Report on 2014 Global Summit on Regulatory Science (GSRS14)

A summary of the activities at the fourth Global Summit on Regulatory Science (GSRS14) is available online at Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology. The conference focused on the role of genomics in the regulatory process, with specific emphasis on applications in food safety and medical product development. The discussions included the need to develop an international consensus for objective criteria for genomics data; the need for a global path in the establishment of a regulatory bioinformatics framework; and the importance of training to achieve internationally consistent outcomes. The conference, which was cohosted by the FDA and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), was held in Montreal, Canada, and was attended by government, industry, and academic scientists from 15 countries.

Bioinformatics Meetings

The Arkansas Bioinformatics Consortium (AR-BIC) and the MidSouth Computational Biology and Bioinformatics Society (MCBIOS) held back-to-back conferences this week, March 11-14, 2015, in Little Rock, Arkansas. AR-BIC was formed to foster an Arkansas collaborative community in bioinformatics research and education among federal and academic institutions. This year's AR-BIC was organized by the Arkansas Research Alliance and NCTR. The topics this year focused on precision medicine and regulatory sciences applications.

The MCBIOS is the largest such regional bioinformatics society in the United States and co-founded by NCTR leadership about 12 years ago. MCBIOS 2015, the 12th annual meeting of the society, was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and FDA and was attended by 200 participants. This event included preconference workshops, six plenary talks, 60 platform presentations and more than 80 posters in twelve technical sessions. MCBIOS members come from Arkansas, as well as universities from five adjoining states including Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas. MCBIOS XII proceedings will appear in a special issue of BMC Bioinformatics.

For additional information, please contact Weida Tong, Ph.D., Director, Division of Bioinformatics and Biostatistics, FDA/NCTR.