling or modeling of complex biological
processes, systems and networks. Areas of emphasis include cancer, diabetes, asthma,
cardiovascular physiology and neuroscience. Participation in graduate teaching
activities also will be expected. Ongoing collaborations with the UNM-Albuquerque
High Performance Computing Center, Sandia National Laboratory and Los Alamos National
Laboratory provide a multidisciplinary environment with state-of-the-art resources
and capabilities. The position also will be supported by a full time systems analyst.
Requirements of the position include a Ph.D., M.D., or equivalent degree, and
post-doctoral research experience. Demonstrated productivity, as evidenced by
peer-reviewed publications, teaching and extra-mural research support are highly
desirable. For best consideration applicants must submit the following before
November 20, 2000: a curriculum vitae, the names of three references and a concise
description of their research program or plan to:
Dr. Jeffrey Griffith
Computational Biologist Search Committee
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
University of New Mexico School of Medicine
Albuquerque, New Mexico, 87131-5221.
UNM School of Medicine is an
Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer and Educator
MEMBERSHIP NEWS
Did you move, change your email address or simply want to check your record, personal
information or address? Go to membership: regular and read and review your record.
All you need is your membership id# and the email you used to register. Also,
if you did move and have changed your address - snail mail and email, PLEASE notify
Oxford University Press (BIOINFORMATICS): thomsonp@oup.co.uk and/or
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. (JOURNAL OF COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY): pmasi@liebertpub.com . Renew Now!
While reviewing your membership, we urge you to renew your membership as early
as November for membership for the year 2001. By getting an early start, you will
get all the conference and publication discounts you are entitled to without the
hustle of having to do it later! And, don't forget to also urge your friends and
colleagues to take advantage of an ISCB membership. We are growing - and growing
fast!
THIRD INTL BIOINFORMATICS MEETING IN SCANDINAVIA
Bioinformatics 2001 is the third major international bioinformatics meeting in
Scandinavia. It is organized jointly by bioinformatics groups from the Nordic
countries, and aims to cover current developments in research on all aspects of
bioinformatics. For more information, visit the website: http://www.ida.his.se/ida/bioinformatics2001
ELECTRIC GENETICS STACKPACK AVAILABLE
Free academic availability of Electric Genetics' stackPACK clustering tools for
SGI Irix. Electric Genetics is happy to announce the availability of stackPACK
v2.0 for SGI Irix 6.5 Academic users are now able to download stackPACK v2.0 for
Irix, in addition toLinux, with Sun and Compaq to follow soon, from the following
address: http://www.sanbi.ac.za/CODES/STACKPACK_REQUEST/
The stackPACK system processes EST and mRNA data through a pipeline consisting
of a series of steps including masking, loose clustering, assembly and alignment,
alignment analysis for variation in clusters/transcripts and linking non-overlapping
clusters by clone ID. The system is unique not only because of its scientific
schema but also because of its efficient management of the clustering data, using
a relational database the program can be accessed through an effective web-based
interface and viewing tools or through command line. The method employed and assessment
of quality of the resource is fully described in: A Comprehensive Approach to
Clustering of Expressed Human Gene Sequence: The Sequence Tag Alignment and Consensus
Knowledge Base Robert T. Miller, Alan G. Christoffels, Chella Gopalakrishnan,
John Burke, Andrey A. Ptitsyn, Tania R. Broveak, and Winston A. Hide. November
1999: Genome Research: 9:1143-1155 and d2_cluster: A Validated Method for Clustering
EST and Full-Length cDNA Sequences. John Burke, Dan Davison, and Winston Hide.
November 1999: Genome Research: 9:1135-1142 Please also refer to the Electric
Genetics website at http://www.egenetics.com/?Section=Stackpack&Parent=products
for further information on stackPACK.