ISMB 2008 Toronto

Abstract

A considerable fraction of all the major scholars in computational biology frequently participate in ISMB. Consistent with this leading role in representation, ISMB has become a major outlet for increasing the visibility of this extremely dynamic new discipline, and for maintaining and elevating its scientific standards. It has become the vehicle for the education of scholars at all stages of their careers, for the integration of students, and for the support of young leaders in the field. ISMB has also become a forum for reviewing the state of the art in the many fields of this growing discipline, for introducing new directions, and for announcing technological breakthroughs. ISMB and ISCB are contributing to the advance of biology, and to helping to build bridges and understanding between dedicated and passionate groups of scholars from an unusual variety of backgrounds. ISMB 1993–2008 The ISMB conference series began in 1993, the result of the vision of David Searls (GlaxoSmithKline), Jude Shavlik (University of Wisconsin Madison), and Larry Hunter (University of Colorado). A few years later, ISMB had established itself as a primary event for the computational biology community and triggered the founding of ISCB, the International Society for Computational Biology (http://www.iscb.org/). ISCB has been organizing the ISMB conference series since 1998. While ISCB evolved into the only society representing computational biology globally, its flagship conference has become the largest annual worldwide forum focused on computational biology. In January 2007, the ISCB came to an agreement with the European Conference on Computational Biology (ECCB) to organize a joint meeting in Europe every other year. This led to the ISMB/ECCB in Vienna in 2007 that set the standard for a large-scale integrative forum for all those with interest in subjects related to computational biology. ISCB is now focusing on expanding participation beyond North America and Europe, which has accounted for the majority of participants during the history of ISMB. One meeting in South Asia (InCoB; http://incob.binfo.org.tw/) has already been sponsored by ISCB, and another one in North Asia is going to follow. ISMB itself has also been held in Australia (2003) and Brazil (2006).