The African Society for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (ASBCB) is a

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

professional association dedicated to the advancement of

bioinformatics Bioinformatics () is an interdisciplinary field of science that develops methods and Bioinformatics software, software tools for understanding biological data, especially when the data sets are large and complex. Bioinformatics uses biology, ...

and

computational biology Computational biology refers to the use of techniques in computer science, data analysis, mathematical modeling and Computer simulation, computational simulations to understand biological systems and relationships. An intersection of computer sci ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

. Transformed from the African Bioinformatics Network (ABioNET), ASBCB was established in February 2004 at a meeting in Cape Town,

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. The Society serves as an international forum and resource devoted to developing competence and expertise in bioinformatics and computational biology in Africa. It complements its activities with those of other international and national societies, associations and institutions, public and private, that have similar aims. It also promotes the standing of African bioinformatics and computational biology in the global arena through liaison and cooperation with other international bodies. It is an affiliated regional group of the

International Society for Computational Biology The International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB) is a scholarly society for researchers in computational biology and bioinformatics. The society was founded in 1997 to provide a stable financial home for the Intelligent Systems for Mo ...

(ISCB).

Objectives

* Identify, promote and establish opportunities for networking. * Encourage and develop bioinformatics and computational biology nodes. * Increase awareness and promote the use of bioinformatics and computational biology. * Facilitate access to bioinformatics and computational biology infrastructure. * Promote bioinformatics and computational biology education. The Society also has good cooperation with the newly re-established African BIOinformatics NETwork (ABioNet). The ABioNET is in the process of development of a programme of training and research linking key sites of African Bioinformatics to provide regional capacity development.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:African Society For Bioinformatics And Computational Biology Organizations established in 2004 Biology societies Bioinformatics organizations Professional associations based in Africa