SBML Scientific Advisory Board

The SBML Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) is composed of scientists and researchers with expertise in topics covered by SBML. The SAB provides guidance to the SBML Editors and the SBML Forum regarding the goals, features, applications, and other aspects of SBML development and use.

Dr. Michael Hucka is the chair of the SBML SAB.

Members of the SBML SAB

  • Prof. Dr. Ursula Kummer, Center for Organismal Studies Heidelberg, University of Heidelberg, Germany.
  • Prof. Dirk Drasdo, joint appointment with Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (INRIA), France, and Interdisziplinäres Zentrum für Bioinformatik (IZBI), Germany.

SAB duties and activities

Broadly speaking, the duties of the SBML Scientific Advisory Board are to advocate the use of SBML in their communities where appropriate, to make recommendations about technical directions and decisions, to check that the development of SBML is democratic, and to help locate financial support for SBML development. The scientific committee does not have decision-making power on the content of SBML, although its advice carries considerable weight in the decisions taken by the SBML Editors and the SBML community as a whole.

SAB governance

The following are specific characteristics of SBML SAB membership:

  • Invitation: Members are proposed by the SBML Editors and the existing SAB. Invited members are typically pioneers or major figures in the field of computational systems biology, or leading figures in fields that may endorse SBML.
  • Duration: SAB membership is 2 years long, renewable without restriction. Renewal must be proposed and seconded by existing members of the SAB and the SBML Editors.
  • Meeting schedule: A formal meeting of the SBML SAB is convened once per year. The meeting may be face to face or virtual. More meetings may be convened at the discretion of the SAB and the SBML Editors.