BIOMETRICS SECTION NEWSLETTER, May 2008

Scott C. Schmidler will present a one-day short course on Statistical Challenges in Proteomics . The course will provide an introduction to the technologies and the statistical issues arising in structural and functional proteomic studies. Topics to be covered include:

An overview of experimental data sources: X-ray crystallography, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), mass spectrometry (MALDI, SELDI , MS /MS), peptide arrays.
Statistical methods and challenges in structural proteomics: molecular comparison and database search, classification of structures, structure-based function prediction.
Statistical problems in functional proteomics: fragment identification, normalization and registration of spectra, peak identification, classification and biomarker identification, protein-protein interaction networks.

The goal of the course is to introduce academic and industrial statisticians to challenges and opportunities emerging in the application of statistical methods to modern proteomic studies. Lecture notes complemented with software demonstration and data analysis examples will be used to teach the course.

Scott C. Schmidler is Assistant Professor of Statistical Science at Duke University . He is also a core faculty member in the Duke Program in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics as well as the Duke Training Program in Structural Biology and Biophysics. He has extensive research experience in statistical bioinformatics, computational biology, and computational chemistry, with particular interests in applications to structural and functional proteomics, molecular biophysics, and physical chemistry. In addition, he has significant expertise in Bayesian statistics, statistical mechanics, and computational statistics, with emphasis on Monte Carlo and dynamical simulation methods.

Invited Sessions at JSM 2008
In addition, the Biometrics section is sponsoring an exciting program of invited sessions and talks spanning a broad range of topics in Biostatistics. The titles and organizers of the invited sessions are given below.

"Time Series Analysis via Mechanistic Models," organized by Ed Ionides, University of Michigan .
"A New Paradigm of Statistical Data Analysis - `Omics' data'," organized by Susmita Datta, University of Louisville .
"New Statistical and Computational Methods for Analysis of Genomic Data with a Graphical Structure," organized by Hongzhe Li, University of Pennsylvania .
"Statistical Methods for Multivariate Dental Data," organized by Tom Braun, University of Michigan .
"Challenges of Statistical Inference in `Large p , Small n ' Problems,” organized by Annie Qu, Oregon State University
"Directing a Biostatistics Core in Biomedical Research," organized by Michael Hudgens, University of North Carolina .

The Biometrics Section would like to thank Mahlet Tadesse, our JSM Continuing Education Chair, and Debashis Ghosh, our JSM Program Chair for their wonderful job in organizing the course and sessions. Check the online program at the 2008 JSM web site (available through the ASA web site www.amstat.org ) for updates on locations and times.

ENAR 2009
It is time to think about invited sessions for ENAR 2009, which will be held March 15-18 in San Antonio , Texas . Anyone who is interested in organizing an invited session or who has ideas for one, please contact our 2009 Program Chair, Jinbo Chen, at jinboche@mail.med.upenn.edu.

A typical session consists of three 30-minute talks followed by a 30-minute discussion, or four 30-minute talks. Decisions will be made in June so don't delay. The more detailed the proposal, the better the chance that the proposal will be selected in this highly competitive process.

JSM 2009
It's also already time to start thinking about invited sessions for next year's Joint Statistical Meetings, which will be held August 2 – August 6, 2009 in Washington , DC . Anyone who is interested in organizing an invited session or who has ideas for one, please contact our 2009 Program Chair, Wensheng Guo , at wguo@mail.med.upenn.edu .

A typical invited session consists of three 30-minute talks followed by a 10-minute invited discussion and 10 minutes of floor discussion. However, other formats are possible. The 2008 program is a good source for examples. Decisions will be made in July, so don't delay!

Please also submit ideas for short courses our 2009-2010 Continuing Education Chair Gerald Heatley at jerry.heatley@thoratec.com .

ASA solicits member input
The following issues were discussed at the Recent Council of Sections Governing Board (COSGB) meeting held in early February at ASA headquarters. Please send suggestions to one of our Council of Sections representatives: Diana Miglioretti (miglioretti.d@ghc.org ), Amita Manatunga ( amanatu@sph.emory.edu ) or Michael Daniels ( mdaniels@stat.ufl.edu ).

The COSGB would like to challenge the ASA sections to come up with one strategic activity that they could sponsor to their members this coming year that fits in with the new ASA Strategic Plan.
The ASA is concerned about loss of revenue due to conversion of publications from print to web-accessible. Currently, four ASA journals are free with membership. Ron Wasserstein, ASA Executive Director, is interested in hearing from sections about the types of information materials, in addition to journals, section members would find useful or helpful.
The ASA is soliciting thoughts about and ideas for smaller, specialized meetings or workshops that it could partner with and provide support to sections (or chapters) in staffing, marketing, and executing these events. ASA can offer in-house expertise in staffing, marketing, and executing meetings; Sections can provide the content.
Sally Morton, ASA President Elect, is interested in hearing sections' perspectives on what areas of the new ASA strategic plan they think she should tackle first (see AMSTAT NEWS , February 2008). She noted that she is particularly interested in #8 Organizational Efficiency, #7 Financial Status, and #3 Visibility and Impact in Policy Making.
Sally Morton is soliciting suggestions for ASA committee appointments. She would like to focus on getting some of our younger, newer statisticians involved on committees.