As we move into the 21st century, the unprecedented possibilities for inter- and multidisciplinary research in biology are posed to concentrate a great deal of the attention and efforts in science and technology. The promising perspectives include not only understanding and treating diseases, but also deciphering the secrets of life from the molecular to the environmental levels. At the same time, the vast complexity underlying the biological systems represents a considerable obstacle that will only be circumvented through the combination of powerful mathematical concepts and methods, allied to the use of effective computational implementation and simulation.

    The 1st International Conference on Bioinformatics and Computational Biology - ICoBiCoBi, to be held in Brazil from 14th to 16th May 2003, represents a unique opportunity for bringing together under the unifying theme of computer science a broad series of concepts, problems and applications in biology. Special attention will be placed on the combined use of concepts and techniques to address relevant problems in biology.

    Prospective authors are encouraged to submit one-page abstracts reporting high-quality and innovative approaches to bioinformatics and computational biology. Every accepted abstract will be published electronically in the WWW, and those presented in the conference will be considered for subsequent publication, in extended version, in print in the respective proceedings (to be possibly published in the indexed Lecture Notes Series). Works dealing on imaging-related issues may be selected for a special issue of the Journal of Real-Time Imaging (Academic Press - Elsevier) to appear in 2003. Full papers in the area of Neuroinformatics will be considered, after further revision, for a Special Issue of the Integrative Neuroscience Journal (Imperial College Press).

    The "Escola Brasileiro-Argentina de Biotecnologia" will be jointly held with ICoBiCoBi presenting several courses on Bioinformatics, including introductory courses. A limited number of scholorships will be available. Please refer to http://yanomami.fmrp.usp.br/cbab/informacoes.php for more information.