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3D BioInfo
Launch Meeting for a proposed ELIXIR Community in Structural Bioinformatics
Friday, October 19th, 2018
Basel, Switzerland

Call for abstracts and posters

If you would like to give a flash talk (one slide) to advertise a poster at the meeting on a proposed ELIXIR activity (involving collaborations across two or more groups within an ELIXIR node and preferably involving two or more nodes) please send a summary (maximum one page) to c.orengo@ucl.ac.uk outlining the groups and ELIXIR nodes involved and the ELIXIR platforms this activity would relate to i.e. interoperability, data, tools, compute or training. The proposed activity should ideally involve two or more platforms.

Deadline for the abstracts: September 30th

Ideas presented at the meeting will be considered for inclusion in the application to become an ELIXIR Community.

About

This meeting will discuss a proposed new ELIXIR Community in Structural Bioinformatics – 3DBioInfo. ELIXIR Communities enable the participation of communities of practice in different areas of the life sciences in the activities of ELIXIR, which underpin the evolution of a data, tools, interoperability, compute and training infrastructure for European life science informatics (see https://www.elixir-europe.org/use-cases). ELIXIR supports its formally recognised Communities by providing funding for workshops and short collaborative projects associated with the Community.

Structural bioinformatics has a broad impact across the life sciences and provides tools to archive, visualise, analyse, annotate, and predict molecular structures. The science of structural bioinformatics is traditionally very strong in Europe offering many software tools, methodologies, and databases, as well as community-wide prediction challenges. Its applications cover research activities from structural biology to drug discovery and personalised medicine that are all well represented within the national ELIXIR nodes.

At the meeting we will have presentations from structural bioinformatics groups engaged in or planning ELIXIR endorsed activities around structure based analyses and prediction methods. There will also be presentations from other ELIXIR communities with related interests and from ELIXIR platforms with guidance on how structural bioinformatics groups can collaborate with ELIXIR support. Importantly, we will have a session planning the activities and aims that will form the basis of a white paper to submit to the ELIXIR hub for endorsement as a Community in Structural Bioinformatics.

This meeting will be held on Friday 19th October, the day after the SWISS-MODEL 25th Anniversary Symposium, being held in an adjacent venue. It is not necessary to register for the SWISS-MODEL meeting to attend the 3D-BioInfo meeting.

The meeting will start at 10.00 am and end at 5.30pm.

There will be a cost of 50 CHF to register for the meeting.

The meeting will be capped at 100 participants so please register soon to avoid disappointment.

Further Information

For information on the timelines for forming an ELIXIR Community in Structural Bioinformatics please see read this .

For information on suggested major themes and activities of the 3D-BioInfo Community, please read this .

You are welcome to add comments on additional activities.

For more information on the four intial proposed activities, please read the following documents.

Schedule - Friday 19th October 2018, Swissôtel le Plaza

10.00 - 10.30: Introduction

  • John Hancock, EBI-UK: overview of ELIXIR Communities
  • Christine Orengo, UCL-UK: Overview of the themes and aims of the 3D-BioInfo Community.

10.30 - 11.10: 3D-BioInfo activities related to ELIXIR platforms (Activity I)

  • Dr Sameer Velankar, EBI UK: Developing common ontologies to increase links and promote interoperability between related structural bioinformatics resources across Europe.
  • Josep Lluis Gelpi, Barcelona, Spain: Tools and Compute related activities

11.10 - 11.40: Coffee break and posters (30 minutes)

11.40 - 12.20: 3D-BioInfo activities related to ELIXIR platforms (Activity II)

  • Shoshana Wodak, VIB, Belgium: Develop open platforms for sharing, integrating and benchmarking software tools for modelling the proteome in 3D.
  • Patricia Palagi, SIB, Switzerland: Training, and workflows for efficient utilization of tools and services.

12.20 - 1.10: Lunch and posters (50 minutes)

1.10 - 2.40: Flash talks on suggested 3D-BioInfo activities (90 minutes), Speakers TBA

2.40 - 3.10: Coffee break and posters (30 minutes)

3.10 - 3.50: Synergies with EU initiatives

  • Anastassis Perrakis, NKI, The Netherlands, representing INSTRUCT-ERIC: synergies between INSTRUCT activities and 3D-BioInfo.
  • Modesto Orozco IRB, Barcelona Spain, representing BioExcel: synergies between BioExcel activities and 3D-BioInfo.

3.50 - 4.50: Session 2: Synergies with other Elixir Communities

  • Juan Antonio Vizcaino EBI, UK: Proteomics community
  • Silvio Tosatto, U. Padua, Italy: Protein intrinsic disorder community
  • Leslie Matalonga CNAG Barcelona Spain: Rare Diseases community

4:50 - 5.30: Wrap up and Discussion of future activities (30 mins)

  • Presentation and discussion of a preliminary draft of the 3D-BioInfo Community whitepaper.

Travel

Situated in Switzerland at the heart of Europe, Basel is one of the continent’s most convenient locations for major events. Basel is easily accessible from many European cities by plane or high-speed trains. Approximate travel times to the Congress Center:

Train station: Basel Badischer Bahnhof (DB) Train station is in walking distance to the conference site. Or 3 minutes with tram lines 2 or 6, exit at "Messeplatz".

Train station: Basel SBB or SBB/SNCF Ca. 20 minutes by public transport (3.80 CHF/ 3.50 EUR). Take tram line 1 or 2 and exit at "Messeplatz".

Basel EuroAirport (BSL) Ca. 15 minutes by taxi (ca. 40 CHF / 35 EUR); ca. 20 minutes by public transport (3.80 CHF/ 3.50 EUR). When arriving at Basel airport, take the exit to "Switzerland" (not France). For public transport, take bus line 50 to SBB train station and from there tram lines 1 or 2 and exit at "Messeplatz".

Zürich Airport (ZRH) Ca. 90 minutes by train and public transport to the conference site (ca. 45 CHF / 37 EUR). Trains to Basel are leaving from Zürich airport every 30 minutes (either direct or via Zürich main station; train schedules are displayed at the luggage belts. Take the train to either Basel SBB or Basel Badischer Bahnhof.

Venue

(Please note: next to the Congress center!)


Swissôtel le Plaza

Messeplatz 25
CH-4058 Basel

Location on Google Maps

Accommodation

In Basel you will find more than 4'000 hotel beds. First-class establishments with style and tradition, comfortable middle-class hotels and a choice of friendly small hotels and guest houses to suit the smaller budget.

The hotels in Basel are centrally located. All attractions, museums, restaurants and bars, as well as diverse opportunities for shopping are therefore easy to reach on foot or by public transport. When checking in as a guest at a hotel in Basel, you will receive a Mobility Ticket which gives you free use of public transport during your stay.

Online booking services

Contact Information

3DBioInfo is organised by:

Christine Orengo, Bohdan Schneider, Torsten Schwede, Joel Sussman, Janet Thornton, Sameer Velanakar, Shoshana Wodak.

The Steering Committee of 3D-BioInfo, comprising representatives from 15 European ELIXIR node countries will also be discussing ideas for this meeting and proposing speakers and activities.

Prof Christine Orengo,  
606 Darwin (SMB) Building
Gower Street
London
WC1E 6BT
United Kingdom

Email: c.orengo@ucl.ac.uk 
Tel: +44 20 7679 3284