Dear colleagues,

Please feel free to distribute the bioinformatics CFP (http://www.baysf.org/bio/) to those interested. Otherwise, please disregard. Note that the abstract is due in two weeks on December 10th, 2003.

Sincerely,

-Jake

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Call for Papers

Invited Session: Systems Biology and Bioinformatics

at

The 8th World Multi-Conference on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics (SCI 2004)

July 18-21, 2004 - Orlando , Florida , USA

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Session Topics

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Colorful analogies to cataclysmic events, including floods, avalanches, tidal waves, and even explosions, have often been used to describe the overwhelming nature of high-throughput, biological data. The deluge of data shows no sign of abating, particularly as new technologies appear (protein chips) and established technologies are improved (mass spectrometers, DNA micro-arrays) or re-implemented on industrial scales. Finding new ways to integrate, visualize, and interpret data from diverse sources is one of the most important challenges facing the modern discipline of bioinformatics, which merges information technology, computer science, statistics, and biology. However, the benefits of bringing diverse data sources together by far outweigh the costs, offering opportunities for scientists to gain a more complete picture of cells and organisms than was previously possible. Data sources of great interest to this endeavor include, but are not limited to:

* Genome, mRNA, and protein sequence

* DNA/RNA and protein motifs

* Sequence homology relationships

* Protein and protein complex 3-D structures

* Protein-protein interactions

* mRNA and protein expression

* Functional annotation of genes and proteins

* Ontological classifications

* Protein/gene pathways

* Biomedical literature

* Small molecule chemical properties

In practice, important new discoveries are rarely achieved using a single informatics technique or data source. Instead, multiple tools and/or methods are often needed to comprehend the significance of diverse data sets such as DNA microarray results or protein-protein interaction data. These tools and techniques can generally be classified into the following areas:

* Biology-specific knowledge representation

* Biological data preparation and cleansing

* High-throughput experimental data monitoring and tracking

* Sequence-based data analysis

* Network-based data analysis

* Biological data integration and visualization

* Modeling of cells, systems, and organisms

* Text mining

* Knowledge curation, annotation, and reporting

Due to the sometimes qualitative nature of biological data and the difficulties involved in using just one tool to answer important biological questions, systems biologists and bioinformaticians must often combine multiple data sources and analyze these data using diverse tools. For this reason, we invite paper submissions that emphasize integrated approaches, such as:

1. An informatics technique, strategy, and tool that combine multiple types of data.

2. Investigation of genome, transcriptome, proteome, or metabolome data, using multiple computational techniques, strategies, and tools.

3. High-performance systems engineering ideas and strategies using concepts learned from bioinformatics.

4. Significant biological discoveries using a consistent suite of investigative tools.

Other novel bioinformatics topics in life sciences may also be considered, as long as the topics contribute to the expansion of a system-scale understanding of biological processes and/or the creation of practical informatics solutions for real-world life science problems.

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Important Dates

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December 10th, 2003

Submission of extended abstracts (500-2000 words) or paper drafts (2000-5000 words).

December 29th, 2003

Final paper due.

February 24th, 2004

Notifications of acceptance.

March 15th, 2004

Electronic version of camera-ready papers due.

Note: All the receipt dates cutoff time are 11:59pm US Pacific Standard Time.

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General Information on SCI 2004 (http://www.iiisci.org/sci2004/)

=================================================================

SCI 2004 is an international forum for scientists, engineers, researchers, consultants, theoreticians, and practitioners in the fields of Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics. The purpose of SCI 2004 is to promote discussion and interaction between researchers and practitioners from different knowledge domains (such as biology, physics, and social sciences) or in interdisciplinary research and development areas (such as bioinformatics). It is a forum for scientists to exchange ideas and results in multi-, inter- and trans-disciplinary studies and projects. Particularly, the conference is interested in informatics concepts, prototypes, and applications that are able to benefit both academic research and industrial applications. This is the 8th conference since its inception in 1995.

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Paper Submission Guideline

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The invited session consists of peer-reviewed full-length papers reporting on original work. All papers must be submitted to the session chairs in electronic format. An early submission of the abstract and/or a prior inquiry of the proposed topic with the session chairs are strongly encouraged.

The only acceptable file formats are Adobe Acrobat (*.pdf) and Microsoft Word (*.doc). Submitted files should be named with the abbreviated form of the title no longer than 32 characters long without white space characters. Each paper must include two separate files: 1) a one-page cover letter, and 2) a separate manuscript. The cover letter must include the following information:

* The title of the paper and number of pages in the manuscript.

* The email address of the corresponding author.

* A complete list of all the authors and their affiliations.

* A statement indicating that the submitted paper contains original, unpublished results, and is not currently under consideration elsewhere.

* (Optional) Recommendation of qualified reviewers to the session. If so, indicate the reviewers'names, email addresses, and a one-sentence description of their expertise areas within the session topic areas.

The manuscript is limited to fifteen (15) pages, which include the title page and all figures, in fonts no smaller than 11 point, double-spaced. The title page should include the paper tile, abstract (no more than 250 words), and keywords, and should * not * contain author names or affiliation. Figures may be included into the text body provided they are clearly legible to the reviewers.

Hardcopy submissions or unprocessed TeX or LaTeX files will be rejected immediately without review. Paper exceeding the page limit, or using a format significantly different from the above guidelines may be returned without review.

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Paper Presentation and Publication

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All the accepted papers will be required to give a 20-25min presentation at the SCI 2004 conference on the Systems Biology and Bioinformatics track, which may be divided into one or more sessions. The acceptance of the paper becomes final only after at least one of the authors has successfully registered for the conference. If multiple papers are accepted from the same group, according to SCI rules, each paper is required to be presented by a different registered author.

Accepted papers will be published in both a hard-bound archival proceedings volume and a CD-ROM. Depending on the quality of the paper and interests/response from the conference session audience, organizers will work with SCI program committee to compile a multi-author book, in which the best papers will be included. Two such books were already published in recent years from the conference.

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Session Co-chairs

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Jake Chen, Ph.D. Genoptica Systems Email: ychen@cs.umn.edu

Ann Loraine , Ph.D. Ontomorphic Informatics Email: loraine@loraine.net