Abstract
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Talks and poster presentations in the systems biology track addressed methods for dissecting cell regulatory networks, studies of genetics and genomics, approaches for characterizing signaling pathways and metabolic networks, the systems biology of development and disease, and recent efforts to clarify drug mechanisms of action. Talks and posters in the regulatory genomics track explored the evolution of regulatory elements and circuits, mechanisms of cellular differentiation, the structure and function of enhancer regions, the role of genomic variation in gene regulation and disease, the regulatory logic of transcription factor binding and gene expression regulation, and new technologies for massively parallel dissection of regulatory elements.
The announcement of the best performers of the DREAM8 challenges offered opportunities to discuss new collaborative approaches for assessing the relative effectiveness of computational systems biology methodologies and to address pressing problems in basic biology and biomedical research. In addition, this year's conference included a panel discussion focusing on the role of systems biology and regulatory genomics in pharma and biotech, the complementary nature of work in industry and academia, and avenues for increasing cooperation between these two sectors.
We are pleased to present the following collection of articles, which were judged by the conference program committee to constitute significant theoretical advances in the fields of systems biology and regulatory genomics. Describing novel methods based in machine learning, information theory, and other computational disciplines, these articles represent fine examples of the progress computational biology is making in the accurate prediction of the structure and function of biological systems and to generate insights that are improving our understanding of biology at the molecular and cellular levels.