Call for Abstracts and Papers

The third annual Summit on Systems Biology will be held at the Omni Richmond Hotel in historic Richmond, Va., located two hours south of Washington, D.C. The summit, comprised of five scientific sessions and two workshops, brings together computational and experimental scientists in the area of microbial systems. Summit participants will discuss research directions and latest findings in the "omics" domains, as well as promote collaborations in microbial systems biology and related disciplines. Two pioneers in systems biology, Leroy Hood, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Institute for Systems Biology, and Stuart Kauffman, M.D., past MacArthur Foundation Fellow and director of the Institute for Biocomplexity and Informatics at the University of Calgary, lead the summit steering committee. In addition to Kauffman, confirmed speakers include David Botstein, Ph.D., Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University; Jeremy Nicholson, Ph.D., Imperial College London; James Collins, Ph.D., Boston University; James Musser, M.D., Ph.D., Methodist Hospital Research Institute; Kristala Prather, Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Christina Smolke, Ph.D., Stanford University; Cammie Lesser, M.D., Ph.D., Harvard University; Mark Gerstein, Ph.D., Yale University; Yixue Li, Ph.D., Chinese Academy of Science; Mark Farmer, University of Georgia; Richard Triemer, Michigan State University; and Maria Rivera, Virginia Commonwealth University. The committee invites active researchers to submit abstracts for review in order to participate at the conference with a poster or podium presentation.

The five scientific sessions are:

  • Host-Pathogen Interactions
  • Human Microbiome
  • Microbial Engineering
  • Modeling Microbial Systems
  • Technological Advances in Systems Biology

The two workshops are:

  • The Microbial Tree of Life
  • Gene Networks and Disease

You are invited to submit a 1-page abstract by May 18, 2009 (extended!).

Abstracts must be submitted as electronic files (preferred in Word or PDF format). Please use the format outlined in the template (download here) to prepare the abstract and email it directly to both zzhao@vcu.edu and sysbiosummit@vcu.edu, and use "Summit on Systems Biology: Abstract Submission" as the email subject line.

Authors of accepted abstracts will also be invited to submit a paper for potential publication in a special issue in Chemistry and Biodiversity. Decisions on abstract acceptance for the conference will be announced on May 18, 2009. Contact: Dr. Zhongming Zhao (zzhao@vcu.edu) and sysbiosummit@vcu.edu.



Key Dates:

Abstract submission deadline: May 18, 2009 (extended!)

Abstract acceptance and paper/poster invitation notification: May 18, 2009

Early registration deadline: May 20, 2009

Manuscript (for special issue) submission deadline: August 1, 2009