PIUG 2009 Boston Biotechnology Meeting

Sequence Searching and Beyond:
Build a Better Searcher, Build a Better Search

Call for Papers

Deadline for submitting abstracts: Monday, December 15, 2008
Send submissions to Qin Meng (qmeng @ amgen.com)

A mentor is the key to developing as a searcher. Be our mentor in the following areas:

What Do You Have To Know To Be a Sequence Searcher?

Recent talk on the PIUG list has turned toward questions about what qualifications a quality (and qualified) searcher should have. What basic sequence related knowledge does a sequence searcher need to have? What separates a superior searcher from average searchers? What amalgam of skills do you believe are critical to maximizing success in providing your client with a high quality report?

Developing a Sequence Search Strategy: Proteins; Antibodies; Fusion or Hybrid Molecules

Searching a small DNA sequence (like an siRNA) requires a different set of database criteria than searching for a large ORF or genomic sequence. Searching an antibody, fusion protein or chimera each present specific hurdles not usually presented in "plain old sequence" searching. How do you determine the CDR region? How do make decisions on cutoffs? How do you clear these many hurdles in order to glean appropriate information from the databases? How to do a comprehensive sequence search? How do you combine search results from different resources?

Combining Sequence Searching With Other Searches (Keywords, Structure, Etc.)

Will a sequence search elucidate "all" literature on a gene? Will a keyword search turn up "all" instances of a sequence? Sometimes you need both a sequence search and a subject matter search to uncover database gestalt. How do you make this happen? When do you need to combine sequence searching with other searches? How to integrate the results?

Working With Clients:

How to Interview, Understand, Interpret, and Present Sequence Search Results. Searching could be seen as an art that is applied to highly technical scientific topics. How do hyper-organized scientists and information professionals make order out of this highly creative process? Take us through your process. What interview questions to ask before you decide where and how to run a search? How do you organize yourself when tackling a new request? What tasks repeat themselves in each search? Tell us what key elements are present in your final product and why?

Developing a Lexicon

Take us through your methodology of getting your bearings on a subject. Then take us through those key steps of building on those first few ideas and key words.

Sources Used and Deciding Where to Search For What

A seasoned searcher knows which are the most appropriate databases to use for a specific search. Considering that public and commercial sources of sequence and text data varies, what are your most common "go-to" sources for what purpose? What do you look for in each of them? Tell us why you keep going back to them?

Is It Complete?

Once you have developed your strategy and made your queries, how do you know if you found what you were after? What are your tests for completeness and what should we be looking for?

We'd love to hear from you if have a proposal for a presentation on any of the above topics!

Selected speakers, as well as additional invited speakers, will be chosen.

Please send your:

proposed speaker name
brief biography
full contact information
presentation title
abstract

to Qin Meng (qmeng @ amgen.com) on or before December 15, 2008, for full consideration.

If you think you may be interested in speaking but require management approval beforehand, please let us know so we can consider your paper; in the meantime a few descriptive sentences will be sufficient.

Selected speakers, as well as additional invited speakers, will be chosen. The organizers reserve the right to accept abstracts at their discretion in order to assemble the best possible program. Invited speakers may take precedence over other speakers. Please be advised that your abstract submission may be published on the internet or elsewhere, shortly after receipt or at any time thereafter. Therefore, do not include confidential or business-sensitive information in your abstract.

If you would like to make a recommendation for a speaker on a particular topic or suggest another topic of interest, we would appreciate hearing from you. Please do not hesitate to contact Qin Meng with your views.

For sponsorship opportunities, please contact Christine Geluk (Christine_Geluk @ eri.eisai.com).

Last update: 19 September 2008 / Qin Meng

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