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International Workshop on
Semantic Web Applications and Tools for Life Sciences (SWAT4LS)

28th November 2008, Edinburgh, UK
http://www.swat4ls.org/

CALL FOR PAPERS

Overview
--------
The workshop is organized in sessions and open 
discussions. Invited speakers will present 
state-of-the-art, provocative lectures on the 
workshop's main topic, while a number of 
submissions will be accepted as oral 
presentations and posters on all workshop's topics.

Workshop Description
--------------------
Semantic Web technologies, tools and applications 
are starting to emerge in Life Sciences. In 
recent years, systems have been introduced and an 
increasing interest among researchers is arising. 
This workshop will provide a venue to present and 
discuss benefits and limits of the adoption of 
these technologies and tools in biomedical 
informatics and computational biology.
It will showcase experiences, information 
resources, tools development and applications. It 
will bring together researchers, both developers 
and users, from the various fields of Biology, 
Bioinformatics and Computer Science, to discuss 
goals, current limits and some real use cases for 
Semantic Web technologies in Life Sciences.

Keynote Speakers
------------------------
+ Semantic web technology in translational cancer research,
    Michael Krauthammer, Department of Pathology, 
Yale University School of Medicine, USA

+ Using Ontologies to bring Web Services on to the Semantic Web
    Mark Wilkinson, Dept. of Medical Genetics, 
University of British Columbia, Canada

Workshop Venue and Format
------------------------
The workshop will take place in Edinburgh, 
Scotland, on 28 November 2008, and is hosted by 
the e-Science Institute of  the UK's National e-Science Centre (NeSC).
SWAT4LS  will be a one-day workshop and will 
consist of two invited talks, regular paper and 
poster presentations. The workshop will conclude 
with a panel discussion on the strength and 
weaknesses of the Semantic Web for the Life Sciences.

Deadlines
---------
     * Submission deadline (both papers and posters): 30 September 2008
     * Notification of acceptance: 20 October 2008
     * Camera-ready submission: 3 November 2008

(Authors who are interested in submitting a 
paper/poster to the workshop, but may require a 
short extension to the deadline, should get in touch with the organisers.)


Topics of Interest
------------------
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
     * Standards, Technologies, Tools for the Semantic Web
           o Semantic Web standards (RDF, OWL, ...)
           o RDF/OWL, SKOS, .... and their applicability to bioinformatics
           o RDF Schemas and Query systems
           o Biomedical Ontologies and related tools
           o Formal approaches to large biomedical controlled terminologies
             and vocabularies
     * Systems for a Semantic Web for Bioinformatics
           o Bio-ontologies, RDF stores, Semantic Web Services
           o RDF repositories and query systems for life sciences
           o Semantically aware biomedical Web Services
           o Semantic Biological Data Integration Systems
     * Existing and perspective applications of 
the Semantic Web for Bioinformatics
           o Semantic browsers, Semantic collaborative research
           o Case studies, use cases, and scenarios
           o Semantic Web applications in life sciences

Type of contributions
----------------------
The following possible original contributions are sought:
     * Oral communications (regular papers)
     * Posters
     * Software demos

All accepted oral communications and posters will 
be published with the CEUR-WS.org Workshop 
Proceedings service (see http://ceur-ws.org/).
Furthermore, a selection of papers will be 
published in a special issue of the BMC 
Bioinformatics journal devoted to the SWAT4LS workshop.
To this end, a special Call will be launched 
shortly after the workshop, for extended and 
revised versions of contributions submitted to 
the workshop and accepted either as oral communication or poster.

Workshop Chairs
----------------
+ Albert Burger, School of Mathematical and 
Computer Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, and Human
    Genetics Unit, Medical Research Council, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
+ Adrian Paschke, Biotechnology Centre, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany
+ Paolo Romano, Bioinformatics, National Cancer 
Research Institute, Genova, Italy
+ Andrea Splendiani, Medical Informatics 
Department, University of Rennes 1, Rennes, France

=====================================================================
In Co-operation with:
- National Cancer Research Institute, Genova, Italy
- Biotechnology Centre, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany
- School of Mathematical and Computer Sciences, 
Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
- Université de Rennes 1, Rennes, France
- e-Science Institute, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
- SeaLife Project, European Commission Information Society and Media
- Laboratory for Interdisciplinary Technologies 
in Bioinformatics (LITBIO), Italy
=====================================================================

For any information, refer to [log in to unmask] .


Paolo Romano ([log in to unmask])
Bioinformatics
National Cancer Research Institute (IST)
Largo Rosanna Benzi, 10, I-16132, Genova, Italy
Tel: +39-010-5737-288  Fax: +39-010-5737-295