Epigenomics Session
Pacific Symposium on Biocomputing 2013

January 3-7, 2013
The Big Island of Hawaii

Deadline extended to Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Scientists have known for a long time that the sequence of nucleotides that comprise the genome is not sufficient to explain the heritability of traits from one generation to the next, nor is that sequence sufficient to drive the myriad functions of a living cell. Recently, however, catalyzed by the rapid acquisition of a wide variety of genome-scale data sets from projects such as ENCODE, modENCODE, and the Epigenomics Roadmap, scientists have begun to recognize just how much information is encoded beyond the primary DNA sequence. Accordingly, many of the central questions facing biology today concern the interpretation and integration of epigenomic data with our existing knowledge of the molecular pathways within the cell, including DNA, RNA, proteins, and metabolites.

This session will focus on computational methods for the analysis and interpretation of various types of epigenomic data. We define the phenomena that fall under this heading fairly broadly, including histone modifications, DNA methylation, nucleosome positioning, chromatin structure and accessibility, and DNA-DNA interaction. The session will include papers that describe methods for building computational models of physical phenomena as well as methods for interpreting the functional significance of epigenomic data. Such papers may describe either the development and validation of novel analytical methods or the application of existing methods to novel data sets. Papers may describe methods for interpreting a single type of epigenomic data or methods for integrating heterogeneous data types. Overall, the session will emphasize techniques that are applicable on a genome-wide scale; however, recognizing the value in detailed analysis of small sets of well-studied loci, we welcome such submissions if the analysis yields broader insights, either methodological or biological.

Invited speakers

Key dates

Submission guidelines

The scientific core of the conference consists of rigorously peer-reviewed full-length papers reporting on original work. Accepted papers will be published in an archival proceedings volume (fully indexed in PubMed), and a number of the papers will be selected for presentation during the conference.

Please see the PSB paper format template and instructions at http://psb.stanford.edu/psb-online/psb-submit.

Organizing committee

Please direct questions to Ferhat Ay (ferhatay@uw.edu).