About the ISMB/ECCB 2021 Conference

The annual international conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB) is the flagship meeting of the International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB). The 2021 conference is the 29th ISMB conference, which has grown to become the world's largest bioinformatics and computational biology conference. Joining forces with the European Conference on Computational Biology (20th Annual Conference) ISMB/ECCB 2021 will be the year's most important computational biology event globally. The conference will be held as a virtual conference due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Bioinformatics and computational biology, an interdisciplinary field, combines biology, computer science, information engineering, mathematics and statistics to analyze and interpret biological data. Powered by a technological revolution, the life sciences currently generate massive datasets that require unique expertise in handling, processing and transferring information; in addition to the biological expertise. At the start of the data revolution in biology, experts in computation and biology came together to work collaborative to turn data into discoveries. Computational skills have become integral to the analysis of the large volumes of biomedical and agricultural data currently being generated in the life sciences, and to understanding complex biological systems. Conferences like ISMB/ECCB play a critical role in the dissemination of research findings and information sharing. Enabling researchers to gather, learn, and collaborate will lead to the acceleration of science and the opportunity to make advances towards cures for disease, novel drug development, and personalized healthcare.

ISMB/ECCB 2021 will provide an intense multidisciplinary forum for disseminating the latest developments in bioinformatics and computational biology. The conference fosters fresh dialogues, collaboration and learning opportunities, and is a gathering which shapes the future of the field. At the heart of the scientific program are the ISCB’s Communities of Special Interest (COSIs), enabling intensified community involvement and bolstering its reputation as a conference with strong scientific and technical program, which showcases the best international developments in the field. The open conference format retains key features, which have proven successful for more than 25 years. Each day of the conference includes outstanding keynote lectures, technical talks, proceedings talks from the published conference proceedings in Bioinformatics, additional published and unpublished talks thematically organized in the COSI tracks, a variety of workshops, special sessions, equal opportunities activities, a students organized symposium, a virtual experience including an exhibition hall,  posters, and a career fair. The structure is intended to bring a new energy and flow to the conference by centering it thematically around the vibrant ISCB COSIs. Further, with the COSIs more central to the conference, networking within and between the scientific communities is greatly enhanced.

ISMB/ECCB 2021 is the premier conference in the field and a must participate event!