News

Contact:
Andrew Komornicki, Sun Microsystems
650-786-0003, andrew.komornicki@eng.sun.com

Registration is now open for "Computational Challenges of the Post-Genomic Age," a two-day symposium open to all scientists and co-sponsored by Sun Microsystems, the San Diego Supercomputer Center and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The symposium will address the scientific questions combined with computational challenges being posed by bioinformatics and the mapping of genomes, structural genomics and interactions at the cellular level, and full organ simulations.

Sixteen world-class scientists will address these issues May 11-13 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Burlingame, California, on the San Francisco Peninsula, just 10 minutes from the San Francisco airport. Registration is available at the symposium Web site: http://www.sdsc.edu/Workshops/postgenomic/.

"As the 20th century ends we are moving into a very exciting age where questions in biology will dominate the scientific landscape," said conference organizer Andrew Komornicki of Sun Microsystems. "With the tremendous accomplishments that have been occurring in all branches of biology, we now have an unprecedented view of the genome of many species as well as new views of how biological processes occur, encompassing the molecular, cellular, and organ perspectives."

This symposium focuses on the growing synergy between computational science, high-performance computing, and the biological sciences. A huge amount of data must be stored, analyzed and made broadly available to the scientific community. In addition, advances in computational methods, algorithms, and computers have made it possible to model some biological systems with high accuracy and unveil unique views of how biological processes occur.

The presentations will be on May 12 and 13. A reception is planned on Thursday evening with the meeting held on Friday and Saturday. Speakers from academia and industry will focus on four general topic areas: bioinformatics and the genome, structural genomics, interactions at the cellular level, and interactions at the organ and organism level.

For more information, contact Andrew Komornicki, Sun Microsystems, 650-786-0003, andrew.komornicki@eng.sun.com. The registration fee is $100, or $50 for post-doctoral researchers and students.

The speakers at the Computational Challenges in the Post-Genomic Age symposium, listed below, represent world leaders in many branches of biology. See http://www.sdsc.edu/Workshops/postgenomic/ for more details.

BIOINFORMATICS

Prof. Leroy Hood
Director and President
Institute for Systems Biology
Seattle, Washington

Dr. Christoph Sensen
National Research Council of Canada
Institute for Marine Biosciences
Halifax, Nova Scotia

Prof. Steven A. Benner
Department of Chemistry
University of Florida

Prof. Simon Tavare
Departments of Mathematics and Molecular Biology University of Southern California

STRUCTURAL GENOMICS

Dr. Philip Bourne
SDSC Project Leader
Protein Data Bank
San Diego Supercomputer Center
University of California, San Diego

Prof. Michael Levitt
Department of Cell Biology
Stanford University School of Medicine

Prof. Monty Pettitt
Director, Institute for Molecular Design University of Houston

Prof. Andrej Sali
The Rockefeller University

CELLULAR INTERACTIONS AND MODELING

Prof. Adam Arkin
Departments of Bioengineering and Chemistry University of California, Berkeley
Physial Biosciences Division
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Prof. John Tyson
Department of Biology
Virginia Polytechnic Institute

Dr. George Michaels
Director Agricultural Sector
Genomics Lead Development
Monsanto

ORGAN INTERACTIONS AND MODELING

Prof. James Bassingthwaighte
Center for Bioengineering
Director, Simulation Resource Facility
University of Washington

Dr. Sam Holtzman
Chairman of the Board
Executive Vice President, Advanced Concepts Entelos, Inc.

Prof. Kenneth R. Lutchen
Chair, Department of Biomedical Engineering Boston University

Dr. Jeremy Levin
Physiome Sciences, Inc.
Princeton, New Jersey