Adjunct Cold Spring Harbor meeting
Bringing Plant and Computing Scientists Together to Solve Plant Biology's
Grand Challenges
April 7 - 9, 2008
Arranged by The iPlant Collaborative, a cyberinfrastructure-centered community
for a new plant biology

Abstract and registration deadline: March 31

We are pleased to announce the inaugural meeting sponsored by The iPlant Collaborative (iPC), a major new National Science Foundation-funded initiative in cyberinfrastructure for plant sciences, which will be held at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York. The meeting will begin in the evening of Monday April 7 and end in the afternoon on Wednesday April 9, 2008.

The iPC is intended to be fluid and dynamic, utilizing new computer, computational science and cyberinfrastructure solutions to address an evolving array of grand challenges in the plant sciences. It will be community-driven, involving plant biologists, computer and information scientists and engineers, as well as experts from other disciplines, all working in integrated teams. The iPC brings together strengths in plant biology, bioinformatics, computer science and high throughput computing as well as innovative approaches to education, outreach, and the study of social networks.

This inaugural meeting is intended to promote discussion of a wide range of topics and to begin the process of building a community-owned, distributed Collaborative:

I. Compelling grand challenges for the plant and computing sciences:
1) from molecules to whole organisms: pathways, systems and networks in metabolism, physiology, development, and organismic biology
2) from molecules to ecosystems: biochemistry, genetics, population biology, and ecology
3) the evolutionary diversification of function: from molecular, cellular and developmental biology to comparative genomics and phylogenetics

II. Discovery Environments: prototype cyberinfrastructures for discovery, collaboration, and computational thinking in biology: what cyberinfrastructure will iPlant staff develop in collaboration with community Grand Challenge Teams

III. Questions & goals for discussion in break-out groups:
1) What is the nature of a grand challenge that is both compelling and tractable?
2) What data exist? What models exist? Identify gaps in data and models. ?
3) Are we able to link key datasets together? If not, why not? How should they be linked??
4) How do we engage the computing research community to make them aware of cutting edge research opportunities in their disciplines ?How do we motivate computing researchers to participate in the iPlant Collaborative?
5) What sort of social networking tools do we need to enable effective collaboration?

IV. Training the Next Generation in Computational Thinking in Biology ?

V. How can we participate in the iPlant Collaborative? What is the process? Who decides?

VI. Self-forming discussion groups: proto - Grand Challenge Teams

Draft Program

Throughout the meeting social events (wine-and-cheese party, etc) will provide ample opportunity for informal interactions and discussions of further collaborative efforts.

We are inviting participants at the meeting to submit one-page abstracts describing your work, yourselves and/or your interest in the Iplant Collaborative. These abstracts can be much more general than usually submitted to scientific meetings.

Please note that a number of stipends are likely to be available for those seeking financial aid though the auspices of the iPlant Collaborative and the National Science Foundation. We also have funds to provide partial support for individuals who are US citizens/permanent residents from minority groups under-represented in the life sciences.Please register and apply in writing by March 31 to meetings@cshl.edu stating eligibility and need.

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Regular packages are all inclusive and cover registration, food, housing, parking, social events etc. No Housing packages include all costs except housing. Full payment is due on registration.