CfP Semantic Web Applications and Tools for Life Sciences

**

* *

*International Workshop on*

*Semantic Web Applications and Tools for Life Sciences*

*(SWAT4LS)*

* *

*28th November 2008, Edinburgh, UK*

http://www.swat4ls.org/



*Overview*

*--------*

The workshop is organized in sessions and open discussions. Invited speakers
will present state-of-the-art, provocative lectures on the workshop's main
topic, while a number of submissions will be accepted as oral presentations
and posters on all workshop's topics.



*Workshop Description*

*--------------------*

Semantic Web technologies, tools and applications are starting to emerge in
Life Sciences. In recent years, systems have been introduced and an
increasing interest among researchers is arising. This workshop will provide
a venue to present and discuss benefits and limits of the adoption of these
technologies and tools in biomedical informatics and computational biology.

It will showcase experiences, information resources, tools development and
applications. It will bring together researchers, both developers and users,
from the various fields of Biology, Bioinformatics and Computer Science, to
discuss goals, current limits and some real use cases for Semantic Web
technologies in Life Sciences.



*Keynote Speakers*

*------------------------*

+ Semantic web technology in translational cancer research,

   Michael Krauthammer, Department of Pathology, Yale University School of
Medicine, USA



+ Using Ontologies to bring Web Services on to the Semantic Web

   Mark Wilkinson, School of Computer Science, University of Manchester,
United Kingdom



*Workshop Venue and Format*

*------------------------*

The workshop will take place in Edinburgh, Scotland, on 28 November 2008,
and is hosted by the UK's National e-Science Centre (NeSC).

SWAT4LS  will be a one-day workshop and will consist of two invited talks,
regular paper and poster presentations. The workshop will conclude with a
panel discussion on the strength and weaknesses of the Semantic Web for the
Life Sciences.



*Deadlines*

*---------*

    * Submission deadline (both papers and posters): 30 September 2008

    * Notification of acceptance: 20 October 2008

    * Camera-ready submission: 3 November 2008


*
*

*Topics of Interest*

*------------------*

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

    * Standards, Technologies, Tools for the Semantic Web

          o Semantic Web standards (RDF, OWL, ...)

          o RDF/OWL, SKOS, .... and their applicability ot bioinformatics

          o RDF Schemas and Query systems

          o Biomedical Ontologies and related tools

          o Formal approaches to large biomedical controlled terminologies

            and vocabularies

    * Systems for a Semantic Web for Bioinformatics

          o Bio-ontologies, RDF stores, Semantic web Services

          o RDF repositories and query systems for life sciences

          o Semantically aware biomedical Web Services

          o Semantic Biological Data Integration Systems

    * Existing and perspective applications of the Semantic Web for
Bioinformatics

          o Semantic browsers, Semantic collaborative research

          o Case studies, use cases, and scenarios

          o Semantic Web applications in life sciences



*Type of contributions*

*----------------------*

The following possible original contributions are sought:

    * Oral communications (regular papers)

    * Posters

    * Software demos



All accepted oral communications and posters will be published with the
CEUR-WS.org Workshop Proceedings service (see http://ceur-ws.org/).

Furthermore, a selection of papers will be published in a special issue of
the *BMC Bioinformatics *journal devoted to the SWAT4LS workshop.

To this end, a special Call will be launched shortly after the workshop, for
extended and revised versions of contributions submitted to the workshop and
accepted either as oral communication or poster.



*Workshop Chairs*

*----------------*

+ Albert Burger, School of Mathematical and Computer Sciences, Heriot-Watt
University, and Human

   Genetics Unit, Medical Research Council, Edinburgh, Scotland, United
Kingdom

+ Adrian Paschke, Biotechnology Centre, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany and
Free University Berlin, Germany

+ Paolo Romano, Bioinformatics, National Cancer Research Institute, Genova,
Italy

+ Andrea Splendiani, Medical Informatics Department, University of Rennes 1,
Rennes, France



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

*In Co-operation with:*

- National Cancer Research Institute, Genova, Italy

- Biotechnology Centre, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany

- School of Mathematical and Computer Sciences, Heriot-Watt University,
Edinburgh, United Kingdom

- Université de Rennes 1, Rennes, France

- National e-Science Center, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom

- SeaLife Project, European Commission Information Society and Media

- Laboratory for Interdisciplinary Technologies in Bioinformatics (LITBIO),
Italy

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



For any information, refer to info@swat4ls.org .