Call for Papers and Participation

 

Computational Approaches to Metabolomics

 

At the Pacific Symposium on Biocomputing 2007

January 3-7, 2007

Grand Wailea, Maui

 

Motivation for the Session

 

The goal of this session is to discuss the latest progress in the study of metabolomics – the study of small molecules found in or produced by an organism (http://www.metabolomics.ca) – using bioinformatics tools.

 

Metabolomics, or metabolic profiling, is an emerging branch of health research that uses metabolites as very sensitive reporters to detect tiny changes or mutations that happen to genes or proteins, monitor and/or measure the larger-scale physiological changes that occur in response to subtle changes in the environment, and assist in the improved monitoring of adverse drug reactions. Indeed, metabolomics is increasingly being used in a variety of health applications including pharmacology, pre-clinical drug trials, toxicology, transplant monitoring, newborn screening and clinical chemistry using highly automated and high-throughput platforms.

 

Tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS), capillary electrophoresis (CE), Fourier transform MS (FT-MS), infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and NMR spectroscopy are all used in metabolic profiling. These technological developments are complemented by a trend to use more sophisticated computer techniques to process or deconvolve chromatographic, spectroscopic or spectrometric data. These instruments generate so much data so quickly, that it is important to develop software tools for data reduction, data visualization, data classification and analysis. Machine learning tools like Bayesian classifiers, decision trees, support vector machines and various types of Markov networks will need to be constructed and trained to both to produce classifiers of disease state and stage as well as identify genetic disease markers. In addition, the metabolomics community needs software tools that will analyze known biochemical pathway data (from existing resources such as KEGG, PUMA, WIT) for various functions, including ways to predict candidate gene mutations or disruptions on the basis of metabolite abundances.

 

Possible Topics

 

• Identifying and Interpreting Patterns in Metabolomic Data, both for classification  and to identify markers
• Novel ways to Acquire, Process and Analyze Metabolomic Data
• Novel methods for analyzing multiple types of experimental data
• Relating metabolomics to the other “omics”, such as genomics and proteomics
• Experimental designs for metabolic systems.
• Metabolomics databases, integration and interoperability

Papers addressing any of the mentioned topics (or other related topics) are welcome. The session is especially interested in new methods for analyzing multiple types of experimental data and is not limited to a specific technological platform.

Session co-chairs

 

Russ Greiner

University of Alberta

greiner@cs.ualberta.ca

 

David Wishart

University of Alberta

dwishart@cs.ualberta.ca

 

General Information on PSB

 

The Pacific Symposium on Biocomputing (PSB) 2007 is an international, multidisciplinary conference for the presentation and discussion of current research in the theory and application of computational methods in problems of biological significance. Papers and presentations are rigorously peer reviewed and are published in an archival proceedings volume. PSB 2007 will be held January 3-7, 2007 at the Grand Wailea in Wailea, Maui. Tutorials will be offered prior to the start of the conference.

 

The PSB has been designed to be responsive to the need for critical mass in sub-disciplines within Biocomputing. For that reason, it is the only meeting whose sessions are defined dynamically each year in response to specific proposals. PSB sessions are organized by leaders in the emerging areas and targeted to provide a forum for publication and discussion of research in Biocomputing "hot topics." In this way, PSB provides an early forum for serious examination of emerging methods and approaches in this rapidly changing field. More information on the conference can be obtained from the conference Web page: http://psb.stanford.edu/.

 

Important Dates

 

• Submissions are due July 17, 2006 **extended to July 31**
• Decisions are announced September 6, 2006
• Camera ready copy due September 25, 2006

 

Submission Information

 

The conference is focused on rigorously peer-reviewed full-length papers on original research. The accepted manuscripts will be published in a bound archival proceeding, available online via the PSB website, and referenced in online sources such as PubMed. The best of the papers will be accepted for oral presentation to the entire conference. A poster session is available for researchers who wish to present their work without official publication.

 

All papers must be submitted to psb-submit @ helix.stanford.edu in electronic format. Only files in one of two formats are acceptable: postscript (*.ps) or Adobe Acrobat (*.pdf). Attached files should be named with the first author’s last name (e.g., altman.pdf). Hardcopy submission or unprocessed TEX or LATEX files will be rejected without review.

 

Each paper must be accompanied by a cover letter with the following information:

• Email address of corresponding author
• The specific PSB session that should review the paper or abstract
• A list of 5 individuals qualified to review the paper
• The submitted papers contains original, unpublished results, and is not currently under consideration elsewhere
• All co-authors concur with the contents of the paper

 

Submitted papers are limited to twelve (12) pages in the official PSB publication format. Please format your paper according to these instructions, which can be found at http://psb.stanford.edu/psb-online/psb-submit/. If figures cannot be easily resized and placed precisely in the text, then it should be clear that with appropriate modifications, the total manuscript length would be within the page limit.