- Email: [email protected]
The pacific symposium on biocomputing
investigators and students. As always, there was insufficient time allocated for viewing the many excellent poster presentations. This was partially compensated by the fact that the posters were on display for the whole duration of the meeting. This meeting benefited anyone interested in a very broad field of structural biology. More information can be found at www.albany.edu/chemistry/sarma/ l l th.contents.abs.html. References: I. Luger, K., Mader, A.W.. Richmond, R.K., Sargent, D.E, and Richmond, T.J. Crystal structure of the nucleosome core particle at 2.8/~ resolution. Nature 389:251-260, 1997. 2. Tuerk, C. and Gold, L. Science 249: 505-510, 1990. 3. Simmerling, C., Fox, T., Kollman, P.A. JACS 120:5771-5782, 1998.
The Pacific Symposium on Biocomputing Marina Lani, Hawaii, USA January 4-8, 1999 By A. Keith Dunker. Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics, Fulmer 638. Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-4660 USA [email protected] The Pacific Symposium on Biocomputing 1999 (PSB99), held January 48, marked the 7th annual international Hawaiian computational biology meeting with a focus on bioinformatics (visit www.cgl.ucsf.edu/psb for additional information). PSB has been designated as one of the major meetings in this field by the recently established International Society for Computational Biology (www.iscb.org). Well-over 200 participants from all five continents attended this symposium. PSB99 included 6 tutorials -- a new feature -- eight sessions, eight workshops, poster sessions, software demonstrations, an invited presentation on the new protein data bank, a meeting of the members of the Asian Pacific Bionet, and a plenary lecture by Steve Benner, all tightly packed into the five-day span. Each topic was covered by a succession of activities: a three-hour tuto-
rial to provide background information; a session of three to six oral presentations selected on the basis of peer-reviewed manuscripts; a collection of posters to encourage participation of biologists; software demonstrations with both one-to-one and o n e - t o - m a n y sessions; a workshop with open discussion; and numerous informal discussions in the conducive tropical setting provided in-depth coverage of a given topic. At PSB99, topical areas included: computer modelling in physiology -from cell to tissue; data mining and knowledge discovery in molecular databases; gene expression and genetic networks; molecules to maps -- tools for visualization and interaction; information theoretic approaches to biology; computer-aided drug design; protein structure prediction; and disorder in protein structure and function. The accepted papers from PSB99 have been published, both in hardcover and electronically. Those wishing hardcover can obtain copies from World Scientific Press, Singapore (www.wspc.com/books/compsci/3607. html). The electronic version can be viewed at www.cgl.ucsf.edu/psb. For those who may consider submitting a paper to PSB in the future, it is noteworthy that Medline is now indexing the PSB series. The organization for PSB2000 is nearly complete. Papers, which arrived by the deadline of July 15, 1999, and which are now being reviewed, have been submitted for the following sessions: identification of coordinated gene expression and regulatory sequences; molecular network modelling and data analysis; analysis, management and application of snp data; protein evolution and structural genomics; natural language processing for biology; protein structure prediction in biology and medicine; computeraided combinatorial chemistry and cheminformatics; applications of information theory to biology; data mining and discovery in molecular databases; and tools for visualization and interaction. PSB is unique among the meetings in this subject area because sessions,
tutorials, and software demonstrations are initiated by the participants, not the organizers. Since the call for session proposals will occur in late January, 2000, now is the time to begin planning for submissions for PSB01. If you think that an important, emerging area of b i o c o m p u t i n g needs attention, and therefore would like to develop a session for PSB2001, the organizers of PSB would welcome a discussion with you (contact dunker@ mail.wsu.edu).
BOOK REVIEWS
Linear Algebra for Quantum Theory B.v Per-Olov L6wdin (Uppsala University, Sweden and University of Florida, Gainesville). John Wiley & Sons, New York and Chichester, 1998. xx + 458pp. hardcover $89.95. ISBN 0-471-19958-3. This is an excellent book for practicing quantum theoreticians and the material presented should be a required c o m p o n e n t for any theoretician in training. The material is presented in a rather dense format building upon each axiom, theorem, and proof as the book continues, as evidenced by the fact that section 4 of chapter 3 has 418 enumerated equations. Also the historical component of each development of quantum theory intertwined with mathematical development (usually at different points in time) is quite good. A firm mathematical background is required and the more formal that background the easier it will be to assimilate the material presented. This is definitely a text for graduate students or very advanced undergraduates. Working the exercises provided will definitely improve your understanding of the material presented. The book bases th6 presentation of modern quantum theory on axiomatic theories where set theory and linear algebra are the general mathematical tools used in the formulation. The fact that the c o m m o n theoretical presentations rely on use of the binary prod-
J. Mol. Graphics Mod., 1998, Wol. 16, August-December
267
The Pacific Symposium on Biocomputing Marina Lani, Hawaii, USA January 4-8, 1999 By A. Keith Dunker. Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics, Fulmer 638. Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-4660 USA [email protected] The Pacific Symposium on Biocomputing 1999 (PSB99), held January 48, marked the 7th annual international Hawaiian computational biology meeting with a focus on bioinformatics (visit www.cgl.ucsf.edu/psb for additional information). PSB has been designated as one of the major meetings in this field by the recently established International Society for Computational Biology (www.iscb.org). Well-over 200 participants from all five continents attended this symposium. PSB99 included 6 tutorials -- a new feature -- eight sessions, eight workshops, poster sessions, software demonstrations, an invited presentation on the new protein data bank, a meeting of the members of the Asian Pacific Bionet, and a plenary lecture by Steve Benner, all tightly packed into the five-day span. Each topic was covered by a succession of activities: a three-hour tuto-
rial to provide background information; a session of three to six oral presentations selected on the basis of peer-reviewed manuscripts; a collection of posters to encourage participation of biologists; software demonstrations with both one-to-one and o n e - t o - m a n y sessions; a workshop with open discussion; and numerous informal discussions in the conducive tropical setting provided in-depth coverage of a given topic. At PSB99, topical areas included: computer modelling in physiology -from cell to tissue; data mining and knowledge discovery in molecular databases; gene expression and genetic networks; molecules to maps -- tools for visualization and interaction; information theoretic approaches to biology; computer-aided drug design; protein structure prediction; and disorder in protein structure and function. The accepted papers from PSB99 have been published, both in hardcover and electronically. Those wishing hardcover can obtain copies from World Scientific Press, Singapore (www.wspc.com/books/compsci/3607. html). The electronic version can be viewed at www.cgl.ucsf.edu/psb. For those who may consider submitting a paper to PSB in the future, it is noteworthy that Medline is now indexing the PSB series. The organization for PSB2000 is nearly complete. Papers, which arrived by the deadline of July 15, 1999, and which are now being reviewed, have been submitted for the following sessions: identification of coordinated gene expression and regulatory sequences; molecular network modelling and data analysis; analysis, management and application of snp data; protein evolution and structural genomics; natural language processing for biology; protein structure prediction in biology and medicine; computeraided combinatorial chemistry and cheminformatics; applications of information theory to biology; data mining and discovery in molecular databases; and tools for visualization and interaction. PSB is unique among the meetings in this subject area because sessions,
tutorials, and software demonstrations are initiated by the participants, not the organizers. Since the call for session proposals will occur in late January, 2000, now is the time to begin planning for submissions for PSB01. If you think that an important, emerging area of b i o c o m p u t i n g needs attention, and therefore would like to develop a session for PSB2001, the organizers of PSB would welcome a discussion with you (contact dunker@ mail.wsu.edu).
BOOK REVIEWS
Linear Algebra for Quantum Theory B.v Per-Olov L6wdin (Uppsala University, Sweden and University of Florida, Gainesville). John Wiley & Sons, New York and Chichester, 1998. xx + 458pp. hardcover $89.95. ISBN 0-471-19958-3. This is an excellent book for practicing quantum theoreticians and the material presented should be a required c o m p o n e n t for any theoretician in training. The material is presented in a rather dense format building upon each axiom, theorem, and proof as the book continues, as evidenced by the fact that section 4 of chapter 3 has 418 enumerated equations. Also the historical component of each development of quantum theory intertwined with mathematical development (usually at different points in time) is quite good. A firm mathematical background is required and the more formal that background the easier it will be to assimilate the material presented. This is definitely a text for graduate students or very advanced undergraduates. Working the exercises provided will definitely improve your understanding of the material presented. The book bases th6 presentation of modern quantum theory on axiomatic theories where set theory and linear algebra are the general mathematical tools used in the formulation. The fact that the c o m m o n theoretical presentations rely on use of the binary prod-
J. Mol. Graphics Mod., 1998, Wol. 16, August-December
267