Friday, December 25, 2009

APBC2010 Cultural Programme @ NCBS on 20th Jan 2010.

The cultural programme is decided to be along with the banquet dinner in NCBS premises on 20th January 2010.

APBC2010 BADGE Colour Code !!

Badge pouch colors for different category of participants !!

   Volunteers - Mild orange
   Tutorial-only participants - Grey
   Speakers - Green
    All other participants - Black

Way to NCBS, Bangalore !!

The National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS)

Official Website

NCBS is part of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and is located in Bangalore. The mandate of NCBS is basic research in the frontier areas of biology. The research interests of the faculty are in four broad areas ranging from the study of single molecules to systems biology. In addition interactive initiatives, such as the iBio, have been developed and new ones in other areas, for example those that promote clinical interactions, are envisaged.

Public Transport

You could either hire the City Taxi or an Auto Rickshaw from the City Railway Station,
which is in the Majestic area. The fare for City Taxi is Rs. 80.00 for the first 4 kms
and Rs. 8.00 for every additional kilometer.

If you get into an Auto Rickshaw, please make sure that the meter is initialized to zero
before you start your journey. The minimum auto fare is Rs. 10.00. Each additional km is
Rs. 5.00.
You may also come by bus from Majestic or from Shivaji Nagar.

Various buses from Majestic are as follows:

280,281(C), 282 (A, B), 283 (A, B, C), 284 (A) to 284 (F), 285 (A, B, F, G), 289 (A, B, C),
297(A), 298 (B), 299 (B), 277.

You have to get down at GKVK Main Gate.
Bus No. 277 comes directly inside the GKVK Campus.

And from Shivaji Nagar only 284(B) and 402 drops you at GKVK Main Gate.

For more information regarding bus timings etc. please visit http://www.bmtcinfo.com/

Location Map

Shuttle services between IISc and NCBS, Mandara Hostel and NCBS is also provided here .

View Larger Map

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Foreign Exchange @ Thomas Cook(IISc campus) !!

Foreign Exchange

In India, INR is the only legal currency allowed in financial transactions. So, visitors are advised to carry sufficient funds in INR for basic expenses and to only transact with merchants in INR. However, many merchants in Bangalore do accept major credit cards --- Visa, MasterCard, and Ames. INR can be obtained at various foreign exchange vendors both at Bangalore International Airport (upon arrival) and within Bangalore city limits.

Thomas Cook, one such foreign exchange vendor, operates an office in the IISc campus very close to the conference venue. It is advised that any participant converting foreign currency into INR should retain the transaction advice for these conversions. Similarly, it is advised to retain transaction slips for withdrawal of cash in INR from ATMs. These transaction advices and slips are be required to convert any left-over INR into foreign currencies before departing from India.

Other Facilities @ IISc

Local Information for APBC2010 Participants !!

Bangalore is one of the fastest growing cities in India. Bangalore is also known as the "garden city" and is the high-tech capital of India, with a large base of people working in the IT and technology industry. Bangalore offers a lot of places of historical interest. A trip around the city can be very interesting and provides a rich sightseeing experience with palaces, museums, temples, churches and gardens.

About Indian Institute of Science (IISc)

Indian Institute of Science, located in Bangalore, is one of the premier academic institutions in India. It houses more than 50 departments ranging from Aerospace Engineering to Molecular Biophysics to Management, with over 400 faculty members, and more than 2,000 students pursuing postgraduate and doctoral research programmes. This year happens to be special for IISc, as it complete one hundred years since its inception in 1908.

JN Tata Auditorium, the conference venue (picture on the right), is located in the south part of IISc campus. CAMPUS MAP The customized campus map that highlights the venue, various guest houses, and a cafeteria can be found here.

Transportation

Recently, Bangalore International Airport (BIA) was moved to a location outside the city limits. Given the distance from BIA to Bangalore city (27 Kms / 16 miles), it is recommended that visitors use either the Airport Shuttle Service or Airport Taxi Service. For more information about these services, please refer the BIA Transport Guide. Online reservations can be made with Airport Shuttle Service via Redbus website. The routes of the Airport Shuttle Service can be found here.

For visitors planning to take a cab/taxi from/to BIA, Meru and Easy-cabs are the official cab companies operating out of BIA. The payment for these cabs are made in cash (INR) at the end of the trip. If you want to reimburse this cost, then please ask the cab driver for a printed receipt at the end of the trip. The cab/taxi fare to the hotels suggested above should not exceed 500 INR; however, it is advisable to carry 1000 INR for the purpose of cab/taxi fares.

For visitors planning to avail the Airport Shuttle Service, the cost of the trip from BIA to locations in the vicinity of the above mentioned hotel should not exceed 200 INR; however, it is advisable to carry 500 INR for the purpose of shuttle fares.

Sightseeing

The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) has a big and beautiful temple located close to the conference venue. This temple may be of interest to folks interested in getting a glimpse of temples in India.
Lalbagh is a botanical garden that occupies 240 acres in the heart of Bangalore. An apt description of Lalbagh would be "for folks with a green finger, a visit to Bangalore would be incomplete without a visit to Lalbagh."
Vidhana Soudha is one of the majestic structures of modern Bangalore. It represents the center of Bangalore and it houses the legislative chambers of the Karnataka state government. It is situated opposite Attara Kacheri, a red building that houses the Karnataka State High Court. The opposing placement of these buildings is interesting as it amplifies the contrast in the style of their architecture: the white Indian temple style of Vidhana Soudha against the red classical European style of Attara Kacheri.
A visit to Bangalore would be incomplete without an experience of the night life at the business district of Bangalore situated on and around M.G. Road (Mahatma Gandhi Road) and Brigade Road.
Srirangapatna is a small town at approximately 2 hours drive away from Bangalore (on the way to Mysore). Given the historic significance of the town, it has quite a few historic monuments that are worth viewing. Also, the town is home to a large Ranganathswamy temple that dates back more than a few centuries. If the history at Srirangapatna is an overload, then it can be washed away by visiting Shivanasamudra falls, the second biggest waterfall in India. Alternatively, one could watch the exotic species of birds at Rangana Thitu bird sanctuary.
A tourist visit to Bangalore is incomplete without visiting Mysore, the second largest city in Karnataka. Given the long history of Mysore and its relevance in the history of Karnataka, it offers a plethora of options for sightseeing such as Mysore palace, Chamundi Hills (home of Nandi, the big bull), the zoo, St. Philomena's Church, Brindavan Garden, and Lalith Mahal. While these are options within the city limit, Somanathpura and Bandipur National Park serve as interesting sightseeing options outside of Mysore.

Weather

AccuWeather
Weather Underground!
Weather Forecast

Misc

Swami Bengaluru: A good website for information about Bangalore. The site provides a graphical peek at Bangalore via pictures and videos along with news bits about the city. Besides a good search feature dedicated to businesses in Bangalore, it also provides a listing of various events in the city.
Bangalore Transportation Information System (BTIS): An excellent website that can help plan inner city travel.

Way to IISc, JN Tata Auditorium !!

JN Tata Auditorium, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, India.
http://www.csic.iisc.ernet.in/nssc.htm

How to reach Indian Institute of Science?

Bangalore is connected by air, rail and road to all the metropolises and most major cities of the country. Also, one can fly direct to Bangalore from several international airports.

IISc is about 35kms from the airport. One could take either a prepaid taxi (currently, costs Rs. 750, and the counter is available near the exit of the Airport Building), or a city taxi (costs about Rs. 500, and a queue for the same is just outside the airport building). The Institute is known as "Tata Institute" to the locals and is just past Mekhri circle and on the way to Yeshwantpura (one must take a right turn at Mekhri circle). Shuttle bus service, operated by Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), runs from the airport to various areas in Bangalore city every 15 minutes. Details of the schedule can be found here. Additional information on the airport can also be found at its official website: (http://www.bengaluruairport.com/)

The city railway station is about 7 kms from IISc campus. One will have to get out of the station from platform number ONE and reach the prepaid taxi stand and hire a city taxi (costs about Rs 150). Majestic (7kms from IISc) is the central Bus stand in Bangalore which is just opposite to the City Railway station. If one happens to reach Majestic, Bangalore by bus, reach platform number 22 from where almost all buses come to the Institute.

If one plans to take a bus into town, one will have to move past Malleswaram 18th cross bus stand towards Yeshwantpura in order to reach IISc (also popularly called Tata Institute). There is also a bus stop on the highway between the yellow over bridge and Prof. CNR Rao circle, and another one at Prof. CNR Rao circle (on Sir CV Raman Road ). Finally there is a bus stop at Yeshwantpura tollgate, just off campus near R block. Most buses go to one of these places.

JN TATA AUDITORIUM (Just opposite to IISc Campus):

MAP:

National Science Symposium Complex (NSSC)

Sir C.V.Raman Avenue

(Across the street from Indian Institute of Science)

Bangalore, India

Ph: +91 80 23092236 and +91 80 23092917

View JN Tata Auditorium in a larger map

By Bus

Bangalore has a good public bus service. You can reach J N Tata or the Malleshwaram 18th Cross Bus Terminus from any where in the city via bus.
The bus routes are :

From Bangalore Bus Stand ( Majestic ) or Railway Station :
Platform No : 22- 24
From Bangalore Bus Stand ( Majestic ) or Railway Station :

Bus Route nos:
     252 E
     258 C
     271 E
     273 C
     275
     99 A and B

From Cantontment Railway Station :

Bus Route nos:
     94 A and E
     252 A
     270 A
     272
     276 A

FROM AIRPORT

View Larger Map

From Malleshwaram 18th Cross Bus Terminus
- From Mekhri Circle
By City TaxiThese are a very convenient and comfortable option, but city taxies are slightly more expensive. These taxis are Maruti Omni Vans. Other than that, they are quite fast.
The fares are not that huge. It could cost you Rs. 50 for travelling from the Bangalore Bus Stand ( Majestic ) to J N Tata Auditorium.
The actual rates are Rs 35 for 4 km ( kilometers ) (minimum) and Rs 9 for every extra kilometer.
By Auto Rickshaw (Three Wheeler)These are 3 wheelers and will bring you from anywhere to J N Tata Auditorium.
They are pretty cheap. For a ride from Bangalore Bus Stand ( Majestic / Railway Station ) the fare should be about Rs. 30.
If you are new to India, you may want to know how to hire one of these three wheelers.
When you see an auto, just wave to the driver and he should stop.
Never ask the driver whether he would kindly take you to the destination - all Bangaloreans know that this is asking for trouble!
Sit in the auto rikshaw, make yourself comfortable, then (without batting an eyelid) say "TATA Institute or IISc (Indian Institute of Science), J.N.Tata Hall", then look nonchalantly out of the door on your left, having done your duty of telling him where you want to go.

BEWARE!! : Please ensure that the driver puts the fare-meter flag down, and that you pay the fares ONLY according to the auto meter. There are no conversion charts applicable!

Official APBC 2010 logo launched

The official logo of APBC2010 [ Asia Pacific Bioinformatics Conference 2010 ] is launched. The Asia-Pacific Bioinformatics Conference series is an annual forum for exploring research, development and novel applications of Bioinformatics. The Eighth Asia-Pacific Bioinformatics Conference, APBC2010, will be held in Bangalore, India from January 18th (Monday) to 21st (Thursday), 2010, JN Tata Auditorium, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, India.

Conference Websites

Official website 1, Official website 2

Organizers Links

History of APBC

Asia Pacific Bioinformatics Conference (APBC)

An annual conference held since 2003

The Asia-Pacific Bioinformatics Conference series is an annual forum for exploring research, development and novel applications of Bioinformatics.

Previous APBC meetings

APBC2009 (13-16 January 2009, Beijing, China)
APBC2008 (14-17 January 2008, Kyoto, Japan)
APBC2007 (14-17 January 2007, Hong Kong)
APBC2006 (13-16 February 2006, Taiwan)
APBC2005 (17-21 January 2005, Singapore)
APBC2004 (18-22 January 2004, Dunedin)
APBC2003 (4-7 February 2003, Adelaide)

Topics of Interests to APBC

The topics of interests to the conference series includes, but not limited to, the followings:

Bioinformatics Applications
Computational Analysis of Biological Data
Scientific/Biological Visualization
Fuzzy Logic for Biological Data
Bioinformatics Data Mining & Statistical Modeling
Complex Biological Data Input
Intelligent Biological Systems
Pattern Matching in Bioinformatics
Machine Learning in Bioinformatics
Biological Database Migration and Integration
Biological Data Intensive XML / Web-based Biological Data Access
High Dimensional Indexing and Similarity Search

APBC conference series aims to provide a forum to discuss the effective research of Bioinformatics.

The conference is targeted at researchers, academia, software and application developers and information technologists in the field of Bioinformatics and their applications.

Each conference may have its own theme and emphasis on different aspects of Bioinformatics.

Archive of APBC Online Proceedings (BMC)

APBC2003 Online Proceedings/APBC2004 Online Proceedings/APBC2005 Online Proceedings/APBC2006 Online Proceedings/APBC2007 Online Proceedings /APBC2008 Online Proceedings/APBC2009 Online Proceedings

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

APBC2010: The Eighth Asia Pacific Bioinformatics Conference

The Asia-Pacific Bioinformatics Conference series is an annual forum for exploring research, development and novel applications of Bioinformatics.

January 18th (Monday) to 21st (Thursday), 2010

JN Tata Auditorium, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, India.
http://www.csic.iisc.ernet.in/nssc.htm

Researchers, academic and industrial practitioners gather together to discuss the conceptual and practical issues of bioinformatics. Topics of interests include Sequence analysis, Motif search/discovery, RNA analysis, Physical and genetic maps, Evolution and phylogeny, Protein structure analysis, Transcriptome, Proteomics, Ontologies, Population genetics/SNP/Haplotyping and Comparative genomics.