Special Interest Group Meetings Research Articles

Equitable community-based participatory research engagement with communities of color drives All of Us Wisconsin genomic research priorities.

The NIH All of Us Research Program aims to advance personalized medicine by not only linking patient records, surveys, and genomic data but also engaging with participants, particularly from groups traditionally underrepresented in biomedical research (UBR). This study details how the dialogue between scientists and community members, including many from communities of color, shaped local research priorities. We recruited area quantitative, basic, and clinical scientists as well as community members from our Community and Participant Advisory Boards with a predetermined interest in All of Us research as members of a Special Interest Group (SIG). An expert community engagement scientist facilitated 6 SIG meetings over the year, explicitly fostering openness and flexibility during conversations. We qualitatively analyzed discussions using a social movement framework tailored for community-based participatory research (CBPR) mobilization. The SIG evolved through CBPR stages of emergence, coalescence, momentum, and maintenance/integration. Researchers prioritized community needs above personal academic interests while community members kept discussions focused on tangible return of value to communities. One key outcome includes SIG-driven shifts in programmatic and research priorities of the All of Us Research Program in Southeastern Wisconsin. One major challenge was building equitable conversations that balanced scientific rigor and community understanding. Our approach allowed for a rich dialogue to emerge. Points of connection and disconnection between community members and scientists offered important guidance for emerging areas of genomic inquiry. Our study presents a robust foundation for future efforts to engage diverse communities in CBPR, particularly on healthcare concerns affecting UBR communities.

441 Southeastern Wisconsin Community-Based Participatory Research using the All of Us Researcher Workbench

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: Using a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach, the All of Us (AoU) Wisconsin Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) site aimed to improve public understanding of science by creating a Special Interest Group (SIG) of community members and scientists and driving healthcare research relevant to Southeastern Wisconsin. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: We recruited community members from the AoU advisory boards and scientists from Froedtert & MCW. These SIG participants will converge on a hypothesis that aligns with community priorities and conduct research using the national AoU database, which combines EHR, survey, and whole genome sequencing data. A year of monthly SIG meetings from 2022-2023 will serve as focus group sessions that will be recorded and transcribed. In addition to descriptive statistics on participant demographics and affiliations, we plan to qualitatively characterize transcripts, field notes, and feedback, such as participation satisfaction or reflection on self- and group-driven impact. We will publish alongside all SIG members on both the research outcomes and the SIG-driven process to inform future similar endeavors. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: To date, we held three SIG meetings, which together formed the discover and define stages in the human-centered design framework. We narrowed down SIG membership to 15 consistent participants. Our coalition building conversations emphasized group priorities and future payoffs for independent research and community partnerships. Realizing a crucial need for bioinformaticians to prosecute SIG-driven research questions, we created a data subgroup of trainees and scientists to familiarize themselves with the AoU Researcher Workbench. Through shared decision making during this community engaged process, we are converging on a research direction centering on specific diseases or adverse outcomes with relevance to Southeastern Wisconsin communities and with implications for personalized medicine. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: SIG scientists will learn about CBPR and access the AoU database. SIG community members will better understand the research process and share their lessons with local communities. The AoU Wisconsin research team will disseminate findings on the collective research process and empower scientist use of this nationally curated AoU database.

From the President andIFSTNews

From the President and<scp>IFST</scp>News

Children, Young People and Families Special Interest Group (CYF SIG) Meeting

The International Journal of Integrated Care (IJIC) is an online, open-access, peer-reviewed scientific journal that publishes original articles in the field of integrated care on a continuous basis.IJIC has an Impact Factor of 5.120 (2020 JCR, received in June 2021)

“Older Adults with ASD: The Consequences of Aging.” Insights from a series of special interest group meetings held at the International Society for Autism Research 2016–2017

A special interest group (SIG) entitled "Older Adults with ASD: The Consequences of Aging" was held at the International Society for Autism Research (INSAR) annual meetings in 2016 and 2017. The SIG and subsequent meetings brought together, for the first time, international delegates who were members of the autistic community, researchers, practitioners and service providers. Based on aging autism research that is already underway in UK, Europe, Australia and North America, discussions focussed on conceptualising the parameters of aging when referring to autism, and the measures that are appropriate to use with older adults when considering diagnostic assessment, cognitive factors and quality of life in older age. Thus, the aim of this SIG was to progress the research agenda on current and future directions for autism research in the context of aging. A global issue on how to define 'aging' when referring to ASD was at the forefront of discussions. The ‘aging’ concept can in principle refer to all developmental transitions. However, in this paper we focus on the cognitive and physical changes that take place from mid-life onwards. Accordingly, it was agreed that aging and ASD research should focus on adults over the age of 50 years, given the high rates of co-occurring physical and mental health concerns and increased risk of premature death in some individuals. Moreover, very little is known about the cognitive change, care needs and outcomes of autistic adults beyond this age. Discussions on the topics of diagnostic and cognitive assessments, and of quality of life and well-being were explored through shared knowledge about which measures are currently being used and which background questions should be asked to obtain comprehensive and informative developmental and medical histories. Accordingly, a survey was completed by SIG delegates who were representatives of international research groups across four continents, and who are currently conducting studies with older autistic adults. Considerable overlap was identified across different research groups in measures of both autism and quality of life, which pointed to combining data and shared learnings as the logical next step. Regarding the background questions that were asked, the different research groups covered similar topics but the groups differed in the way these questions were formulated when working with autistic adults across a range of cognitive abilities. It became clear that continued input from individuals on the autism spectrum is important to ensure that questionnaires used in ongoing and future are accessible and understandable for people across the whole autistic spectrum, including those with limited verbal abilities.

A case study of the use of a special interest group to enhance interest in public health among undergraduate health science students

BackgroundEducation and training of undergraduate health science students in public health are insufficient in many parts of the world. This lack is a risk as early interest in specialist training options is a predictor of future training choices. A special interest group (SIG) is one mechanism to engage students, increase awareness and generate interest in public health. The purpose of this case study was to create and study such a group at an African university.Case presentationAn action research study design was used to create and study the SIG. All interested students were invited to participate in the SIG and in the data collection procedures. Data were collected via paper-based and online questionnaires. Records of activities were documented, and a reflective diary was kept by the researcher. Seven SIG meetings were held which were less than planned—some sessions were cancelled due to general student unrest. The composition of the SIG fluctuated, but the core group of 16 students consisted of 12 females (75%) and 4 males (25%). Despite faculty-wide marketing, all the participants were medical students. The most successful marketing strategy was done by two lecturers. A total of 12 participants’ motivation (75%) was to learn more about public health. Despite the range of participants being over 4-year groups with varying schedules and commitments, a convenient day and meeting time were identified. The social capital of lecturers was harnessed to invite external guest lecturers as planned field trips proved impractical. At the mid-year point, six students (38%) thought that they would consider public health as a career choice. A decision was made to recruit new members via a seminar, and 37 possible new members were identified in the process.ConclusionsA SIG appears to be an effective strategy to increase public health interest among students. This finding is key in settings with particular health workforce shortages and high burdens of disease. A foundation phase with high levels of academic support by those already qualified is needed to allow student leadership to emerge. Despite the modified and reduced number of sessions, the SIG was still successful in increasing awareness about public health and possible career choices: both positive consequences of engaging with students within a SIG.

Implementing and evaluating early intervention for children with autism: Where are the gaps and what should we do?

In this article, we summarize the themes discussed at the INSAR Special Interest Group (SIG) on Implementing and Evaluating Community-Based Early Intervention. Priorities for moving the field forward identified in the SIG included the need for (a) formal theories to guide the development and evaluation of interventions, (b) pilot evaluations that investigate feasibility and acceptability of interventions, (c) methodologies that allow us to determine for whom different interventions bring most benefit and why this is so, (d) strategies to include community members and other stakeholders in the process of developing and evaluating interventions, and (e) understanding of factors that make interventions more likely to be adopted and successfully implemented in the real world.

Service provision for children and young people with acquired brain injury: Practice recommendations

Background: Providing appropriate rehabilitation services for Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) in childhood presents a number of challenges for caregivers, health and education professionals and the young person as they develop.Primary objective: To record the challenges and possible creative solutions generated by an international group of professionals to address the needs of children with ABI.Review of information: Recommendations were generated from children’s special interest group meetings of the International Brain Injury Association (Turin, Italy, 2001; Stockholm, Sweden, 2003; Melbourne, Australia, 2005; Lisbon, Portugal, 2008) and through meetings of the International Paediatric Brain Injury Society (IPBIS), formed in 2009. Delegates participating in the workshops were representative of nations from around the world and included The Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia, the UK, Finland, Germany, South Africa, the US, Canada, Sweden, Brazil and Italy.Outcomes: The information presented is based on a retrospective review of those meetings and the summaries of the topics considered.

Program Bytes - Satellite Meetings, SIGs, and AKEs at ISMB 2016.

The International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB) is gearing up for its flagship meeting, ISMB. The conference is the world’s largest gathering of computational biology and bioinformatics researchers. The ISMB 2016 pre-conference program will feature 17 special interest group and satellite meetings over the course of two days. This article previews those special meetings at ISCB’s flagship meeting, ISMB.

ISMB 2016 offers outstanding science, networking, and celebration.

The annual international conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB) is the major meeting of the International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB). Over the past 23 years the ISMB conference has grown to become the world's largest bioinformatics/computational biology conference. ISMB 2016 will be the year's most important computational biology event globally. The conferences provide a multidisciplinary forum for disseminating the latest developments in bioinformatics/computational biology. ISMB brings together scientists from computer science, molecular biology, mathematics, statistics and related fields. Its principal focus is on the development and application of advanced computational methods for biological problems. ISMB 2016 offers the strongest scientific program and the broadest scope of any international bioinformatics/computational biology conference. Building on past successes, the conference is designed to cater to variety of disciplines within the bioinformatics/computational biology community. ISMB 2016 takes place July 8 - 12 at the Swan and Dolphin Hotel in Orlando, Florida, United States. For two days preceding the conference, additional opportunities including Satellite Meetings, Student Council Symposium, and a selection of Special Interest Group Meetings and Applied Knowledge Exchange Sessions (AKES) are all offered to enable registered participants to learn more on the latest methods and tools within specialty research areas.

ISMB/ECCB Rebooted: 2015 Brings Major Update to the Meeting Program

The 23rd Annual International Conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology and the 14th European Conference on Computational Biology (ISMB/ECCB 2015) is shaping up to be a phenomenal meeting, with world-renowned keynote speakers and changes in the meeting format that aim to make it a more streamlined and user-friendly conference. The joint ISMB/ECCB conference is held biennially and is the flagship meeting of the International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB). The meeting will take place at the Convention Center Dublin, Ireland, from July 10–14, 2015, and will bring together scientists from across the globe working in a broad range of computational biology—related disciplines, including genomics, structural biology, proteomics, data mining, machine learning, and systems biology. Online registration is open until June 26: https://www.iscb.org/ismbeccb2015-registration. In the past, presentations at the meeting have been organized according to tracks, namely, the Proceedings, Highlights, and Late Breaking Research tracks. In 2015, all oral presentations will be presented in broad thematic areas. As in the past, submissions accepted into the highly selective Proceedings track will be published in a special ISMB/ECCB Proceedings issue of Bioinformatics. Conference co-chairs Alex Bateman, Janet Kelso, and Des Higgins and the conference committee undertook the reorganization effort and came up with five thematic areas: Genes, Proteins, Systems, Disease, and Data. Batemen said, “The idea of themes is an obvious way to organize the talks. But, selecting a small number of themes that represented all computational biology was challenging. Of course, many talks will potentially fit across several themes. Time will tell whether these need any tweaking for future meetings.” Kelso believes the new organization will benefit attendees and said, “We hope that organizing the meeting more thematically will mean that attendees have an easier time identifying sessions that are relevant and interesting to them.” As in the past, the keynote speaker lineup features world-class scientists. The speakers include Amos Bairoch of the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (ISCB Fellows Keynote), Cyrus Chothia of the Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology (Senior Scientist Award winner), Eileen Furlong of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Curtis Huttenhower of the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health (Overton Prize winner), 2013 Nobel Laureate Michael Levitt of Stanford University, and Kenneth Wolfe of University College Dublin. The main conference program takes place from Sunday, July 12, through Tuesday, July 14. In the tradition of previous ISMB/ECCB meetings, special interest group and satellite meetings will occur prior to the conference on Thursday, July 10, and Friday, July 11. This year, the tutorials and workshops that usually precede the main meeting are being replaced by applied knowledge exchange sessions (AKES). The AKES are scheduled for Saturday, July 11, and are designed to provide interactive educational and knowledge exchange opportunities for attendees. AKES will also provide a chance for junior principle investigators to meet and exchange career advice. Six AKES have been scheduled: AKES 01: Applied Knowledge Building Networks for Translation: How to Use DREAM Challenges and the Synapse Platform as a Research Strategy AKES 02: Cytoscape 3 App Development: Variations on a Theme—“Hello World” AKES 03: Bioinformatics Software Testing and Quality Assurance AKES 04: Using Biological Cyberinfrastructure to Scale Science and People—Applications in Data Storage, HPC (High-Performance Computing), Cloud Analysis, and Bioinformatics Training AKES 05: Open-Access, Cloud-Based, Individual-Level Clinical Trials Data—Sharing, Dissemination and Analyses AKES 06: Junior Principal Investigator ISMB/ECCB 2015 will also include special sessions, poster presentations in the exhibit hall, the Student Council Symposium, and social activities. This year’s meeting promises to be an eagerly anticipated reboot of ISMB/ECCB, with great science and collaboration at its core.

Report on BAAL ‘Language in Africa’ SIG meetings Reading in African languages: Developing literacies and reading methodologies

This report describes ongoing research on reading in African languages. It draws mainly on contributions from two British Association for Applied Linguistics (BAAL) ‘Language in Africa’ (LiA) Special Interest Group (SIG) meetings: the LiA SIG strand at BAAL 2013 and the seminar on Reading Methodologies in African Languages held at The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London in January 2014. This report will only cover contributions that focused on reading research and practice.

RMetS Special Interest Group Meeting: high resolution data assimilation

AbstractData assimilation (DA) systems are evolving to meet the demands of convection‐permitting models in the field of weather forecasting. On 19 April 2013 a special interest group meeting of the Royal Meteorological Society brought together UK researchers looking at different aspects of the data assimilation problem at high resolution, from theory to applications, and researchers creating our future high resolution observational networks. The meeting was chaired by Dr Sarah Dance of the University of Reading and Dr Cristina Charlton‐Perez from the MetOffice@Reading.The purpose of the meeting was to help define the current state of high resolution data assimilation in the UK. The workshop assembled three main types of scientists: observational network specialists, operational numerical weather prediction researchers and those developing the fundamental mathematical theory behind data assimilation and the underlying models. These three working areas are intrinsically linked; therefore, a holistic view must be taken when discussing the potential to make advances in high resolution data assimilation.

ISMB 2014--the premier conference for the World's Computational Biologists.

ISMB 2014--the premier conference for the World's Computational Biologists.

Selected papers from the 16th Annual Bio-Ontologies Special Interest Group Meeting

Over the 16 years, the Bio-Ontologies SIG at ISMB has provided a forum for vibrant discussions of the latest and most innovative advances in the research area of bio-ontologies, its applications to biomedicine and more generally in the organisation, sharing and re-use of knowledge in biomedicine and the life sciences. The six papers selected for this supplement span a wide range of topics including: ontology-based data integration, ontology-based annotation of scientific literature, ontology and data model development, representation of scientific results and gene candidate prediction.

Selected papers from the 15th Annual Bio-Ontologies Special Interest Group Meeting

Over the 15 years, the Bio-Ontologies SIG at ISMB has provided a forum for discussion of the latest and most innovative research in the bio-ontologies development, its applications to biomedicine and more generally the organisation, presentation and dissemination of knowledge in biomedicine and the life sciences. The seven papers and the commentary selected for this supplement span a wide range of topics including: web-based querying over multiple ontologies, integration of data, annotating patent records, NCBO Web services, ontology developments for probabilistic reasoning and for physiological processes, and analysis of the progress of annotation and structural GO changes.

Selected papers from the 14th Annual Bio-Ontologies Special Interest Group Meeting

Over the 14 years, the Bio-Ontologies SIG at ISMB has provided a forum for discussion of the latest and most innovative research in the bio-ontologies development, its applications to biomedicine and more generally the organisation, presentation and dissemination of knowledge in biomedicine and the life sciences. The seven papers selected for this supplement span a wide range of topics including: web-based querying over multiple ontologies, integration of data from wikis, innovative methods of annotating and mining electronic health records, advances in annotating web documents and biomedical literature, quality control of ontology alignments, and the ontology support for predictive models about toxicity and open access to the toxicity data.

Selected papers from the 13th Annual Bio-Ontologies Special Interest Group Meeting

Over the years, the Bio-Ontologies SIG at ISMB has provided a forum for discussion of the latest and most innovative research in the application of ontologies and more generally the organisation, presentation and dissemination of knowledge in biomedicine and the life sciences. The ten papers selected for this supplement are extended versions of the original papers presented at the 2010 SIG. The papers span a wide range of topics including practical solutions for data and knowledge integration for translational medicine, hypothesis based querying , understanding kidney and urinary pathways, mining the pharmacogenomics literature; theoretical research into the orthogonality of biomedical ontologies, the representation of diseases, the representation of research hypotheses, the combination of ontologies and natural language processing for an annotation framework, the generation of textual definitions, and the discovery of gene interaction networks.

Fungal photobiology: a synopsis

Fungi respond and adapt to many environmental signals including light. The photobiology of fungi has been extensively investigated, but in recent years the identification of the first fungal photoreceptor, WC-1 in the ascomycete Neurospora crassa, and the discovery that similar photoreceptors are required for photoreception in other ascomycete, basidiomycete and zygomycete fungi has allowed the molecular characterization of light reception and the early steps of signal transduction in a number of model fungi. This contribution is based on presentations made at the Special Interest Group Meeting on "Fungal Photobiology" held during IMC9. The contributions summarize the current status of fungal photobiology in Aspergillus nidulans, Neurospora crassa, Mucor circinelloides, and Coprinopsis cinerea.

ISMB/ECCB 2009 Stockholm

The International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB; http://www.iscb.org) presents the Seventeenth Annual International Conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB), organized jointly with the Eighth Annual European Conference on Computational Biology (ECCB; http://bioinf.mpi-inf.mpg.de/conferences/eccb/eccb.htm), in Stockholm, Sweden, 27 June to 2 July 2009. The organizers are putting the finishing touches on the year's premier computational biology conference, with an expected attendance of 1400 computer scientists, mathematicians, statisticians, biologists and scientists from other disciplines related to and reliant on this multi-disciplinary science. ISMB/ECCB 2009 (http://www.iscb.org/ismbeccb2009/) follows the framework introduced at the ISMB/ECCB 2007 (http://www.iscb.org/ismbeccb2007/) in Vienna, and further refined at the ISMB 2008 (http://www.iscb.org/ismb2008/) in Toronto; a framework developed to specifically encourage increased participation from often under-represented disciplines at conferences on computational biology. During the main ISMB conference dates of 29 June to 2 July, keynote talks from highly regarded scientists, including ISCB Award winners, are the featured presentations that bring all attendees together twice a day. The remainder of each day offers a carefully balanced selection of parallel sessions to choose from: proceedings papers, special sessions on emerging topics, highlights of the past year's published research, special interest group meetings, technology demonstrations, workshops and several unique sessions of value to the broad audience of students, faculty and industry researchers. Several hundred posters displayed for the duration of the conference has become a standard of the ISMB and ECCB conference series, and an extensive commercial exhibition showcases the latest bioinformatics publications, software, hardware and services available on the market today. The main conference is preceded by 2 days of Special Interest Group (SIG) and Satellite meetings running in parallel to the fifth Student Council Symposium on 27 June, and in parallel to Tutorials on 28 June. All scientific sessions take place at the Stockholmsmässan/Stockholm International Fairs conference and exposition facility.Contact: bj@iscb.org