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In its August Editorial, Nature Genetics (40, 929; 2008) looks forward to the second Genomics of Common Diseases conference, to be held from 6 to 9 September 2008, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
In a review of last year's meeting, Enrico Petretto and colleagues (Nat. Genet. 39, 1299–1301; 2007) emphasized that recent successes in complex disease genetics rest upon rapid technological advances and the excellent communication and collaboration forged in the genome sequencing community and the SNP Consortium. They also stressed the importance of studying gene networks rather than single genes in the pathogenesis of disease. Finally, they noted that an evolutionary as well as a physiological perspective is required to understand the startlingly diverse genetic architectures of common diseases.
The Editorial asks what can be expected from this year's meeting? "Over the past year, many new sequencing tools have been added for strategically resequencing candidate genes for rare and common variants alike. Bioinformatic tools have been launched for sequence assembly and comparison. Statisticians have developed methods for marker imputation and for rigorous association studies with structural variants." Various other topics will be discussed at the conference as outlined in the Editorial, whch concludes: "In the era of personal genomics, with next-generation sequencing of thousands of human genomes just beginning, the focus of common disease genetics is already shifting from identification of loci and risks. We anticipate an intensification of functional genomics, investigation of the consequences of variation on gene expression and the effect of variation on the functioning of pathways and systems."

Posted by Maxine Clarke on August 14, 2008
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Nature Network's Berlin group, run by Philipp Selenko, is organizing a series of dinners during the Twentieth International Genetics Conference (to be held in Berlin from 12 to 17 July). The dinners are free to attend and are intended to provide the opportunity to meet some of the distinguished scientists who are speaking at the conference in a relaxed atmosphere.
Friday 11 July: Oliver Smithies & Mario Capecchi, winners of the 2007 Nobel prize in Medicine ’for their discoveries of principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem cells.’
Monday 14 July: Elisa Izaurralde & Frank Uhlmann, respectively Max Planck Director at the MPI for Developmental Biology in Tuebingen and group leader at the Cancer Research UK Institute in London. Elisa works on various aspects of RNA biology whereas Frank is interested in the functional properties of eukaryotic cell division.
Tuesday 15 July: Eric Lander, Peer Bork & Dinshaw Patel.Eric is the Founding Director of the Broad Institute of the MIT; Peer is the Scientific Coordinator of the EMBL Stuctural Biology and Bioinformatics Program. The two are internationally known for their pioneering work in deciphering the DNA/RNA sequence space. Dinshaw runs a structural biology laboratory at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Institute in NYC where he has unraveled some key features of RNA and DNA molecules, most recently those of siRNAs.
Wednesday 16th July: Rudi Jaenisch & Barry Dickson discuss issues about model organisms in science. Rudi is at the Whitehead Institute in Boston and a distinguished expert in mouse genetics and embryonic stem-cell biology. Barry is the Scientific Director of the Institute of Molecular Pathology in Vienna, and known for his work in on axon guidance in Drosophila . He has recently embarked on a journey to unravel the molecular principles of complex animal behaviour.

All dinners will start at 7 p.m. and take place at the Meierei, Kollwitzstrasse 42, Prenzlauer Berg.
Philipp writes "We hope that you are as excited as we are about the program and that many of you will show up for those special events!" For further information (including travel directions), please see the Nature Network Berlin forum; if you have any additional questions, you can contact Philipp via email.
Nature Network Berlin has set up a shared Google calendar for these and other Berlin-related events.

Posted by Maxine Clarke on July 08, 2008
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The availability of whole-genome association studies has redefined the genetic architecture of genetically complex disorders, and genotyping and resequencing will reveal new susceptibility genes for a wide range of common human diseases. The emphasis of the field is thus changing from focusing on the identification of susceptibility genes towards an understanding of mechanisms and potential applications.
Following the successful inaugural conference in Hinxton, Cambridge, UK in July 2007, this second meeting, organised by Nature Genetics and the Wellcome Trust, will take place from 6 to 9 September 2008, at The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA aims to address the following topics, across a range of common diseases:
--The state of the art in gene-identification strategies
--The transition from knowledge of susceptibility genes to understanding of mechanisms
--Population genetics and genome evolution in common-disease genetics
--The utility of risk prediction based on genetic and other available tests
--Ethical, legal and social implications of personal genetic information.
Please see the conference website for further details of the organizers, speakers, abstract submission, accommodation and more.

Posted by Maxine Clarke on July 01, 2008
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New Communication Channels in Biology is the title of a workshop that takes place next week, on 26 and 27 June, at the University of California, San Diego. Hilary Spencer of Nature Precedings will be giving a talk, as well as Moshe Pritsker of JoVE (Journal of Visualized Experiments) and many others. The agenda can be viewed here. The workshop is open to the public and is free, although prior registration is required.
From the programme: "The workshop will focus on the range of emerging approaches within e-science, community engagement in dialogue knowledge input/review or assessment, science blogs, and authenticated wiki-like research discussions and analysis, as well as the potential to formalize such community level contributions. These new approaches to communication are becoming important for biology as biological scientists attempt to address the inherent complexity of life, manage both high information content and high throughput data streams, and employ the opportunities emerging from advances in e-communication/networking and information technology."

Posted by Maxine Clarke on June 19, 2008
Categories: Communication, Conferences | Permalink | Comments (0)

Frontiers of cellular, developmental and molecular biology, Nice; 30 August – 2 September 2008.
The seventh international congress of the European Life Scientist Organization (ELSO) returns this year to Nice on the French Cote d’Azur. Promoted for the first time in collaboration with the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), the ELSO meeting offers a broad palette of top-notch international molecular life science mixed with informative and practical events to promote the career development of young researchers.
From the conference information pages: Plenary session speakers this year include: systems biologist Ursula Klingmueller; cell biologist Graham Warren; stem cell biologist Andreas Trumpp; developmental biologist Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz; tissue engineer Donald Ingber, and proteomics expert Matthias Mann. The 21 minisymposia and the poster sessions cover topics ranging from entry of pathogens into cells, through epigenetics to computational biology and all stops en route. Around 180 speakers, 600 posters and 80 commercial exhibitors will provide four full days of exciting and topical life science. Abstract submission deadline is 15 June.
If you are looking for advice on what to do next, whether it be a postdoc or a junior group leader position in another country or a move into a career outside academia, ELSO’s career development events can give you the inspiration to try something new and challenging and the practical help to put your plans into practice. At this year’s meeting there will be mentoring and mobility sessions, first-hand accounts of careers outside academia, as well as a new career enhancement workshop looking at your own personality, CV, interview techniques, and so on. Not to be missed if you are planning a career move soon!

Posted by Maxine Clarke on June 09, 2008
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The official forum for Science Blogging 2008, to be held at the Royal Institution, London, on 30 August 2008, has been set up at Nature Network.
The science blogging community is growing rapidly and reaching larger audiences. At Science Blogging 2008, science bloggers from around the world will have the opportunity to meet and discuss the pressing issues in science, science communication, publishing and education. What can science bloggers do to maximise their impact? Can blogging contribute to scientific research and careers? How can blogs be used to help educate the public about science? Readers and writers of science blogs, those who follow trends in online scientific communication and anyone else interested in learning more about science blogging will benefit from the discussions. You do not have to have a blog in order to attend.
To register, email network@nature.com (with subject line ‘Science blogging conference’) and let us know your job title, affiliation and whether you’re a blogger. Join this group, and help set the agenda in the discussion forum.

Posted by Maxine Clarke on May 01, 2008
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Venture capital is a key part of growing a start-up company, but can be fraught with problems. Nature Biotechnology is gathering together a group of seasoned chief executives, venture capitalists and a venture lawyer at a one-day event 'Bioentrepreneur beware: CEO war stories on investor nightmares', to discuss what can go wrong during the financing process, including term-sheet negotiations that seriously dilute equity, rounds that fall through at the last second, investor activism and hostile takeover of board seats. Take the opportunity to participate in a lively panel discussion that will explore key issues when borrowing other people’s money and ways that you can ensure investor and management goals are compatible with your biotechnology business. The meeting will take place on 20 May 2008 at The Meritage Resort, Napa, California, and is free to attend. The speakers and programme, and more details, can be found here. For information and to register, please send full company name and contact details by email.

Posted by Maxine Clarke on April 22, 2008
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If you are a scientist-blogger and are interested in a real meeting as opposed to a virtual carnival, please visit the Nature Network bloggers' forum , where Matt Brown reports the good news that The Royal Institution in London has offered to host a European science blogging conference later this year, to be organised by the bloggers. The rationale for the European bloggers' conference is given here.
The first thing to do, Matt writes, is to pick a date, from August 16th, 23rd, 30th, or September 13th, so please head to Nature Network and state your preference.
Another piece of science blogging news concerns microblogging. A microblog is a post of 140 or fewer words. Attila Csordas informs me that there is a new microblog called Biotecher, on the Twitter platform. Biotecher tracks every biotech-, biology-, medicine- and bioinformatics-related 'twitter' (microblog on the Twitter platform) to create a 'biotwitter community'.

Posted by Maxine Clarke on April 15, 2008
Categories: Communication, Conferences, Partners, Writing | Permalink | Comments (0)

Rachel Courtland is reporting on Nature's In the Field blog from the Spring meeting of the American Chemical Society in New Orleans. "Last month's American Physical Society meeting passed under the city's radar", writes Rachel, but this meeting is so large, the welcome mat extended all the way to the airport, which boasted a "Welcome ACS" sign at the baggage claim area."
Attending the first press conference of the meeting, Rachel continues: "In the spirit of our swampy environs, the first press conference Sunday morning was on the special anti microbial/fungal/viral properties of alligator blood. Alligators aren’t the friendliest creatures around. They like to fight and sometimes sustain serious injuries; they also live in marches and swamps full of opportunistic microbes. But, the researchers say, alligators seldom get infected."
For more coverage of ACS, please visit In the Field for regular updates until Rachel's departure on Thursday (10 April).

Posted by Maxine Clarke on April 07, 2008
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Multiple Sclerosis: From Pathogenesis to Therapy, 6 June 2008, Espace Charles-Louis-Havas, Paris.
Organizers: Eva Chmielnicki (Nature Medicine, USA), Laurie Dempsey (Nature Immunology, USA) and Yves Christen (Fondation IPSEN, France).
Multiple sclerosis is an inflammatory autoimmune disease targeting the central nervous system, leading to demyelination and axon degeneration and to severe disability as the disease progresses. It presents as a clinically heterogeneous disease, which has been problematic for efforts to develop appropriate animal models. Many environmental and genetic factors have been identified that may initiate disease. Various immune and neural cells have been found to play key roles in disease pathogenesis and progression. An Emergence & Convergence mini-symposium organised by Fondation IPSEN, Nature Medicine and Nature Immunology will address open questions in multiple sclerosis research, with the goal of identifying future directions that may lead to therapy. The application deadline is 31 March 2008. Attendance at this meeting is free on acceptance of application (register here); a free conference poster is available here.

Posted by Maxine Clarke on March 17, 2008
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The mission of the Euroscience Open Forum (ESOF) is to provide both the European and the international science communities with an open platform for debate and communication. It presents and profiles Europe's leading research trends in the sciences, humanities and social sciences. It is an opportunity to discuss and influence the future of research and innovation in Europe. The scientific programme for ESOF08, "Science for a better life", to be held in Barcelona from 18 to 22 July, has just been finalized, and is made up of 83 scientific sessions from 10 scientific themes, 10 career sessions and 70 outreach activities, with the participation of more than 450 speakers and session organizers from 30 countries. The final scientific programme schedule and list of speakers is available at the ESOF website or can be downloaded here as a 97KB PDF. Among the speakers and organisers of the sessions are Philip Campbell, Editor in Chief of Nature publications and Editor of Nature, who will be talking in the session "Sharing scientific data: who benefits?"; Alison Abbott, Nature's senior European correspondent, who is organizing a session "Looking inside your brain"; and Karl Ziemelis, Nature's chief physical sciences editor, who is organizing the session "An organic revolution".
You can register for the conference here. There is a reduced fee for participants who register before 15 March (tomorrow).

Posted by Maxine Clarke on March 14, 2008
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Visit the Nature Publishing Group booth at the American Physical Society meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana. We are exhibiting from 10-12 March 2008, at booth 540. Pop by to pick up your free sample copies of Nature, Nature Materials, Nature Physics, Nature Nanotechnology and Nature Photonics, as well as your copy of Nature Milestones in Spin.
The March 2008 issue of Nature Physics contains a Focus on quantum phase transitions which is free online to 3 April. Phase transitions are familiar occurrences, such as the freezing of water to ice. When the transition occurs at zero temperature, it is known as a 'quantum phase transition'. As distinct states of matter coexist at a transition, there are quantum fluctuations between them. The Nature Physics Focus explores the resulting – and often surprising – collective behaviour, in an Editorial, two Perspectives and three Reviews.

Posted by Maxine Clarke on March 05, 2008
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The digital edition for the Nature Events directory 2008 is available. Now in its ninth year, the directory is full of conferences, meetings, courses and symposia being held during 2008 across all scientific and medical disciplines. From each entry in the Nature Events listings, you can click directly to the conference website for further information.
If you prefer a PDF version of the directory, you can obtain it from the Nature Events main page. Whether via the directory or its regularly updated database, Nature Events aims to offer a comprehensive resource that will help researchers identify the right event to attend.

Posted by Maxine Clarke on February 21, 2008
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Join Nature editor and writer Alexandra Witze at the 211th American Astronomical Society meeting in Austin, Texas from 8-11 January. She'll be sending diary reports to our In The Field blog as astronomers gear up for the International Year of Astronomy in 2009.
The AAS meeting schedule is here, with links to the abstracts of all the presentations.

Posted by Maxine Clarke on January 08, 2008
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Nature conferences are aimed at the international scientific community, with the goal of fostering and facilitating communication and collaboration between scientists. They are distinguished by: high-quality, international facult; close involvement of Nature Publishing Group’s editorial staff; and a focus on the most timely topics
Details of some upcoming conferences (please see NPG's conference website for further details of these and other future conferences):

A Symposium on Biological Complexity: Genes, Circuits and Behavior
Organized by the Salk Institute, Fondation IPSEN and Nature Neuroscience
10-13 January 2008 • La Jolla, CA
Highlighting recent advances in interdisciplinary neuroscience. The meeting covers multiple fields, from sensory and motor function to emotions to learning.

Miami 2008 Winter Symposium: Regulatory RNA in Biology and Human Health
Organized by the University of Miami, Nature Publishing Group and Scripps Florida
2-6 February 2008 • Miami Beach, FL
Looking at our current understanding of the mechanisms of action and biogenesis of small regulatory RNAs and how this is being applied to create a new generation of therapeutics and diagnostics.

A Ringberg Colloquium: Determinism and Plasticity of T Lymphocytes
Organized by the Max Planck Society and Nature Immunology
10-13 February 2008 • Tegernsee‚ Germany
The aim is to stimulate conceptual breakthroughs leading to advancement in the fields of chronic inflammation and control of infection mediated by T lymphocytes.

Nature Chemical Biology Symposium: Chemical Neurobiology
Organized by Nature Publishing Group and The New York Academy of Sciences
22-23 February 2008 • New York‚ NY‚ USA
The two-day meeting will comprise a series of four scientific sessions that look at distinct molecular functions of a neuron and concludes with a keynote session featuring Linda Buck‚ a pioneer in the field of neuroscience.

Emergence & Convergence mini-symposium: Epigenetics and Behavior
Organized by Fondation IPSEN, Nature Neuroscience and Nature Genetics
31 March 2008 • Houston‚ TX
Speakers will address the role of epigenetics in memory‚ drug addiction‚ maternal care and stress reactivity‚ the effects of endocrine disruption and human disorders such as Rett and Angelman syndromes.

Posted by Maxine Clarke on January 03, 2008
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Nature Publishing Group is featuring a free cell biology web focus to highlight some of the exciting research of 2007 from across the Nature Publishing Group, to coincide with the current 47th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Cell Biology (ASCB) meeting in Washington DC (1-5 December 2007). If you are attending the meeting, visit us at booth 228-210 to collect your free copies of Nature and other NPG cell biology titles. Nature's correspondent Brendan Maher is blogging live from the conference at In The Field, and you can join the ASCB group at Nature Network for further discussion. We hope you enjoy the conference in person, or, if you aren't, vicariously via our online coverage and forums. Either way, we hope you enjoy reading this collection of excellent papers, News and Views and other articles with a cell biology theme.

Posted by Maxine Clarke on December 03, 2007
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"PowerPoint is a joy to use — click a few highly intuitive buttons to animate your favourite model and the results seem the work of professionals with years of film school behind them. Customize your graphics to rival the finest glossy magazines. But does a visually striking presentation really make your research more accessible or memorable? Do bouncing phosphates really explain a kinase reaction better? We would argue that overbearing graphics tend to distract the audience from the science."
So begins the editorial in this month's Nature Cell Biology (9, 1217; 2007), which continues: ... "graphics tools ought to be used only when necessary. It is worth reflecting on the frustrating experience of watching a Hollywood movie so overloaded with special effects that it leaves the viewer drained from sensory overload but intellectually and emotionally unsatisfied. Less is more: after a day of back-to-back talks, nothing is more refreshing than a visually clear, logically constructed and well articulated presentation."
Read the full editorial here.

Posted by Maxine Clarke on November 09, 2007
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Nature Publishing Group (NPG) has announced that it will be contributing the cash received by winning the Principe de Asturias Award to a philanthropic fund, NPG Awards. Philip Campbell, Editor-in-Chief of Nature, and Annette Thomas, CEO of Macmillan, accepted the 2007 Principe de Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities at a recently held ceremony in Oviedo, Spain. The award was made jointly to NPG’s flagship title, Nature, and the journal Science.
The two publications will share a prize of €50,000 and NPG will use Nature’s share to boost the NPG awards, which help researchers from the developing world attend Gordon Research Conferences. Launched in June 2006, the NPG awards provide funds of up to US$1,500 to help delegates from developing countries attend the internationally renowned conferences. The awards are made based on nominations made by conference chairs, and are open to those who live and work in eligible countries and have been accepted to attend.
The addition of €25,000 to the philanthropic fund will allow NPG to support many more researchers to attend the conferences. In 2007, NPG awards were made to 26 participants who attended 21 different conferences and were from Kenya, Venezuela, Brazil, India, South Africa, Argentina, Chile, China, Poland, Mexico, Zambia and Romania.
Nature also runs a mentoring awards scheme.

Posted by Maxine Clarke on November 06, 2007
Categories: Awards, Conferences | Permalink | Comments (0)

Conference registration: how people react to a deadline : Article : Nature Physics

Valentina Alfi, Giorgio Parisi and Luciano Pietronero in their Correspondence in the current issue of Nature Physics ( 3, 746; 2007) draw on their recent experiences of organizing and planning meetings to investigate the behaviour people show when they are asked to register for a conference and provide an abstract. They conclude: "People's behaviour around a deadline does indeed seem to be universal. If the action is reversible (as is simple registration), the pressure to do it is inversely proportional to the available time before the deadline. For an irreversible action (such as payment), there is a tendency to postpone it until even closer to the deadline, which can be described by a utility function. The rule of thumb to guess the final number of registrants is to consider the extrapolation of the initial linear behaviour and multiply it by three — a result that may be useful for organizers of future events."
Their data and analysis are shown in the full Correspondence article at the link provided above.

Posted by Maxine Clarke on November 06, 2007
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Google announced back in April that it would be adding presentations to its Google Docs&Spreadsheets tool. Now the service is available, and Google has, thankfully, decided not to call it "GoogleDocs&Spreadsheets&Presentations" but has shortened the name of the suite of applications to "Google Docs." To see what it looks like, go to your Google Docs page (or open an account), click on "new" over at the left, then click on Presentations.
I am told by my testing team, a couple of teenage girls, that Presentations does not (yet?) offer anything like the features provided by Microsoft Powerpoint. However, the main advantage of Presentations is that it is online, allowing one to collaborate easily when developing a presentation. (This is also a feature of Docs and Spreadsheets, of course.)
To learn more, you can visit YouTube to see and hear a video called Google Docs in plain English.

Posted by Maxine Clarke on October 11, 2007
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If you are a neuroscientist attending Neuroscience 2007 in San Diego from 3 to 7 November, visit booth 221 while you are there. Pick up a sample copy of Nature or one of our other neuroscience journals, and meet the editors. Receive a 20% discount to any of our neuroscience titles by subscribing here.
Visit our conference webpage to access free neuroscience-related content from across Nature Publishing Group, link to our conference blogs and a special podcast, and find the latest jobs in neuroscience.

Posted by Maxine Clarke on October 01, 2007
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