Pharmacogenomics

July 7 - July 14, 2012

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Aim and scope: Pharmacogenomics is among the most representative research areas in modern science. It studies the influence of genetic variations of individual genes to drug response. Given a genetic profile the aim is to be able to prescribe the most appropriate drug and dosage. Drugs will be designed by analyzing the proteins, enzymes and RNA molecules associated with genes related to the given disease. The main lectures of the School address the scope focusing on tumor angiogenesis, genomes and omic data, integrative systems biology, protein docking and chemoinformatics. A series of tutorial is also offered to illustrate basic preliminary concepts and complement the main lectures by providing snapshots of related areas. These range from web services, protein structures, microarray data analysis, metrics on molecules, systems pharmacology, sequencing analysis, to transcriptomic data analysis and epigenomics. From the enclosed bibliography it appears that the selected themes have received much attention in the scholarly literature ranging from Nature and Science to BMC Bioinformatics and Bioinformatics.

Speakers

  • Pierre Baldi
    From Genomes to Drug Leads: Integrative Systems Biology Approaches [abstract]
    University of California, Irvine, USA

  • Napoleone Ferrara
    New insights in the regulation of angiogenesis by VEGF-dependent and -independent pathways [abstract]
    Genentech, San Francisco, USA

  • Lydia Kavraki
    Geometry and robotics-inspired methods for the analysis of protein function and the design of new medicines [abstract]
    Rice, Houston, Texas, USA

  • Dave Ritchie
    Protein Docking and 3D Ligand-Based Virtual Screening [abstract]
    INRIA Nancy Grand-Est, France

Tutorials

  • Alberto Apostolico
    Compositional Sequence Analysis and Classification [abstract]
    Georgia Tech, Atlanta, USA - University of Padova, Italy

  • Raffaele Giancarlo
    The Three Steps of Clustering in the Post-Genomic Era [abstract]
    University of Palermo, Italy

  • Rosalba Giugno, Giuseppina Cantarella
    Network analysis in systems pharmacology [abstract]
    University of Catania, Italy

  • Eric Jonasch
    Molecular determinants of response and resistance to antiangiogenic therapy in renal cell carcinoma [abstract]
    The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA

  • Michael Levitt
    Introduction to Protein Three-Dimensional Structure and the Architecture of Drug Binding Sites [abstract]
    Stanford University, USA

  • Giosuè Lo Bosco
    Machine Learning Methods for Epigenomic Analyis [abstract]
    University of Palermo, Italy

  • Peter Minary
    Towards Computational Structural Epigenetics at DNA/RNA Levels [abstract]
    Stanford University, USA

  • Luca Pinello
    Epigenetic plasticity: why DNA sequence matters [abstract]
    Dana Faber Cancer Research Center and Harvard University, USA

  • Alfredo Pulvirenti
    In-silico transcriptomic data analysis [abstract]
    University of Catania, Italy

  • Chandra Verma
    The Role of Flexibility in Protein-Protein Interactions and Therapeutic Design [abstract]
    Bioinformatics Institute in Singapore


Participants will be arranged in a comfortable hotel at very special rates. The conference room (in the same hotel) is air-conditioned and equipped with all conference materials. Special areas are reserved to students for the afternoon coursework and study. The island of Lipari can be easily  reached  from Milazzo, Palermo, Naples, Messina and Reggio Calabria by ferry or hydrofoil (50 minutes from Milazzo).

Two kinds of participants are welcome. Students: Participants who are expected to do afternoon courseworks and take a final exam (The grades will be given following the ECTS grading scale). The course will involve a total of 24 hours of teaching. According to our university rules passing the final exam gives right to an equivalent of 6 ECTS credits in any Ph.D. program. Auditors: participants who are not interested in taking the final exam.
Registration fee is 470 Euros. The fee covers the course material, bus+hydrofoil Catania airport-Lipari-Catania airport, social event. Late registration is 570 Euros.


Deadline for application is May 1, 2012 (admission notification will start on March 1st according to registration time). Applicants must include a short curriculum vitae and specify two professors whom letters of recommendation will be asked to, if deemed necessary. Applicants will be notified about admission by May 10, 2012.

The official language is English.

School Directors

  • Prof. Alfredo Ferro (University of Catania)
  • Prof. Raffaele Giancarlo (University of Palermo)
  • Prof. Concettina Guerra (University of Padova and Georgia Tech.)
  • Prof. Michael Levitt, (Stanford University)

  • Prof. Renato Bernardini (co-director, University of Catania)
  • Dr. Rosalba Giugno (co-director, University of Catania)
  • Dr. Alfredo Pulvirenti (co-director, University of Catania)

People interested in receiving further information about the school can contact:

Lipari School Organization
Prof. Alfredo Ferro -- Susanna Caramello (Lipari School secretary)
Universita' degli Studi di Catania - Dipartimento di Matematica e Informatica
Citta' Universitaria - Viale A.Doria, 6 - 95125 Catania - ITALY
Tel: +39 095 7383071
Fax: +39 095 7337032 / +39 095 330094
E-mail:school@dmi.unict.it - susanna@dmi.unict.it