Registration Now Open for ISCB Africa ASBCB 2013

Dear ISCB and ASBCB Members and Colleagues,

Registration is now open for the ISCB Africa ASBCB 2013 Conference on Bioinformatics being held in Tunis, Tunisia, March 13th -15th, 2013.

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.

Early registration:  deadline February 6th, 2013

Click above to access the registration page with pricing and workshop options. All early registrants will benefit from discounted prices, and all ISCB and ASBCB members will enjoy significant additional savings.

Poster abstracts:  due by December 12th

Click above to access the conference submission guidelines and then follow the links to submit your poster.

Student Travel Fellowship applications:  due by December 12th

Follow the link above to access the Travel Fellowship application form. A limited number of Travel Fellowships will be granted 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.

Come one, come all! Please 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

CSHALS 2013 Last Call for Oral Presentation and Registration Now Open

Dear ISCB Members and Colleagues,

The last call for submitting your abstract for an oral presentation at the ISCB Conference on Semantics in Healthcare and Life Sciences is November 30th. Poster abstracts and online registration remain open into the New Year.

CSHALS is the premier annual event focused on the use of semantic technologies in the pharmaceutical industry, including hospitals/healthcare institutions and academic research labs. The conference will address the emerging field of data science, and if that is an important element of your research then CSHALS 2013 should be part of your plans for 2013!

Topics covered by CSHALS 2013 span the continuum between standards development and big data workflows - the scope between Life Science data representation and its analysis. To find out more about CSHALS topics follow the link here.

This is YOUR invitation to participate:

>> CALL FOR ORAL AND POSTER PRESENTATIONS IS NOW OPEN <<

Call for Oral Presentations closes - FINAL DAYS - November 30, 2012

Call for Poster Abstracts closes January 11, 2013

>> REGISTER NOW <<

Early Registration Discount closes January 25, 2013

We look forward to your participation and hope to be welcoming you to Cambridge/Boston in February!

Sincerely,

The CSHALS 2013 Organizing Committee

LAST 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 Committee

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ISCB Urges EU to Sustain Funding Without Cuts to Basic Science Research

La Jolla, USA and Munich/Saarbruecken, Germany - The International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB) announced today their letter to the Presidents of the European Commission, European Council and European Parliament stressing the importance of basic scientific research and the need to exempt this research from budget cuts.  The organization, which represents over 3000 member scientists worldwide, supports research using advanced information technology to better understand complex biological systems and processes.  This interdisciplinary scientific field is at the core of current scientific progress in many fields.  The Society points out that the dominant scientific revolutions happening around the world today are precisely in this intersection of information technology and biology.

The Society advocates against devastating funding cuts to critical basic research.  The letter stresses the fact, agreed upon in the scientific community, that project based research alone cannot produce the fundamental breeding ground necessary for breakthrough progress and creation of new economic market segments.  It goes on to comment on the competitive nature of scientific research, and the unnecessary loss to the excellence developed throughout the laboratories of Europe should funding for basic research be cut.  The Society urges the European Union to look to the success of national members in maintaining funding for critical scientific research, and do the same.

The full content of the letter can be viewed at www.iscb.org/images/stories/active-campaign/2012-Nov20-EC-letter-to-EU-urging-funding-basic-science.pdf

ISCB encourages its members and colleagues to share this Press Release and write immediately to their elected representatives to express their views on the importance of appropriate funding for basic scientific research.

About ISCB

The International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB) is a scholarly society dedicated to advancing the scientific understanding of living systems through computation.  The Society serves over 3,000 members from more than 70 countries.

Press Contacts:

Prof. Dr. Thomas Lengauer, Vice President, ISCB, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., +49-681-9325-3000           

Prof. Dr. Burkhard Rost, President, ISCB, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., +49-89-289-17-811

GLBIO 2013 - Registration Is Now Open

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!

Registration is now open at:  www.iscb.org/glbio2013-register and early registration pricing is available through April 14, 2013.

In addition, 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: Mar 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 look forward to your participation! Please help spread the word by sharing this information with your colleagues and collaborators.

Sincerely,

Bruce Aronow, Elodie Ghedin, and Russell Schwartz

GLBIO 2013 Conference Chairs

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: Rocky 2012 Early Registration

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

Dear ISCB Members and Colleagues,

THE EARLY REGISTRATION DATE FOR ROCKY 2012 EXPIRES IN LESS THAN TWO DAYS! The 10th Annual Rocky Mountain Bioinformatics Conference is now just weeks away, and early registration expires this week. With a spotlight on regional development in the computational biosciences, this conference has grown into an international program over its ten year history. 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

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

HOTEL ACCOMMODATIONS SELLING OUT: Rocky 2012 will be held at the new Viceroy Snowmass Hotel, and a special group rate has been negotiated for attendees: $105 single or $140 double occupancy, plus tax. These rates are available until our contracted block of rooms is full, or November 14th, whichever comes first. You must enter the group code of Rocky2012 to secure rooms at the special rate.

Access Full Hotel Details Here

Please forward this mail to anyone you think should know about this conference. All participants are welcome, and we look forward to your participation!

Sincerely,

The Rocky 2012 Conference Organizing Team

Please Sign on to Open Letter to Protect ERC Funding

Dear colleagues,

The discussions at the next summit of the European Union heads of state or government, which is scheduled for 22 and 23 November, will be decisive in determining the EU research budget for the next seven years. Several Member States are demanding severe cuts on the total EU budget and research will have to compete with other policy priorities.

This is a time when we, the scientific community, should act together and make our case to protect research funding, including that of the European Research Council (ERC), from cuts. Decisions will be prepared in discussions among politicians at the national level. All of us must look for opportunities to affect these decisions and send a strong signal to the heads of state or government.

An open letter signed by European Nobel laureates has been published in top European newspapers. The impact of this letter will be increased if it is followed by a mobilization of the national scientific communities. To keep the momentum going, an online petition has been launched:

www.no-cuts-on-research.eu

I would like to ask you to sign it and to encourage all your colleagues to do likewise. Note that in the past, less than 30 000 scientists signed the largest petition for a European scientific cause compared to the hundreds of thousands of signatures on petitions from other groups of society. We must do better than that.

This action is coordinated by the Initiative for Science in Europe (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; www.initiative-science-europe.org), of which EMBO is a member. Please contact Wolfgang Eppenschwandtner, Executive Coordinator of the ISE if you have any questions or suggestions.

Best regards,

Anna Tramontano, Steering Committee Chair of the European Conference on Computational Biology (ECCB)

Anna Tramontano
Department of Physics
Sapienza University of Rome
P.le Aldo Moro, 5
00185 Rome
Tel: +39 06 49914550
e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
URL: www.biocomputing.it

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