ISCB Africa ASBCB 2013 - Call for Papers, Posters, and Travel Fellowship Applications

Dear ISCB and ASBCB Members and Colleagues,

Don't miss your opportunity to submit a paper or poster to the ISCB Africa ASBCB 2013 Conference on Bioinformatics! Travel Fellowship applications are also now being accepted.

This is the third joint meeting of ISCB and ASBCB, and takes place from March 13th -15th in Tunis, Tunisia. The meeting will include topics of general interest in bioinformatics, with a special focus on the bioinformatics of African pathogens, vectors, and human genetics. We especially welcome abstracts on the bioinformatics of diseases relevant to Africa, and with the new Human Heredity and Health in Africa (H3Africa) initiative the genetics focus is particularly relevant and timely.

Paper submissions: due by November 16th

Poster abstracts: due by December 12th

Travel Fellowship applications: due by December 12th

Please visit the conference submission guidelines and follow the links to submit your paper or poster today.

A limited number of Travel Fellowships will be made available exclusively to students and post docs from African research institutions whose paper or poster submission is accepted. Travel Fellowship applicants must first submit a paper or poster before submitting a Travel Fellowship application. Note that the poster submission deadline is the same as for TF, so be sure not to wait until the last minute and possibly miss the deadline!

Early registration is scheduled to open in three weeks. All early registrants will benefit from discounted prices, and all ISCB and ASBCB members will enjoy significant additional savings.

Please submit your paper or poster (or both!) today. Feel free to share this mail with your colleagues and collaborators to encourage their participation as well. We hope to welcome you to Tunisia in March!

Yours sincerely,

Alia Benkahla
ISCB Africa ASBCB Conference Chair

Dan Masiga
ISCB Africa ASBCB Conference Program Committee Chair

Last Call for Online Registration – RECOMB Satellite Conference on Regulatory and Systems Genomics, with DREAM Challenges

The 5th Annual RECOMB Conference on Regulatory and Systems Genomics, with DREAM Challenges is just two weeks away! We are very excited that this year's meeting will offer a very strong program featuring:

• 15 keynote talks
  
  
• 53 additional oral presentations
  
  
• more than 100 poster presentations
  
  
• the results of the 7th annual Dialogue for Reverse Engineering Assessments and Methods (the DREAM Challenges)
  
  
• announcement of the selected papers for the "Top Ten Papers in Regulatory Genomics” award for 2011

See the complete agenda here.

Online registration closes on Wednesday November 7.  It will still be possible to register on-site, but we recommend that you register now.

Click here to register.

When we decided in 2008 to combine the RECOMB Satellite Meeting on Systems Biology, the RECOMB Satellite Meeting on Regulatory Genomics, and the DREAM Project into one event, our goal was to facilitate conversation among researchers with expertise in both computational and experimental sciences about the latest approaches for dissecting regulatory networks and modeling biological processes. The response has been truly remarkable, and this year's program reflects the increasing maturity of the field.

We're looking forward to a very impressive set of presentations and hope that you will be able to join us.

Best wishes,

Andrea Califano, Manolis Kellis, Sylvia Plevritis, and Gustavo Stolovitzky
Conference Chairs

Rocky 2012 Registration Reminder

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

Dear ISCB Members and Colleagues,

The 10th Annual Rocky Mountain Bioinformatics Conference is now less than two months away. Over the last decade this conference series has grown into an international program with a spotlight on regional development in the computational biosciences. 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

 ACCOMMODATIONS SELLING OUT: The conference has moved to the new Viceroy Snowmass Hotel this year. A special group rate has been negotiated for Rocky 2012 attendees: $105 single or $140 double occupancy, plus tax. As rooms are booking up fast be sure to book yours before these special rates are no longer accessible. You must enter the group code of Rocky2012 to secure rooms at the special rate (if linking to the online hotel booking form from the conference website, double check that the correct code auto fills - if it fills as ISCB2012 please manually correct it as that code is an error and may not result in presenting the deeply discounted group rate).

Access Full Hotel Details Here

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

We look forward to your participation!

Sincerely,

The Rocky 2012 Conference Organizing Team

GLBIO 2013 Call for Papers, Highlights, Flash Presentations and Posters

Dear ISCB Members, Colleagues, and Past GLBIO Attendees,

The Great Lakes Bioinformatics Conference is ISCB's annual event focused on providing an interdisciplinary forum for the discussion of research findings and methods within the North American Great Lakes region. The conference fosters long-term relationships, provides networking opportunities for researchers from within the region, and creates a collaborative environment for participants from around the world. The 2013 program has been retooled with new elements that will increase the opportunities to present research at many different stages of development. GLBIO will kick off with tutorials, and include a full program of keynotes, selected original research presentations, highlights of published works, flash presentations, and posters. Your participation is encouraged!

ALL CALLS FOR PRESENTATIONS ARE NOW OPEN:

Original Research Papers (Proceedings) Deadline: Jan 14, 2013

Highlight Presentations (previously published papers) Deadline: Jan 14, 2013

Flash Presentations (abstracts) Deadline: Jan 14, 2013

Poster Presentations (abstracts) Deadline: March 22, 2013

GLBIO topic areas include: Algorithm Development & Machine Learning; Databases and Ontologies; Text Mining & Natural Language Processing; Bioimage Analysis; Biological Networks; Chemical Biology; Clinical Informatics & Epidemiology; Disease Models & Molecular Medicine; Evolutionary, Comparative, and Meta-Genomics, Gene Regulation & Transcriptomics; Mass Spectrometry & Proteomics; Personalized Genetics and Genomics: Exome, Genome, Transcriptome; RNA & Protein: Structure, Modification, Localizations, Interaction, Function.

This year's keynote presenters exemplify the diversity of the field within this region: Ivet Bahar of University of Pittsburgh; Ziv Bar-Joseph of Carnegie Mellon University (and recipient of the 2012 ISCB Overton Prize); Jing Li of Case Western Reserve University; and Isidore Rigoutsos of Thomas Jefferson University.

We hope you will consider submitting today. Please also help spread the word by sharing this with your colleagues and collaborators. We very much look forward to welcoming you to Pittsburgh next May!

Sincerely,

Bruce Aronow, Elodie Ghedin, and Russell Schwartz

GLBIO 2013 Conference Chairs

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

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

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

Rocky 2012 Registration Reminder

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

Dear ISCB Members and Colleagues,

The 10th Annual Rocky Mountain Bioinformatics Conference is now less than two months away. Over the last decade this conference series has grown into an international program with a spotlight on regional development in the computational biosciences. 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

 ACCOMMODATIONS SELLING OUT: The conference has moved to the new Viceroy Snowmass Hotel this year. A special group rate has been negotiated for Rocky 2012 attendees: $105 single or $140 double occupancy, plus tax. As rooms are booking up fast be sure to book yours before these special rates are no longer accessible. You must enter the group code of Rocky2012 to secure rooms at the special rate (if linking to the online hotel booking form from the conference website, double check that the correct code auto fills - if it fills as ISCB2012 please manually correct it as that code is an error and may not result in presenting the deeply discounted group rate).

Access Full Hotel Details Here

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

We look forward to your participation!

Sincerely,

The Rocky 2012 Conference Organizing Team

CALL FOR ANNUAL AWARDS NOMINATIONS!

2013 Overton Prize and 2013 Accomplishment by a Senior Scientist Award

www.iscb.org/iscb-awards

Nomination deadline: November 30, 2012

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 2013 Overton Prize and the 2013 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/ECCB 2013, in Berlin, Germany.

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,

Alfonso Valencia

Chair, ISCB Awards Committe

Last Call for Early Bird Registration – RECOMB Satellite Conference on Regulatory and Systems Genomics, with DREAM Challenges

November 12-15, 2012

Hotel Sofitel San Francisco Bay

Redwood City, CA

Early registration closes on Friday, October 12th, for the fifth annual RECOMB Satellite Conference on Regulatory and Systems Genomics, with DREAM Challenges.  Register now to take advantage of reduced registration rates.

We are happy to announce that the conference agenda is now available online. Any changes to the program between now and the conference will be made a quickly as possible.

Over four days, the meeting will feature 15 keynote talks, additional lectures, poster sessions, and discussion of the results of this year's Dialogue for Reverse Engineering Assessments and Methods (DREAM), a project designed to identify best practices for predicting the structure of biological networks. Best performers from this year's DREAM challenges will have an opportunity to present their methods.

Keynote speakers include:

• DREAM
  • Michael Elowitz (Caltech), Stephen Friend (Sage Bionetworks)
    
• Systems Biology
  • Markus Covert (Stanford), Dean Felsher (Stanford), Ernest Fraenkel (MIT), Joe Gray (Oregon Health & Science University), Joseph Nadeau (Institute for Systems Biology), Jonathan Weissman (UCSF)
    
• Regulatory Genomics
  • Job Dekker (University of Massachusetts Medical School), Angela DePace (Harvard), Joe Ecker (Salk Institute for Biological Studies), Yoav Gilad (University of Chicago), Len Pennacchio (Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute), Saurabh Sinha (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign)

For more information about the conference, please visit the conference website.

We look forward to seeing you in the Bay Area!

Conference Chairs,

Andrea Califano - Columbia University
Manolis Kellis - Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Sylvia Plevritis - Stanford University
Gustavo Stolovitzky - IBM