APBioNet—Transforming Bioinformatics in the Asia-Pacific Region

Asif M Khan,Christian Schönbach,Shoba Ranganathan,Tin Wee Tan

doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003317

Abstract

The Asia-Pacific Bioinformatics Network (APBioNet; www.apbionet.org) is a nonprofit, nongovernmental, international organization founded in 1998 that focuses on the promotion of bioinformatics in the Asia-Pacific region. APBioNet's mission, since its inception, has been to pioneer the growth and development of bioinformatics awareness, training, education, infrastructure, resources, and research among member countries and economies. Its work includes technical coordination, liaison, and/or affiliation with other international scientific bodies, such as the European Molecular Biology network (EMBnet) and the International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB). APBioNet has more than 20 organizational and 2,000 individual members from over 12 countries in the region, from industry, academia, research, government, investors, and international organizations. APBioNet is spearheading a number of key bioinformatics initiatives in collaboration with international organizations, such as the Asia-Pacific Advanced Network (APAN), the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), and the Asia-Pacific International Molecular Biology Network (A-IMBN), and industry partners. Many of the initiatives and activities have been initiated through its flagship conference, the International Conference on Bioinformatics (InCoB). In 2012, APBioNet was incorporated in Singapore as a public limited liability company to ensure quality, sustainability, and continuity of its mission to advance bioinformatics across the region and beyond. We describe below the key thrust areas of APBioNet.

Highlights

The Asia-Pacific Bioinformatics Network (APBioNet; www.apbionet.org) is a nonprofit, nongovernmental, international organization founded in 1998 that focuses on the promotion of bioinformatics in the AsiaPacific region
In 2011, International Conference on Bioinformatics (InCoB) celebrated its tenth anniversary in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia jointly with the 1st International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB)-Asia [1] and featured several key initiatives, including the launch of the BioDB100 initiative, aimed at gathering 100 bioinformatics databases that are Minimum Information About a Bioinformatics investigation (MIABi)-standards compliant under one interoperable framework
We anticipate that the ongoing testing efforts [4,5,6,7] will help to delineate the process for standardization and enhance the implementation of increasingly standardized vocabularies, ontologies, and infrastructural and informational interoperability for the maintenance and sustainability of Citation: Khan AM, Tan TW, Schonbach C, Ranganathan S (2013) APBioNet—Transforming Bioinformatics in the Asia-Pacific Region

Summary

Introduction

The Asia-Pacific Bioinformatics Network (APBioNet; www.apbionet.org) is a nonprofit, nongovernmental, international organization founded in 1998 that focuses on the promotion of bioinformatics in the AsiaPacific region. APBioNet has more than 20 organizational and 2,000 individual members from over 12 countries in the region, from industry, academia, research, government, investors, and international organizations. APBioNet has adopted InCoB as its annual signature event (2003: Penang, 2004: Auckland, 2005: Busan, 2006: New Delhi, 2007: HongKong/Hanoi, 2008: Taipei, 2009: Singapore, 2010: Tokyo, 2011: Kuala Lumpur, and 2012: Bangkok) and grown it to become one of Asia’s largest bioinformatics conferences, targeting practitioners from both biology and computing backgrounds (http://bit.ly/10P6CVq). In 2011, InCoB celebrated its tenth anniversary in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia jointly with the 1st ISCB-Asia [1] and featured several key initiatives, including the launch of the BioDB100 initiative, aimed at gathering 100 bioinformatics databases that are Minimum Information About a Bioinformatics investigation (MIABi)-standards compliant under one interoperable framework (http:// incob.apbionet.org/incob). The 2013 conference was held recently for the first time in China (http://incob.apbionet.org/incob13), with the 2014 conference to be held immediately prior to and sharing keynote speakers with the International Union for Pure and Applied Biophysics [IUPAB] 2014 Congress (http://incob.apbionet.org/incob; July 31 to August 2, 2014), in Sydney, Australia

Advancing Standards for Bioinformatics Activities

Bioinformatics Education and Training

Policy and Awareness

Conclusions