CFP: International Conference on Biomedical Ontology (ICBO) - Call for Papers, Tutorials, and Workshops

*International Conference on Biomedical Ontology: ICBO 2011*
Buffalo, New York

*Call for Papers, Tutorials, and Workshops*

*Important dates*:

   - **** EXTENDED****  February 15: Deadline for submission of workshop and
   tutorial proposals
   - February 20: Notification of acceptance of workshop and tutorial
   proposals
   - March 1: Deadline for submission of papers for the main ICBO conference
   - March 24: Notification of acceptance of papers for the main ICBO
   conference
   - April 1: Conference fellowship applications due
   - April 1: Deadline for submission of workshop papers
   - April 20: Deadline for submission of posters and of extended abstracts
   for doctoral and postdoctoral consortium
   - April 30: Notification of acceptance of workshop papers
   - May 1: Software demo proposals due
   - May 10: Notification of acceptance of posters
   - June 10: Deadline for submission of camera-ready copy


   - Workshops and Tutorials: July 26-27, 2011
   - Doctoral and Post-Doctoral Colloquium 4pm-7pm July 27, 2011
   - ICBO Conference: July 28-30, 2011



*Scope of conference
*Ontologies are being used in an ever increasing variety of ways by
researchers in almost every life science discipline, and their use in
annotation of both clinical and experimental data is now a common technique
in integrative translational research. Principles-based ontologies are being
developed for the description of biological and biomedical phenomena of
almost every type. To be maximally effective, such ontologies must work well
together. But as ontologies become more commonly used and as their breadth
of coverage increases, the problems involved in achieving coordination in
ontology development become ever more urgent.

The International Conference on Biomedical Ontologies series was initiated
in 2009 to address these problems by providing an overarching forum with the
goal of bringing together representatives of all major communities involved
in the development and application of ontologies in biomedicine and related
areas.

Contributions are welcome on any topic in the broad area of biomedical
ontology, with emphasis on the following topics:

   - Techniques and technologies for collaborative ontology development
   - Reasoning with biomedical ontologies
   - Evaluation of biomedical ontologies
   - Biomedical ontology and the Semantic Web

Ontologies for:

   - Biomedical imaging
   - Biochemistry and drug discovery
   - Biomedical investigations, experimentation, clinical trials
   - Clinical and translational research
   - Development and anatomy
   - Electronic health records
   - Evolution and phylogeny
   - Metagenomics
   - Neuroscience, psychiatry, cognition
   - All ontologies described in submissions must be available for open
   public review.


Papers are to be limited to 2000 words not including abstract or references
and can be at most 10 pages inclusive. They must in every case clearly
describe how to access the ontologies discussed. Screen shots, when
included, should be big enough to read. A submission may take the form of a
report on a specific ontology for which thorough documentation has been made
available for open public review, ideally as part of the ontology file
itself. In such cases the submitter is encouraged to include substantial
portions of the ontology document in the body of the paper.

*Conference Program
*The conference program will be centered around topically organized sessions
where papers are presented. The program will include, in addition, software
demonstrations, poster sessions, and a panel debate on ontologies and the
electronic health record. A keynote lecture on the Virtual Physiological
Human Project will be given by Bernard de Bono of the European
Bioinformatics Institute.

*Tutorials and Workshops*
TUTORIALS are educational events. They may be either for a full day or for a
half day. They should focus on one specific topic presented by one or two
experts and involve interaction with the audience. Tutorials can include
hands-on training, in which case the proposal should specify the exact
requirements (laptops, software to install, etc.).

WORKSHOPS are half-day or full-day scientific events. They are intended to
provide a forum for the discussion of a specific topic through individual
paper presentations. The workshop organizers will be responsible for
advertising the workshop and reviewing and selecting the contributions.
Workshops can be events focusing on a specific topic; they can also include
interest group meetings, or meetings designed to disseminate the results of
a research project on a specific topic. Workshop and tutorial proposals
should be submitted to the easychair website:
https://www.easychair.org/account/signin.cgi?conf=icbo2011

*Doctoral and Post-Doctoral Consortium
*The Doctoral and Postdoctoral Consortium is designed to provide an
opportunity for PhDs and postdoctoral researchers to network with other
early career scientists and to receive direct mentorship from experts in the
field. Intending participants should submit a 1-page extended abstract,
which may be a description of their current or planned research, an abstract
of their PhD proposal, or a description of a related issue such as
methodology. Please contact Albert Goldfain (albertgoldfain@gmail.com) for
further information.

*Software Demonstrations*
Those wishing to submit proposals for software demonstrations should contact
Trish Whetzel (whetzel@stanford.edu) before May 1, 2011.

*Student fellowships*
A number of fellowships will be available to support participation by
students and by early-career researchers (less than 5 years from award of
PhD). Submission details will be made available in due course.


*Details Regarding Submission and Publication
*All papers for both the main ICBO conference and the associated workshops
will be published in a set of proceedings made available to all workshop and
conference participants at the time of the meeting.

In addition, a number of papers will be selected for further refereeing for
publication in the open access Journal of Biomedical Semantics.

Submit workshop, proposals, conference papers, posters, and workshop papers
to: http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=icbo2011. All submissions
should be PDF files formatted according to LNCS. See: Information for LNCS
Authors.

Details of the ICBO conference and of its co-located tutorials and courses
can be found at: http://icbo.buffalo.edu.

Participation in this meeting by women, minorities, and persons with
disabilities is strongly encouraged.


*Organizing Committee*
Barry Smith, University at Buffalo (Conference Chair)
Judith Blake, The Jackson Laboratory
Suzanna E. Lewis, Berkeley National Laboratory
Mark Musen, Stanford University
Susanna-Assunta Sansone, University of Oxford
Chris Stoeckert, University of Pennsylvania
Dagobert Soergel, University at Buffalo

*Scientific Committee*
Alan Ruttenberg, University at Buffalo (Chair)
Olivier Bodenreider, National Library of Medicine (Co-Chair)
Maryanne Martone, University of California at San Diego (Co-Chair)
Stefan Schulz, University of Freiburg (Workshop and Tutorials Chair)
Albert Goldfain, University at Buffalo (Doctoral and Postdoctoral Colloquium
Chair)
Trish Whetzel, Stanford University (Software Demonstrations Chair)

*Program committee will include, in addition to the above*:
Colin Batchelor, Royal Society of Chemistry
Sebastian Brandt, University of Manchester
Werner Ceusters, University at Buffalo
Rex Chisholm, Northwestern University
Melanie Courtot, British Columbia Cancer Research Centre
Lindsay Cowell, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Alexander Diehl, University at Buffalo
Michel Dumontier, Carleton University
Louis J. Goldberg, University at Buffalo
Janna Hastings, European Bioinformatics Institute
Pascal Hitzler, Wright State University
Robert Hoehndorf, University of Cambridge
Jobst Landgrebe, International Institute for the Safety of Medicines Ltd.
Phillip Lord, Newcastle University
Alexa McCray, Harvard Medical School
J. L. E. Mejino, Jr., University of Washington
Christopher Mungall, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Darren Natale, Georgetown University
Chimezie Ogbuji, Cleveland Clinic
Helen Parkinson, European Bioinformatics Institute
Bjoern Peters, La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology
Daniel Rubin, Stanford University
Peter Robinson, Charité Hospital, Berlin
Ulrike Sattler, University of Manchester
Richard Scheuermann, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Robert Stevens, University of Manchester
Ida Sim, University of California at San Francisco
Harold Solbrig, Mayo Clinic
Kent Spackman, International Health Terminology Standards Development
Organization
Cathy Wu, Georgetown University / University of Delaware



Trish Whetzel, PhD
Outreach Coordinator
The National Center for Biomedical Ontology
Ph: 650-721-2378 <+16507212378>
whetzel@stanford.edu
http://www.bioontology.org