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

The massive size of the current available biological and medical databases and its high rate of growth have a great influence on the types of research currently conducted and researchers are focusing more than ever to maximize the use of these databases. Hence, it would be of great advantage for researchers to utilize the information stored in the available databases to extract new information as well as to understand various biological and medical phenomena. In addition, from the IT point-of-view, the problem of efficiently collecting, sharing, mining and analyzing the wealth of information available in a growing set of the biological and clinical data has common roots with enterprise and the research and development of businesses. The use of a Multi-Tier Web-based approach, Data Warehousing (DW), On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP) and Data Mining (DM) technologies, which in recent years has proven to be very efficient for business activities, can also potentially redefine the way in which life sciences and medical research can be conducted in the E-Commerce and Internet era.

This is particularly critical in managing biological and clinical data. Relevant data is available in different shapes and forms, and hence, employing all available data to extract meaningful properties is an enormous task. Heterogeneous data obtained from microarrays, mass spectrometry experiments, clinical records, etc. can all be used to find potential correlations between genes/proteins and the susceptibility to have a particular disease. The proposed mini-track will solicit research that addresses the issues of how to collect, manage and analyze heterogeneous databases. This will include clustering algorithms, classification techniques and the development of stochastic models for data integration and mining.

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