International Workshop on Bio-Design Automation (IWBDA)

Trustees Of Boston University, Boston

Investigators

Abstract

The 8th International Workshop on Bio-Design Automation (IWBDA) 2016 will bring together researchers from electronic design automation (the practice of using computer software to build complex electronics) and synthetic biology (the forward design of novel biological systems using engineering principles). The goal of IWBDA is to make biology more easily, robustly, reliably, and predictably engineered and therefore, tackle challenges in biology and medicine, leading to advances in disease diagnosis, treatment and prevention. Existing synthetic biology conferences and meetings do not explicitly focus on bridging the gap between the work of experimentalists and computational researchers. Bridging this divide is essential for the field of synthetic biology to fulfill its promise. Furthermore, other venues do not actively include the Electronic Design Automation (EDA) community, which can bring a wide range of experiences, expertise, and perspectives to the design of novel biological systems. IWBDA includes keynote and invited talks, tutorials, poster sessions, panel discussions, as well as dedicated time for informal discussions. The intellectual merit of this workshop is a key strength. This workshop will provide a venue for between twelve and fifteen technical talks over two days. These talks are chosen from two page extended abstracts which are later archived. In addition, there will be two invited lectures, ten to twenty posters, multiple group discussion sessions, and a featured student programming competition (BDAthlon). Technical topics will be diverse and include areas such as: Parts and Standardization, Biological Circuit Simulators, Biological Circuit Design, CAD Tools for Synthetic Biology and Gene Network Reconstruction. No other such workshop exists in Synthetic Biology/EDA. The broader impacts of IWBDA are numerous. A wide variety of researchers (120+) from EDA and synthetic biology will be brought together in a unique context which does not exist elsewhere. IWBDA will capture and make public the slides, posters, and abstracts from the session. In addition, a user survey will be created to learn more about how workshops like this can better serve the community. Finally, there will be numerous undergraduate, graduate and post graduate student researchers in attendance. IWBDA encourages and supports woman and underrepresented minority student participation and has a diverse technical program and executive committees. In keeping with its goal of establishing international collaborations and research efforts, IWBDA 2016 will take place at Newcastle University in England. The co-general chairs are Prof. Anil Wipat from Newcastle and Prof. Pietro Lio' from Cambridge. The program chair is Prof. Chris French from the University of Edinburgh. A keynote speaker is Prof. Natalio Krasnogor from Newcastle University. We expect Newcastle, Cambridge, Imperial College, and the University of Edinburgh (among other UK based universities) all to send participants at the graduate to principle investigator level. NSF support (Funding provided from the Directorate of Computer Information Science and Engineering and the Office of International Science and Engineering is gratefully acknowledged) ensures a technical and diverse set of undergraduate, graduate, and post doctorial students can attend the conference to present research, learn more about the field, and expand their networking opportunities.