The role of informatics in addressing today's pressing biological and medical issues will be the focus of the second International Computational Systems Bioinformatics Conference (CSB2003) at Stanford University August 11-14, 2003. The conference is sponsored by the IEEE Computer Society with support from Hewlett-Packard Co. and the U.S. Department of Energy.

"We are delighted with the caliber of speakers participating in CSB2003 and are pleased to offer a very exciting and diverse range of programs designed to stimulate ideas and knowledge sharing within the academic and industry research community," said Vicky Markstein, IEEE CS Bioinformatics Technical Chair. "This year's conference focuses on timely issues and breakthrough research. Further, it offers bioinformatics novices and experts alike a forum to learn about new methods, share their work, and foster continued innovation in the field."

Highlights of the conference include:

• A bioethics panel discussion, which is open to the public (August 12, 7:30 p.m. at Memorial Auditorium, Stanford University), entitled "Dangerous Knowledge: Science, Secrecy and Security in the Life Sciences." This panel will discuss issues such as "What kinds of information about natural and genetically engineered microbes are too dangerous to publish? Who should decide what to publish? How should scientific manuscripts and seminar presentations be evaluated to ensure that scientific quality is maximized while potential threats are minimized?"
• A workshop on "Genomes to Life," presented by the Department of Energy (DOE), and the first workshop on the program to be held on the West Coast. The Genomes to Life program is designed to build on the successes of the Human Genome Project by using DNA sequences from microbes and higher organisms, including humans, as starting points for systematically tackling the greater questions about the essential processes of living systems.
• Cutting-edge research, such as novel methods for computer aided design of peptide-based vaccines, and an integrative informatics approach to better understand patient disease phenotype and apply this information at the point-of-care.
• High performance computing applications for grid optimization, genomic annotation work flow development, and federation of cell signaling databases and other data resources.
• Tutorials for computer scientists and biologists interested in entering the bioinformatics field, such as: "An Introduction to Comparative Genomics," and "Functional Analysis of Proteins and Proteomes."

Keynote speakers from industry, government and academia include:

• Christian Burks, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer for Affinium Pharmaceuticals
• Marvin E. Frazier, Ph.D., Director, Life Sciences Division, Office of Biological and Environmental Research, U.S. Department of Energy
• Richard Karp, Ph.D., University Professor, University of California Berkeley Depts. of Bioengineering, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, and Mathematics

"Genomics launched biology into the greatest revolution in its history," said Marvin Frazier, Ph.D., director, Life Sciences Division, Office of Biological and Environmental Research, U.S. Department of Energy. "At the center of that revolution is the inseparable future that biologists and computational scientists share. The Genomes to Life Symposium at the 2003 IEEE Bioinformatics conference provides an excellent opportunity to accelerate those interactions."

"This year's IEEE Computer Society Bioinformatics Conference is dedicated to advancing the scientific understanding of living systems through computation and application of computer and information processing technology," said Stephen L. Diamond, president of the IEEE Computer Society. "We are delighted to sponsor this cutting-edge conference, which provides in-depth scientific exchange and networking for leading researchers in the surging field of bioinformatics."

"HP is proud to be a platinum sponsor of this event for the second year in a row," said Dick Lampman, HP senior vice president, research, and director, HP Labs. "This is not only an area of increasing interest to HP and its customers, it's an important field of research for the benefit of society."