Track: Information Technology in Health Care
Minitrack: Innovative Tools for Bioinformatics and Translational
--------------- Research

In the current Information age, further progress of Medical Sciences requires successful integration with Computational and Information Sciences. The proposed Mini-track attempts to attract innovative ways of how such integration can be achieved via Bioinformatics and translational research. Translational research is aimed to connect basic science and clinical research. In the medical domain, basic research focuses on the development of analytical and experimental methods to better understand physical, chemical and biological processes on the molecular, cellular, tissue and organism levels. Clinical research focuses primarily on the improvement of patient care and clinical outcomes. The goal of the mini-track to provide a diverse spectrum of how Bioinformatics tools can help to effectively transfer new knowledge from bench to the clinic and from clinic back to the bench.

Main topics to be covered in this mini-track include development of algorithms and tools aimed to solve the vast spectrum of challenging Information Technology (IT) and computing problems appearing in the areas of Bioinformatics and Translational Research that utilizes heterogeneous Biological and Clinical databases. These developments include the use of advanced mathematical and statistical methods (such as graph theory, Bayesian networks, hidden Markov models, machine learning, etc.), effective use of novel computational approaches (such as computer clusters and grid computing), as well as utilization of advanced Information Technology technique such as ontology, data warehousing, and integration of information.

Topics and research areas include, but are not limited to:
* Annotation Tools
* Clustering Algorithms
* Analysis of microarray data
* Identification of Biomarkers
* Data Mining Techniques in Bioinformatics
* Gene Prediction Techniques
* Genome Assembly and Interpretation
* Integrating of Heterogeneous Databases
* Prediction of RNA and Protein Structure
* Searching and Pattern Recognition in Biological and Clinical Databases
* Statistical Models and Techniques
* Visualization Tools

Co-chairs:
Hesham H. Ali (Primary Contact)
College of Information Science and Technology
University of Nebraska at Omaha
Omaha, NE 68182, USA
Phone: +1-402-554-3623
Fax: +1-402-554-3284
Email: hesham@unomaha.edu

Simon Sherman
Nebraska Informatics Center for the Life Sciences
Eppley Cancer Institute, UNMC
986805 Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE 68198-6805, USA
Phone: +1-402-559-4497
Fax: +1-402-559-4651
Email: ssherm@unmc.edu