The 7th SBML Hackathon

European Bioinformatics Institute
March 26–28, 2009

SBML Hackathons are annual meetings of developers of SBML software, tools, and other resources and facilities. The Hackathons are hands-on work sessions providing an opportunity to discuss software interoperability and other practical matters involving SBML.

The 2009 SBML Hackathon will be held at the familiar EBI in Hinxton, UK, which was also the site of the 2004 Hackathon. This year, the event will take place immediately after BioSysBio (March 23–25 in Cambridge, UK) and will itself be followed immediately afterwards by the 2009 BioModels Meeting on March 28–30, also at the EBI. Persons interested in these events may also want to take note of the CellML-SBGN-SBO-MIASE-BioPAX super-workshop, which will be held shortly afterwards in Auckland, New Zealand, April 5–9.

This year, for the first time in the SBML Hackathon series, we are introducing the option for people to bring and display posters about their work. The purpose is to compensate for the fact that the hackathons do not provide opportunities for people to give oral presentations about their software and other projects, yet not everyone at a hackathon is familiar with all the work going on by other people. We will therefore arrange poster display space near the hackathon rooms, and attendees can use the posters to provide information about ongoing projects as well as opportunities for face-to-face conversations about their work.

Major support for this year's SBML Hackathon is being provided by the ELIXIR project.

We are also grateful for additional sponsorship from the following organizations:

• The European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL)
• The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), USA
• Caltech Beckman Institute's Biological Network Modeling Center, USA

Agenda

In order to accommodate different people's level of experience and different goals, we will go back to using two rooms this year (something that we did in past SBML Hackathons, though not in the most recent two). The following agenda may still change somewhat as we get closer to the actual event.

Arrival day (Wednesday, March 25)

Arrivals from airports (most people) or from Cambridge (for people who are attending BioSysBio 2009). See below on this page for information about accommodations in Cambridge.

Day 1 (Thursday, March 26)

Day 2 (Friday, March 27)

Day 2.5 (Saturday, March 28)

The BioModels Annual Meeting will begin on the afternoon of March 28 and go through March 30th. Please consult the BioModels meeting page for more information about it. For those not attending the BioModels meeting, we will arrange transportation back to the hotel in Cambridge, or to airports, or elsewhere, depending on your needs.

Location

Most of the activities of the SBML Hackathon will take place in the IT training room at the EMBL-EBI. Address and contact details:

EMBL Outstation - Hinxton
European Bioinformatics Institute
Wellcome Trust Genome Campus
Hinxton
Cambridge
CB10 1SD
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)1223 494 444

The EBI is located on the Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, a 55 acre region of landscaped parkland that lies south of Cambridge. The Campus also houses the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, making it one of the world's largest concentrations of expertise in genomics and bioinformatics. The EMBL-EBI grew out of EMBL's pioneering work to provide public biological databases (notably EMBL-Bank and what is now known as UniProt) to the research community. Although geographically separated from EMBL's main headquarters and other sites, the EMBL-EBI is an integral part of EMBL.

Arundel House Hotel

Accommodations

Accommodations will be arranged in the Arundel House Hotel in nearby Cambridge. The accommodations will be complimentary for attendees from academic/non-commercial organizations. (Please contact the organizers if you are affiliated with a commercial group.)

Breakfast is included as part of the accommodations on the mornings of March 26–28 inclusive. Lunches and coffee/tea/soda breaks will also be provided on the meeting days at the EBI.

Transportation

Transportation to and from the airports will be arranged for everyone by the meeting organizers. The registration page purposefully requests your arrival and departure details, so that the organizers can schedule your pick up and drop off.

Transportation to and from the Arundel hotel in Cambridge will be arranged by the organizers for the meeting days. We anticipate arranging mini-buses leaving for Hinxton at around 8:00, and then returning in the evenings between 18:00 and 19:00.

For transportation in and around Hinxton on occasions when you want to go out but no group outing is prepared, the following options are available:

• Hinxton and Ickleton are within walking distance. As mentioned below, they each have a pub. The Google map above includes their locations; you can use the Google directions facility to map a walking route.
• The EBI and Wellcome Trust operate private shuttle buses that leave regularly for nearby areas.
• Taxis are also available.

If you are driving your own car, or wish to find out directions to the campus for other reasons, please visit the EBI's directions to the campus page.

Other notes

The following information may be useful to first-time travelers to the EBI and the surrounding region.

Poster details

As mentioned above, this year we are going to experiment with having posters as a means for people to inform each other about their software and other projects. The maximum poster size is 1.7 (66 inches) wide by 1 meter (39 inches); posters can be hung in portrait or landscape orientations, though portrait is preferred. We will provide poster boards together with tacks/pins to attach posters to the boards. Posters will be displayed in the EBI "IT breakout area" during the Hackathon. Posters can be hung at any time following your arrival at the EBI. (See also the agenda above.)

Electrical supply

Internet networking

The EBI is covered by a wireless network that reaches pretty much everywhere on campus, so make sure to bring a wireless card if you need one. In some rooms, wired ethernet jacks are also available. (For example, in the IT training room where most Hackathon activities will take place, there is an Ethernet plug on every desk.)

Weather

In the Cambridge, region, the weather in late March tends toward cool and often overcast. Rain often comes in short but heavy bursts. Average daytime temperatures range in the 10–15 degree Celsius, while at night, temperatures sometimes dip below freezing. Please bring suitable outdoor clothing and shoes. On the bright side, this time of year is the beginning of spring, so you may see flowers blossoming and some bouts of warm sunshine.

The widget on the right shows the current weather in Cambridge.

For a longer range forecast with more detail, you may want to visit the BBC weather page for Cambridge, UK.

Around the campus

The EBI's campus information page provides detailed information about the Wellcome Trust Genome Campus.

There are two villages close (walking distance) to the EBI: Hinxton and Ickleton. When we say "villages", we mean it—these are very small places. They each have a pub serving quite decent food and drink, but unfortunately, that's all you will find in these two villages.

• Red Lion Hinxton
• Ickleton Lion

It should be noted that the Genome Campus has been designated as a non-smoking environment. Smoking is not permitted within any buildings on the campus. Smoking outside is only permitted in certain designated areas on the Campus.

About Cambridge

Cambridge is less than 10 miles away from Hinxton. The city is the home of the University of Cambridge, which in 2009 celebrates its 800th anniversary. For more information about the city and the university, please visit the following websites:

• Cambridge (UK) Web Sites
• General Cambridge information
• The Fitzwilliam museum (very nice!)
• The list of Cambridge colleges (with websites). Colleges are at the heart of Cambridge history, architecture and current student life.

Contacts