VISUALIZING BIOLOGICAL DATA VIZBI

The artwork selected by VIZBI 2021 delegates for the best Art and Biology award was Hallmarks of Cancer by Karolína Kryštofová from Masaryk University, Czech Republic. Karolína was awarded a €250 voucher from EMBL, as well as a 1 year subscription to the clarifi resource from Digizyme.

Based on popular vote from VIZBI 2021 delegates, the Runner-up for the Scientific Poster Award was How to Communicate Cell Behaviors Visually by Christian Stolte from Cellarity, USA. Christian will receive a PeerJ Award, which includes a free publication and author interview for the PeerJ Blog.

Based on popular vote from VIZBI 2021 delegates, the Best Scientific Poster Award winner was Building a Whole Cell in 3D by Martina Maritan and co-workers from the Scripps Research Institute, USA. Martina was awarded a €250 voucher from EMBL, as well as a PeerJ Award, which includes a free publication and author interview for the PeerJ Blog.

_{Academics and students are eligible to apply for a registration fee waiver to help them attend the upcoming EMBL Virtual Conference on Visualizing Biological Data (VIZBI 2021), to be held March 24-26. The deadline for fee waivers has now been extended to February 1, 23:00 CET. For participants or speakers with children, EMBL is also offering grants to offset childcare costs incurred whilst participating at this virtual event. All participants registered for VIZBI 2021 by March 1 will receive further details about how to apply for childcare support. The fee waivers and childcare grants are provided by the EMBL’s Corporate Partnership Programme: to learn more, see the VIZBI 2021 registration page.}

The complete program for VIZBI 2021, the 11th international meeting on Visualising Biological Data, is now online. VIZBI 2021 will be an EMBL Virtual Conference, taking place online from March 24-26, with sponsors including ISCB’s BioVis COSI. The conference features keynotes from Daniel Weiskopf (U. Stuttgart, Germany), Fabian de Kok-Mercado (HHMI, USA), and Petra Isenberg (Inria, France), as well as talks from 18 leading researchers, reviewing how data visualization is transforming life science research.

To join the meeting, visit the VIZBI Registration page. This page also outlines opportunities for childcare grants and registration fee waivers.

The Association of Medical Illustrators is holding a 2020 Webinar series in lieu of an in-person meeting this year. This presents a fantastic opportunity to learn more about the field and the interface between science, medicine, and visual communication. They have developed a variety of topical sessions and social events to provide an opportunity to learn and network, including: (1) The story behind the most recognized SARS-CoV-2 image in the world, by CDC medical illustrators; (2) Applied science talks on VR research, paleoanthropological visualization, and reverse engineering the disarticulation of a skeleton; (3) Embracing human variation: tools for painting compelling brown skin tones and diverse facial features; Storytelling approaches in 3D animation; (4) The historical context of Dr. Frank Netter’s work; (5) Visualization of neurosurgical anatomy; Copyright advice on the registration process; (6) Techniques showcase sessions on new software and approaches to creating visuals; (7) Roundtable networking session; (8) Workshops for new members to learn more about the AMI; (9) Annual Business Meeting and presidential address. View full program and register at https://meetings.ami.org/2020/.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have postponed the upcoming conference on ‘Visualizing Biological Data’ (VIZBI 2020), originally scheduled for May 27-30 at USC in Los Angeles.

The conference is now rescheduled to take place 22 months later, in late March, 2022, at the same venue in Los Angeles.

Regarding the long postponement: you may know that VIZBI alternates annually between Europe and the USA. We have already finalised the schedule and speakers for VIZBI 2021, which takes place March next year in Heidelberg, Germany. Thus, the next USA-based meeting will be in 2022. On the positive side, by then conference travel should to be back to normal.

The satellite workshop on ‘Visual Storytelling in Biology’ is now rescheduled for late May, 2021, still at USC. Further details on the workshop will be announced in the next few months.

We are currently contacting 2020 speakers and paid registrants about the postponement. The 2021 program will be announced shortly, and the 2022 program announcement is planned for March 2021.

We apologize for any inconveniences arising from this postponement. If you require further information, do not hesitate to get in touch with the VIZBI organizing team.

Registration is now open for VIZBI 2020, which takes place May 27–29 at USC’s Bridge Institute in Los Angeles, USA. The conference features 21 invited talks, posters and lightning talks from participants. Note that early registration ends April 10.

The VIZBI 2020 program is now online. The meeting will feature keynotes from Ben Fry, David Goodsell, Helen Berman, and Bongshin Lee, plus talks from 18 leading researchers reviewing how data visualization is transforming life science research. VIZBI 2020 takes place March 27-29 at USC Michelson Center’s Bridge Institute (Los Angeles, USA), and will include satellite events to engage with local cinematic and visual arts industries.

VIZBI 2019 was featured in a recent blog from Gigascience Database! GigaScience Data Scientist Chris Armit was at VIZBI 2019 and has provided a detailed summary of highlights that were showcased over the 3-day meeting. You can read the article here: http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/visualising-biological-data-vizbi/

The image selected by VIZBI X delegates for the VIZBI 2019 Autodesk award for best Art and Biology award was Chromosome Segregation by Beata Edyta Mierzwa of The Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research and University of California San Diego, La Jolla, USA. Beata was awarded a 3 year subscription to commercial Autodesk Maya (worth over US$4,000).

The award for Runner-up Scientific Poster at VIZBI 2019 was won by ‘Visualizing the tree of science‘, presented by Andreas Harmuth, Mike Bogetofte Barnkob, and Lars Rønn Olsen from the Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark. Congratulations to the team! They receive an Amazon gift voucher generously provided by the EMBL courses and conference office.

The award for Best Scientific Poster at VIZBI 2019 was won by ‘Communicating Scientific Concepts Through Art‘, presented by Beata Edyta Mierzwa from the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research and University of California San Diego in La Jolla, USA. Congratulations Beata! She receives a PeerJ Award, which includes a free publication and blog entry to be featured on PeerJ. She also wins an Amazon gift voucher generously provided by the EMBL courses and conference office.

All VIZBI delegates can submit a poster and lightning talk describing their work using the link provided during registration. We also invite submissions for the VIZBI 2019 Art and Biology evening, when the compelling images created by VIZBI delegates will be unveiled. Due to popular request, we extended the deadline for submissions until 4th March, so if you are planning to submit, you don’t have much time !

Posters and Art and Biology images from this year’s meeting will be published online at the VIZBI poster gallery. The best poster(s) and Art and Biology images will be selected by popular vote from VIZBI 2019 delegates, and the winners announced during the closing session on 15th March. This year, the best VIZBI Art and Biology submissions will be awarded either the Autodesk prize: a three-year subscription to Autodesk Maya (non-transferable, valued at $4,410 USD), or a VIZBI 2019 EMBL cash prize. Scientific Poster winners will receive a VIZBI EMBL cash prize, and have the opportunity to be selected for the VIZBI PeerJ Poster Award, which entitles the winner to submit their work for free as an open access, featured publication at PeerJ.

For details on how to submit your work see your VIZBI 2019 registration confirmation email and the VIZBI 2019 poster page. The deadline for upload is March 4 at 23:00 PST.

The deadline for registration for VIZBI 2019 has been extended to Friday 15th February, 2019. VIZBI 2019 will take place March 13-15 at EMBL Heidelberg, Germany. The 2019 meeting marks the 10th Anniversary of VIZBI, and features 21 invited talks, posters and lightning talks from participants. If you are interested in sponsorship, a range of sponsorship options are also available. Register here.

Moritz Stefaner works as a ‘Truth and Beauty Operator’ on the crossroads of data visualization, information aesthetics and user interface design. His work balances analytical and aesthetic aspects in mapping abstract and complex phenomena. He has worked with clients like the OECD, Google News Lab, Salesforce, Deutsche Bahn and the Max Planck Research Society, and his work has been exhibited at Venice Biennale of Architecture, SIGGRAPH, Ars Electronica and the Max Planck Science Gallery. He has co-authored books for publishers like O’Reilly and Springer and has spoken and lectured on numerous occasions on the topic of information visualization.

Prof. Janet Iwasa is a data visualization expert and Assistant Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Utah, renowned for her contributions to molecular and cellular visualizations. She and her team use animation to illustrate the molecular mechanisms behind biological processes and disease. Her work has been featured in numerous scientific journals including Nature, Science, and Cell, as well as the New York Times. Janet Iwasa has worked on biological visualizations as a Faculty Member at Harvard Medical School, and has also been honored as a TED Senior Fellow.

Prof. Hadley Wickham is a Chief Scientist at RStudio, and an Adjunct Professor of Statistics at the University of Auckland, Stanford University, and Rice University. He builds tools (computational and cognitive) that make data science easier, faster, and more fun. He is best known for his development of open-source statistical analysis software packages for R that implement logics of data visualization and data transformation. His packages and writing are known for advocating a tidy data approach to data import, analysis and modelling methods.

We are pleased to announce the complete speaker lineup for VIZBI 2019. These world-leading researchers will showcase visualizations transforming how life scientists view data.

Keynotes: Hadley Wickham, Janet Iwasa, Mortiz Stefaner.

DNA: Andy Yates, Kay Nieselt, Phillippe Collas.

RNA: Charlotte Soneson, Irmtraud Meyer, Wolfgang Huber.

Proteins: Marc Baaden, David Sehnal, Peijun Zhang.

Cellular Systems: Lucy Collinson, Jurgen Cox, Loic Royer.

Tissues & Organisms: Dogu Teber, Scott Waddell.

Populations & Ecosystems: Jessica-Xin Hu, Stephen Leslie.