From owner-bionews@hgmp.mrc.ac.uk Wed Jan 5 18:07:30 2000 Return-Path: Received: by mercury.hgmp.mrc.ac.uk (Postfix, from userid 110) id 13F4A17AF0; Wed, 5 Jan 2000 18:07:27 +0000 (GMT) Received: by mercury.hgmp.mrc.ac.uk (Postfix, from userid 1) id 5BD5B17ACC; Wed, 5 Jan 2000 18:07:26 +0000 (GMT) To: nobody@net.bio.net X-Really-To: bionews@net.bio.net Newsgroups: bionet.announce,bionet.general From: Marcel Turcotte Subject: Announcement: Mathematical and Statistical Tools for the Study Date: Wed, 05 Jan 2000 10:32:49 +0000 Organization: Imperial Cancer Research Fund Message-ID: <38731DD1.DE6B1590@icrf.icnet.uk> Reply-To: M.Turcotte@icrf.icnet.uk Sender: owner-bionews@hgmp.mrc.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Announcement Critical Reviews of Optical Science and Technology Mathematical and Statistical Tools for the Study of Complex Phenotypes Part of SPIE's International Symposium on EBiOS 2000 Program on: Multimodal Biomolecular Diagnostics & Engineering 4 to 8 July 2000 Amsterdam, The Netherlands Chair: Marcel Turcotte, Imperial Cancer Research Fund, London Understanding fundamental biological processes at a higher levels of complexity will be the focus of biomedical research over the next few years. Tremendous technological advances in genomic sciences have increased the production of high-quality data. The availability of complete DNA se- quence for model organisms creates a shift in approaches to understand complex biological systems. Traditional studies have proceeded from the ground up, identifying individual components, working out possible interactions and, by an iterative process, understanding of complex biological systems has emerged. The new paradigm favours a top-down approach, treating the biological problem as system of interacting components. DNA chips and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) are prime examples new emerging technologies. Our current capacity to interpret the data is inade- quate, the challenge is to devise conceptual tools to understand the variations in genomic sequences and environment as well as their interactions. Contributions have to be made at several levels, we need mathematical and statistical models that identify the contributing factors, to represent the system dynamics and deduce global rules causing complex phenotypes. There are also challenges in representing and stocking the data, as well as creating standards and making the information as widely available as possible. This critical review aims at providing scientists studying complex phenotypes the mathematical, statistical and computational tools needed and to provide a common language. Examples of relevant research include: o analysis of patterns of gene expression o cell signalling systems o modelling the combinatorial control of gene transcription o molecular interactions in complex assemblies o pattern identification in embryogenesis o control and flux of metabolites o identification of genes and environment that contribute to complex traits o approaches relating genomic and physiological data o data analysis in single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) o the combination of multiple sources of data, physiological, anatomical and chemical to study the massively parallel structure of the nervous system URL http://www.spie.org/europto/meetings/ebo00/critrev.html --------------- THE CRITICAL REVIEW IS PART OF THE PROGRAM ON BIOMOLECULAR ENGINEERING Programme Chair: Hans Lehrach, Max Planck Institut fuer Molekulare Genetik, Berlin, Germany * Computational and Combinatorial Methods in Biochemistry (ebo16) Conference Chair: Marcel Turcotte, Imperial Cancer Research Fund, London, United Kingdom Conference Co-Chair: Gerhard Ritter, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA * Protein Crystallography (ebo17) Conference Chair: Katherine A. Kantardjieff, W.M. Keck Foundation Center for Molecular Structure at California State University Fullerton, and Biology and Biotechnology Research Program at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, USA * Tools for DNA Diagnostics (ebo18) Conference Chair: Hans Lehrach, Max Planck Institut fuer Molekulare Genetik, Berlin, Germany Conference Co-Chair: Holger Eickhoff, Max Planck Institut fuer Molekulare Genetik, Berlin, Germany * Critical Reviews of Technology: Mathematical and Statistical Tools for the Study of Complex Phenotypes Marcel Turcotte, Imperial Cancer Research Fund, London --------------- GENERAL INFORMATION ON THE SYMPOSIUM: EBiOS 2000 EOS/SPIE European Biomedical Optics Week EBiOS 2000 Sponsored by ELA The Free University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands 4-8 July 2000 http://www.spie.org/info/ebo/ General Chair from Medicine: Tom Boon, University Hospital, Utrecht, The Netherlands Katarina Svanberg, Lund, University Hospital, Sweden Deputy General Chair from Science: Guy Delacretaz, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland Regional Co-Chairs: Patrick Brouwer, Kennemer Gasthuis, Haarlem and Laser Center, Amsterdam Paul Baas, Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, Hospital, Amsterdam, Hugo van Staveren, Rotterdam Christiaan van Swol, University Hospital Utrecht Co-operating Organisations: NMLA - Netherlands Laser Medical Association ELA - European Laser Association ESEM - European Society for Engineering and Medicine ESLD - European Society for Laser Dermatology --------------- SPIE is a non-profit professional society dedicated to advancing research, engineering, and applications in optics, photonics, imaging, and electronics SPIE -- The International Society for Optical Engineering URL http://www.spie.org/ --------------- .