Birds of a Feather / Focus Group Discussion

During registration for RECOMB (7PM - 10PM Wed 17 April), in the Governor's Room at the Omni Shoreham, a Birds of a Feather / Focus Group discussion will be held to initiate a dialogue on bioinformatics training and educational programs at all levels. The President of the International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB) will describe the goals of the ISCB, and along with contributions from others including UK faculty, recent experiences in establishing training programs. There is as yet no single approach for bioinformatics training, and besides course content and curriculum, major questions include how to maintain a reasonable duration for the education program while including both quantitative and biological training. Similarly, standards for undergraduate, graduate and professional master's can not yet be defined. Yet, the opportunities for young scientists with expertise in bioinformatics seem limitless. While it may be the case that only the actual "experiments" of running training programs will fully establish the right directions, it is important that the community actively engage in establishing best practices. We anticipate a continuing dialogue led by the International Society of Computational Biology at the major meetings in the field, most notably at RECOMB, and would hope to lay out a plan for RECOMB and ISCB, among others, to engage actively in establishing best practices for bioinformatics training at all levels, to produce the first generation of young scientists able to exploit fully the tools of computing and information technolology in order to characterize biological systems.

Please contact John Wooley (jwooley@ucsd.edu) for further details