Workshop on Data Management for Molecular and Cell BiologyFeb. 2-3, 2003Lister Hill Center, NLM, NIH Campus, Bethesda, MDScopeThe aim of the workshop is to define a research agenda for data management technology in support of bioinformatics applications - specifically to support basic and applied research in molecular and cell biology, genomics, functional genomics, structural biology, biochemistry, genetics, molecular phylogeny, pharmacology, pharmacogenomics, chemoinformatics, systems biology of the cell, industrial microbiology, etc. The rationale for this workshop is the observation that current data management systems are often not very well suited to support bioinformatics applications. For the past decade, the vast bulk of federal research and development funding for biological, genomic, genetic, and structural biological databases has gone into the tasks of database development, creation, curation, and maintenance, and have primarily employed conventional database technology rather than novel database technology targeted at bioinformatics applications. The result is that biological database developers are forced to write and maintain considerable amounts of ad hoc code, which may also be less efficient. This slows the development of biological databases, increases development and maintenance costs, and often limits the expressiveness of query facilities for end users. We believe that additional investments in the underlying database technology are required if bioinformatics data management is to be effectively supported in the 21st century. This workshop is intended to articulate such a research agenda. We focus our attention on molecular and cell biology, broadly defined, as the central area of application for new data management technology. Specifically, we will exclude from this workshop discussions of medical informatics, anatomical databases, ecological databases, and non-molecular phyloinformatics. Important Dates
Sponsors
Organizing Committee
Suggested Topics
More details about suggested topics can be found in the NSF workshop proposal . Workshop ReportThe result of the workshop is to be a report, setting out a research agenda for data management in support of molecular and cell biology. The report will be drafted by report writing committee group which will stay on in Bethesda for one extra day following the main workshop. The draft report will then circulated among the participants via email for comments, revisions. See the section below on the Writing Committee for membership. The report will be delivered to the funders and other DB and bioinformatics research agencies, posted to the web, and published. The full workshop report Data Management for the Biosciences, Report of the NSF/NLM Workshop of Data Management for Molecular and Cell Biology, Feb. 2-3, 2003 can be found at http://www.eecs.umich.edu/~jag/wdmbio/wdmb_rpt.pdf . It was released Nov. 4, 2003. Executive Summary of Workshop ReportThe executive summary of the workshop report can be found at Database Management for Life Science Research: Summary Report of the Workshop on Data Management for Molecular and Cell Biology at the National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, Maryland, February 2-3, 2003, OMICS, vol 7. no. 1, pg. 131-137 This link gives you a choice of viewing formats. A direct link to the .pdf file can be found Database Management for Life Science Research: Summary Report of the Workshop on Data Management for Molecular and Cell Biology at the National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, Maryland, February 2-3, 2003, OMICS, vol 7. no. 1, pg. 131-137 The direct link was created to assure proper indexing by search engines. ParticipantsAttendance is by invitation only. We are anticipating approx. 60 attendees from the database research community, bioinformatics community, major DBMS vendors, pharmaceutical and biotech firms, and various bioinformatics funding agencies (NSF, NIH, DOE, DARPA). A list of confirmed participants (accepted invitations as of Dec. 17, 2002) is available here. Some invitations are still outstanding. If you have accepted an invitation and are not shown on the list of confirmed participants, contact Frank Olken to make a correction. White PapersAll participants are asked to submit short whitepapers (preferably 2-3 pages) indentifying major research challenge(s) for data management for molecular and cell biology two weeks (Friday, Jan. 17, 2003) prior to the workshop (as HTML files). They will posted to a workshop web page for attendees to read prior to the workshop. White papers should include a title, author, affiliation, date, and contact information (email, address). The preliminary versions of the whitepapers can be found at the URL: http://www.eecs.umich.edu/~jag/wdmbio/whitepapers.htm The page containing the whitepapers is maintained by H.V. Jagadish and will be updated daily, as submissions are received. The published versions of the whitepapers (in .pdf format) can be found via the table of contents of the OMICS Journal, vol 7, no. 1 web page The whitepapers can also be found at links at http://www.lbl.gov/~olken/wdmbio/whitepapers_in_omics.htm The direct links were created to assure proper indexing by search engines. DatesThe main workshop will be held on Sunday, Feb. 2, 2003 and Monday, Feb. 3, 2003. An report writing committee will stay on for one additional day to commence writing the workshop report. TimesThe workshop will commence at 9:00 AM on Sunday, Feb. 2, 2003 and end by 4:00 PM on Monday, Feb. 3, 2003. Nonlocal attendees should plan to fly in on Saturday, Feb. 1. Most domestic attendees should be able to make departing evening flights from National or Dulles airports on Monday, Feb. 3. LocationThe workshop will be held on the NIH campus in Bethesda, MD. It will be held at the Lister Hill Center for Biomedical Communications in the Auditorium located on the first floor of Building 38A. Registration will be held in the first floor lobby of Bldg. 38A. The breakout sessions will be held in:
The Lister Hill Center is located at the Southeast corner of the NIH campus. (see NIH campus map).
ParkingOn Sunday, Feb. 2, parking is not controlled. You can park anywhere. See Directions and Parking On Monday, Feb. 3, you must park in the visitors' parking lot across Center Drive from the NLM. There will be charge for the parking. Due to a VIP event across the street from Lister Hill Center, parking will likely be heavily restricted (or unavailable) on Monday, Feb. 3. Attendees are urged to take taxi or transit to the meeting (or walk). Vehicles must enter the NIH campus at the Metro Center entrance. Shuttles, Cabs Between Hotel and NIHThere will be no shuttles between the hotel and the Lister Hill Center at NIH. Lister Hill Center is about 20-25 minute walk from the Hyatt Regency. It is one stop (north) on the Red Metro Line (there is a station adjoining the Hyatt Regency). You will have walk a couple of blocks from the Metro stop to the Lister Hill Center. Alternatively, it is a short cab ride (est. $5) from the Hyatt to the Lister Hill Center. We encourage you to share cabs. AgendaHere is the link to the preliminary agenda . We will have a mix of plenary and breakout sessions. Breakout groups will be formed based on the suggested topics and whitepapers. Attendees will be assigned to break out groups based on their whitepapers. Breakout GroupsMost of the workshop will be conducted as 3 small breakout groups. Individuals will be assigned to breakout groups based on their whitepapers. A tentative set of breakout groups is:
The breakout group assignments can be found at: http://www.lbl.gov/~olken/wdmbio/breakout.htm . Detailed Workshop ProposalFollow this link for the text of the NSF workshop proposal . This document contains a more detailed description of the issues we hope to address. HotelWe have concluded our hotel negotiations (Dec. 17). We have contracted with the Bethesda Hyatt Regency Hotel for a discounted block of rooms. The room rate is $99/night + tax for Fri. (Jan. 31), Sat.(Feb.1), Sun. (Feb. 2) nights for single or double occupancy, and $199/night + tax for single occupancy and $25 for each additional person (up to 4 total) on Monday (Feb. 3) and Tuesday (Feb. 4) nights. To get the group rate, you must supply the group name: "University of Michigan: Workshop on Data Management for Biology". Attendees must make their own hotel reservations. Reservations must be made by Sunday, January 12, 2003, 5 PM Eastern Time. Reservations will accepted commencing, Wed., Dec. 18th. Please be certain to ask for the group rate. We anticipate that most out-of-town attendees will arrive on Saturday afternoon or evening and depart on Monday evening. Friday accomodations will be provided for Sabbath observant attendees. We anticipate members of the writing committee will mostly depart on Tuesday evening. We expect that a few persons, who are unable to obtain evening return flights, will fly out the following day.
Hotel:
Hyatt Regency Bethesda
The hotel is located in downtown Bethesda, MD at the intersection of Wisconsin Ave (Route 355, running north/south) and Old Georgetown Road (Route 187 running NW to SE). It is one block north of Montgomery Ave / Montgomery Lane (which run east/west). See the map . Note that the hotel is located atop the Bethesda Metro station on the Metro Red Line, one stop before the NIH Medical Center station. There are metro stations at National Airport and Union Station (Amtrak). The hotel does not have DSL lines to the Internet in the rooms, only conventional phone lines. We have been told that they do have DSL lines to the Internet at the hotel concourse level (bring you own Ethenet cable and laptop and ask at the concierge's desk). RestaurantsA list of restaurants (and links thereto) in Bethesda area can be found at this URL: Bethesda Restaurants List by Washingtonian Power, Audio Visual EquipmentThere will be a video projector in the Lister Hill Center Auditorium, together with Internet access from the speaker's podium. There is no provision for AV equipment in the breakout rooms. Availability of 802.11b wireless is unknown. There will be power in the conference room for the writing committee and at least one Internet connection. Dinner on Saturday NightOn Sat. evening, Feb 1, there are no formal activities planned, but the plan is to meet informally at the hotel bar at 9 p.m. Also, if you are looking for companions to go out to dinner with, please meet in the hotel lobby on the hour. Since arrival times are spread out there will probably be small groups of us leaving for dinner at each of 6 p.m., 7 p.m., and 8 p.m. Dinner is on your own -- there are several restaurants within a short walk from the hotel. See the section on restaurants below. Workshop DinnerAll the workshop participants are invited to a dinner on the first night of the workshop (Sunday, Feb. 2). The dinner will be held at the: Jaleo RestaurantThis is a Spanish/Tapas restaurant. Participants are asked to RSVP whether they will be coming to dinner and any special dietary requirements (e.g., vegetarian, kosher, allergies, ...). The dinner is being hosted by IBM. Some government personnel (e.g., involved in procurements) may need to reimburse IBM for the cost of dinner. Dinner reservations are from 6:00 to 8:00 PM. The afternoon session will end at about 5:20PM to permit attendees to return to the hotel and get to restaurant. One can walk to the restuarant from the hotel if the weather is reasonable (4-5 blocks?). The restaurant is wheel-chair accessible. Travel ReimbursementsNSF has provided funds to reimburse travel and lodging by academics to the workshop. Industrial invitees are expected to pay their own travel and lodging. We will reimburse academics for coach air fare (or train from the east coast), hotel (i.e., for Saturday, Feb. 1, and Sunday, Feb. 2), and local transportation, and federal per diem for meals. We are meeting on Sunday and Monday to permit attendees to obtain inexpensive air fares with Saturday night stay overs. We assume that most attendees will fly in on Saturday, and back out on Monday evening. Travel reimbursements will be handled via the Univ. of Michigan. Further instructions will be posted to this web site in the first week of December. For further information / problems contact: Janet M. Quaine Report Writing CommitteeThe report writing committee will stay on for Tuesday, Feb. 4th, to commence writing the workshop report. This small group conists of the organizing committee and a few other participants. Others will be name later.
AcknowledgementsThe workshop has been supported by by the National Science Foundation, Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) under grant EIA-0239993, by National Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health, and by the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC03-76SF00098. IBM Corp. is hosting the workshop dinner. We would like to thank Milton Corn (NLM), Sylvia J. Spengler (NSF), Gary Strong (NSF), Bhavani Thuraisingham (NSF), Maria Zamenkova (NSF), for their assistance. This page is maintained by Frank Olken Last update: Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2003 |