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FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is ISCB?
A: The International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB) is the parent organization of the annual conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB). The ISCB is dedicated to advancing the scientific understanding of living systems through computation. The ISCB communicates the significance of our science to the larger scientific community, governments, and the public at large. The ISCB serves a global membership by impacting government and scientific policies, providing high quality publications and meetings, and through distribution of valuable information about training, education, employment and relevant news from related fields. ISCB membership offers many benefits including reduced conference registration fees to several high impact events and reduced subscription prices for a selection of journals of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics. A member's meeting and a meeting of the Board of Directors for the Society are held annually in conjunction with the ISMB conference.

Q: Who do I contact for information on the conference?
A: You can get information on the conference from:

Steven Leard
ISMB Conference Director
Phone: +1-780-414-1663
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Q: Where will the conference be held?
A: Due to challenges as related to the COVID-19 pandemic. ISMB 2020 will be offered as a virtual conference. One can easily participate from the comfort of their home, office, basically anywhere where a WiFi connection is available. We recommend that participants should have at least 500kbps bandwidth for viewing. The highest bandwidth version of the content is typically about 3mbps.

Q: What should I expect if I plan to attend ISMB 2020 virutal?
A: ISMB 2020 will be a 100% online conference using a virtual platform to deliver all of the great scientific content that you would have enjoyed while attending the conference in Montreal.
Here is what to expect:

  • Live presentations
  • More than 500 talks broadcasted daily over the course of the event
  • An on-demand repository of talks for later viewing open well beyond the conference dates
  • Question and Answer function to engage with the speaker
  • Chat function to engage with other participants
  • Opportunity to explore the virtual exhibit hall
  • Opportunity to explore the virtual poster hall (yes, all of those great poster presentations in one place!)
  • A virtual career fair

Q. In what language will the conference sessions and materials be presented?
A. All conference presentations and materials will be presented in English.

Q: What is the registration currency?
A: All registration prices are indicated in United States Dollars.

Q: What is the Time Zone for the conference?
A: Eastern Daylight Time (EDT)

Q: In what language will the conference sessions and materials be presented?
A: All conference presentations and materials will be presented in English.

Q: How can I pay to register for ISMB?
A: Delegates can pay on line during registration using a Visa, MasterCard or American Express credit card. Delegates wishing to pay using a wire transfer would create an invoice at time of registration and then contract the conference registrar for instructions.

Q: Can more than one talk be presented at ISMB?
A: The same talk is not permitted to be given more than once as an oral presentation at ISMB. Research may presented as both a talk and poster. Researchers may submit more than one talk to the meeting. Having the same person deliver two (or more) different talks is possible (and not prohibited), but it is not encouraged. This allows for many people from one lab to present the work of the lab.

Q: What are the hashtags, twitter information for the conference?
A: These are the hashtags:

ISMB is #ismb2020.   @ISCB is the ISCB twitter handle.  (@infoISMB has been redirected to @ISCB)

We strongly encourage the use of Twitter at the conference to disseminate information.  ISCB kindly requests that you observe the ISCB Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct when tweeting.  If you have a specific complaint, suggestion, or comment related to conference in regards to technical issues, please contact a staff member using This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..  Due to limited resources and the demands of managing the conference ISCB is unable to monitor Twitter fully and may miss an improvement request.

Q: What is a COSI?
A: A COSI is an ISCB community of special interest. These member communities are self-organized and have multiple activities or interactions throughout the year, as well as a dedicated scientific track at the ISMB conference. An important goal of any COSI is to foster a topically-focused collaborative community wherein scientists communicate with one another on research problems and/or opportunities in specific areas of computational biology.