January 10, 2012

Dear ISCB Members and Colleagues,

As many of you may be aware, the U.S. House of Representatives has recently been presented with a bill called the Research Works Act (HR 3699) that threatens the current U.S. requirements of public access to federally funded research results. ISCB strongly opposes this bill. Burkhard Rost, ISCB President, and Richard Lathrop, ISCB Public Affairs & Policies Committee Chair, are drafting a letter to the bill's authors that expresses our opposition and emphasizes the importance of the ISCB Public Policy Statement on Open Access to Scientific and Technical Research Literature that was released in 2010.

If you are a member of ISCB and have not yet signed on to our statement, you are invited to do so at your earliest opportunity via the link to current signatories on the policy page noted above.

Thank you,
BJ Morrison McKay, ISCB Executive Officer on behalf of Burkhard Rost, Richard Lathrop, and the ISCB Board of Directors

Dear ISCB Members and Colleagues,

The Conference on Semantics in Healthcare and Life Sciences is less than two weeks away, happening February 23nd and 24th at the Royal Sonesta Hotel in Cambridge, MA, USA! Don't miss this opportunity to attend the premier annual event focused on the use of semantic technologies in the pharmaceutical/healthcare industry - now also covering "Big Data."

>> ONLINE REGISTRATION <<

ISCB Member Discounts Apply

NEWS FLASH: If you feel the need to increase your proficiency in the conference topics before investing additional time and money in the full conference registration, you now have the opportunity to register for only the CSHALS Tutorial being presented by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Tetherless World Constellation on February 22nd.

If you decide after attending the Tutorial to also register for the main conference, 50% of your tutorial fee will be applied toward your on-site conference registration fee. This special Tutorial-only registration offer must be completed by Monday, February 20th (5:00 pm Eastern).

CSHALS 2012 will feature keynote lectures, invited talks, and selected oral presentations and posters on the role of the semantic web of linked data to orchestrate cloud based resources, from drug development and Biomedical research to personalized health care. Attendees will walk away with a better understanding of semantics-based approaches and challenges currently faced throughout our industry.

If you have not attended a previous CSHALS and want a sneak peak at how the content might apply to your research, we invite you to view the free Webinar presentation that was given last September to reprise and update Larry Hunter's CSHALS 2011 Keynote Presentation.

Please be sure to forward this mail to all of your colleagues and collaborators who might benefit from attending CSHALS. We thank you for helping us spread the word, and look forward to your participation!

Sincerely,
Your CSHALS 2012 Organizing Committee:

Conference Chairs

• Mike Bevil, Merck & Co.
• Joanne Luciano, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Tetherless World Constellation

Committee Members

• Jonas S. Almeida, University of Alabama at Birmingham
• Lee Feigenbaum, Cambridge Semantics
• Ted Slater, Broad Reach Strategic Advising LLC, Past Conference Chair

Dear ISCB Members and Colleagues,

The call to submit a proposal to conduct a Workshop at ISMB 2012 is still open.  This 20th anniversary conference will be held July 15-17 in Long Beach, California.

Workshop Proposals - deadline March 10, 2012

The above link will take you to the full details and guidelines about ISMB Workshops. From there you can also access the submission system to submit your proposal today.

Workshops cover a broad range of non-research-oriented topics that address issues important to bioinformatics researchers and educators. Preference will be given to topics of wide interest to attendees, with a planned agenda that is not primarily made up of research paper presentations. Examples of previous workshops are: Bioinformatics Core Facilities; Education in Bioinformatics; and Navigating the Granting Jungle. Additional topics of particular interest to the ISMB community or those sponsored by ISCB committees are welcome.

Each workshops is scheduled to run for two hours following the same schedule as all other parallel tracks of the ISMB conference. This allows for segmenting the workshop into four 25-minute presentation/discussion periods (including participant questions and answers) followed by a required 5 minute synchronized break for movement between ISMB parallel tracks. Workshops can include multiple talks, panel discussions, and ample participant discussion time.

Several additional opportunities exist for presentation at the conference, including Highlights of previous publications, Posters, Technology demonstrations, Late Breaking Research abstracts, and the 8th annual Student Council Symposium. You can find the submission deadlines and links to each of the open calls on the conference home page at ISMB 2012.

Registration will open next month. Please help spread the word for the strongest possible participation by sharing this mail with your colleagues and collaborators.

The ISMB 2012 Conference Co-Chairs and every member of the Scientific Organizing Committee looks forward to welcoming you to Long Beach this July!

Sincerely,
Christine Orengo, Workshops Chair, ISMB 2012

Dear ISCB Members, Colleagues, and Past GLBIO Attendees,

We invite you to participate in the The Great Lakes Bioinformatics Conference, taking place in Ann Arbor, Michigan this coming May.

CALL FOR POSTER PRESENTATIONS CLOSES IN JUST ONE MONTH!

Poster Information & Abstract Submission Form Deadline: Mar 15, 2012

EARLY REGISTRATION CLOSES IN JUST TWO MONTHS:

Online Registration Information and Form Early Registration Deadline: April 15, 2012

GLBIO topic areas include Algorithm Development and Machine Learning, Bioimaging, Databases and Ontologies, Disease Models and Epidemiology, Evolution and Comparative Genomics, Gene Regulation and Transcriptomics, Metagenomics, Mass Spectrometry and Proteomics, Population Genomics, Protein Interactions and Molecular Networks, Protein Structure and Function, Sequence Analysis, and Text Mining.

This year's keynote presentations will cover a broad range of interesting topics. Keynote Speakers for 2012 are: Howard Cash of Gene Codes, Michael Lynch of Indiana University, Mercedes Pascual of the University of Michigan, and Russell Schwartz of Carnegie Mellon University.

We look forward to receiving your submission before the deadline, and to welcoming you to Ann Arbor in May!

Sincerely,

Your GLBIO 2012 Steering/Organizing Committee

Dear ISCB Members and Colleagues,

The ISCB Latin America 2012 conference is making available one last opportunity to present your research at the conference, with a Call for Late Posters that is open for just the next three days.

>> Call for Late Poster Submissions - Just Three Days to Submit! <<

Late Poster Presentation submission deadline: February 7, 2012

(Please note that late poster presenters are not eligible for travel fellowship funding.)

The conference will be preceded by tutorials on March 17 and 18; the main conference takes place on March 19-21; a full day of post-conference workshops and round table discussions happens on March 22. It all takes place at one of Latin America's most prestigious universities, the Universidad Católica de Chile (Catholic University of Chile), located in the heart of vibrant Santiago.

>> Click Here to go Directly to Registration Information <<

Early registration deadline: February 10, 2012

Researchers from all countries of the world are welcome and encouraged to attend, and registrations received to-date have come from Asia, Europe, North America, and South America. If yours is not among them we encourage you to consider making plans to attend today, and submitting your late poster within the next 72 hours. This meeting will provide a forum for rich international exchange and collaboration. Students and post docs can expect to be deeply motivated and inspired to pursue and perform the best research possible in their chosen interest areas, while established and senior researchers will find unique opportunities to interact with peers and to influence the careers of our next generation of researchers. All attendees will be intellectually stimulated by our exceptional line up of international and regional keynote speakers.

The main conference features five international keynote speakers:

• Dr. Peer Bork, EMBL-Heidelberg, Germany

• Dr. Alessandro Sette, La Jolla Institute for Immunology and Allergy, USA
  

• Dr. Manfred Sippl, University of Salzburg, Austria
  

• Dr. Yves van de Peer, Ghent University, Belgium
  

• Dr. Aleksey Zimin, University of Maryland, USA
  

In addition, seven highly accomplished keynote speakers from the Latin America region will also deliver talks at the conference. The full list of keynote talks can be found HERE.

Networking opportunities include poster session receptions, a conference banquet, and casual evenings spent exploring the vast and vibrant city of Santiago together with old and new friends and colleagues.

SPECIAL NOTE ABOUT TUTORIAL REGISTRATIONS: An impressive selection of practical tutorials and hands-on workshops will be presented by some of the most well-known research groups in the world. Registration is limited to the capacity of each tutorial room, and will be accepted in the order in which the registrations are received until capacity is reached. We expect all tutorials to sell-out, and recommend early registration to ensure your tutorial preference can be accepted.

Please forward this mail to colleagues and collaborators you feel might be interested or should attend ISCB Latin America 2012. Sponsorship opportunities are also still available and all inquiries are welcome at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Submit your late poster abstract and register for the conference and tutorials now to take advantage of this final opportunity to present your work and save with the early discount while it lasts. We hope to see you in Santiago next month!

Sincerely,

The ISCB Latin America 2012 Organizing Committees

Call for ISCB Fellows Nominations: deadline April 30th

Dear ISCB Member,

Nominations for the 2012 ISCB Class of Fellows is now open. If you know of a member that you believe has earned his or her place among ISCB's Fellows through exceptional and exemplary contributions to the field of computational biology/bioinformatics, please nominate today. Since 2009 the leadership of the International Society for Computational Biology has been honoring our most distinctive members as Fellows, and this is your chance to name our 2012 Class of Fellows.

Information about the ISCB Fellows program, nomination requirements, and selection criteria can be found at www.iscb.org/iscb-fellows

The nomination form is available at www.iscb.org/fellow-nomination (as only members can nominate, login is required; if you are not a current member please join today!).

The nomination deadline is April 30, 2012.

Thank you for your considerate nomination!

Sincerely,
Alfonso Valencia, Chair, ISCB Fellows Committee

Congratulations to 2012 ISCB Overton Prize Winner

January 31, 2012 - The International Society For Computational Biology (ISCB) has awarded the Overton Prize for outstanding accomplishment to Ziv Bar-Joseph, associate professor at the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

The Overton Prize is awarded annually to an early to mid-career scientist who has made a significant contribution to the field of computational biology. In recognition of the award, Bar-Joseph will give a keynote address at the Annual International Conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology in July, to be held this year in Long Beach, California (ISMB; www.iscb.org/ismb2012).

Bar-Joseph gained a PhD in computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2003 where he also discovered the challenge of analysing high-throughput biological data using computational techniques. Since then, he has developed important techniques using machine learning for integrating multiple biological data sources in ways that infer dynamic regulatory networks. He has also pioneered the search for biological solutions to complex computational problems, such as how to build robust distributed networks efficiently.

"We have all been impressed by the quality of his scientific contribution and the novelty of the approaches he has developed,” says Alfonso Valencia, chair of the ISCB awards committee.

Burkhard Rost, president of the ISCB, has been hugely impressed by Bar-Joseph's work. "It's stunning how he is able to handle such a diverse set of technical methods,” he says. "He's a perfect example of a new generation of scientists.”

Bar Joseph says he is honoured to be receiving the award: "I know many of the past winners and it's an amazing group.”

For more information about the Overton Prize and its past recipients, please visit www.iscb.org/iscb-awards/overton-prize.

>> Return to List of Overton Prize Recipients

GLBIO 2012 CFP & Registration

Dear ISCB Members, Colleagues, and Past GLBIO Attendees,

We invite you to participate in the The Great Lakes Bioinformatics Conference , taking place in Ann Arbor, Michigan this coming May.

ALL CALLS FOR PRESENTATIONS CLOSE IN JUST 10 DAYS!

Oral Presentation Information & Abstract Submission Form Deadline: Jan 20, 2012

Special Sessions Information & Proposal Submission Form Deadline Jan 20, 2012

Tutorial Sessions Information & Proposal Submission Form Deadline Jan 20, 2012

Poster Information & Abstract Submission Form Deadline: Mar 15, 2012

REGISTRATION IS ALSO OPEN:

Online Registration Information and Form Early Regsitration Deadline: April 15, 2012

GLBIO topic areas include Algorithm Development and Machine Learning, Bioimaging, Databases and Ontologies, Disease Models and Epidemiology, Evolution and Comparative Genomics, Gene Regulation and Transcriptomics, Metagenomics, Mass Spectrometry and Proteomics, Population Genomics, Protein Interactions and Molecular Networks, Protein Structure and Function, Sequence Analysis, and Text Mining.

This year's keynote presentations will cover a broad range of interesting topics. Keynote Speakers for 2012 are: Howard Cash of Gene Codes, Michael Lynch of Indiana University, Mercedes Pascual of the University of Michigan, and Russell Schwartz of Carnegie Mellon University.

We look forward to receiving your submission before the deadline, and to welcoming you to Ann Arbor in May!

Sincerely,

Your GLBIO 2012 Steering/Organizing Committee

Key Dates for ISCB Affiliated Conferences

Dear ISCB Members and Colleagues:

Welcome to 2012! As you map out your conference calendar for this New Year, in addition to ISCB's signature conferences (see www.iscb.org/iscb-conferences), be sure to consider participating in these affiliated conferences of our Society. Each one offers a unique mix of scientific content with themes essential to computational biologists and bioinformaticists. Scroll down for details on upcoming key dates and opportunities for the following events. 

• MCBIOS
• VizBi
• AMIA Summit on Translational Bioinformatics
• RECOMB
• BioIT-World Conference & Expo
• Brazilian Symposium on Bioinformatics
• ECCB
• PSB (2013)

MCBIOS 2012, Feb 17-18, at Univ of Mississippi, USA

MidSouth Computational Biology Society's annual meeting – themed "Making Sense of the Omics Data Deluge”

http://mcbios.org/content/2012-mcbios-conference

* Oral and Poster presentations deadline: January 17^th

* Early registration deadline: February 3^rd

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VizBi 2012, Mar 6-8, Heidelberg, Germany

3^rd annual Visualizing Biological Data conference, hosted by EMBL

http://vizbi.org/2012

* Poster submission deadline: February 26^th

* Early registration deadline: January 29^th

* Virtual registration also an option for participation by streaming video and chat

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AMIA Summit on Translational Bioinformatics 2012, Mar 19-21, San Francisco, USA

Part of the American Medical Informatics Association's joint summits on translational science; followed by the Summit on Clinical Informatics

http://amia.org/jointsummits2012/tbi-call-for-participations

* ISCB members are eligible for a 10% registration discount

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RECOMB 2012, Apr 21-24, Barcelona, Spain

16^th Annual Conference on Research in Computational Molecular Biology

http://recomb2012.crg.cat/

* Highlights submission deadline for previously published papers: January 13^th

* Early registration discount deadline: January 31^st

* Additional 10% discount for ISCB members

* Poster submissions site opening February 7th

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Bio-IT World Conference & Expo 2012, Apr 24-26, Boston, USA

10^th Anniversary includes 12 parallel tracks and 16 pre-conference workshops

http://www.bio-itworldexpo.com

* Early registration discount period ends January 27^th

* ISCB members receive an additional 10% registration discount

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Brazilian Symposium on Bioinformatics 2012, Aug 15-17, Campo Grande, Brazil

Organized by the comp bio special interest group of the Brazilian Computer Society

http://bsb2012.facom.ufms.br

* ISCB members receive approximately 14% registration discount

* Full Paper submission period: January 19^th through March 19^th

* Short Paper submission period: January 19^th through June 25^th

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ECCB 2012, Sep 9-12, Basel, Switzerland

Hosted by the SIB-Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics and in conjunction with the SIB annual meeting

http://www.eccb12.org/home

* Workshop and Tutorial proposals deadline: January 15^th

* Subscribe to the conference newsletter via the URL above for alerts on open calls, deadlines, and program updates.

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PSB 2013, Jan 4-8, Hawaii, USA

Pacific Symposium on Biocomputing's 18^th annual event

http://psb.stanford.edu/CallForSessionProposals.html

* Call for 2013 Session proposals deadline: February 15^th

Jan 06:  CSHALS 2012 Last Call for Posters and Early Registration