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Welcome to the first international symposium on Radioinformatics, to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute (AFRRI), based in Bethesda, Maryland, USA.

The symposium aims to bring together and create a platform for cross-disciplinary experts from diverse areas including systems biology, microfluidics, artificial intelligence, automation, molecular biomechanics and radiation biology.

The two-day symposium, May 12–13, 2011, will provide a forum and opportunity to meet experts from various science disciplines and policy managers, for discussing development of diagnostic biomarkers, new algorithms and technologies, new computational methods for analyzing radiobiology assays, platform development strategies and a road map for development of new program and policy.

Welcome to “1st International Radioinformatics Symposium”, where the science of tomorrow is formed and discussed!

Director's Welcome

Mark A. Melanson Director, AFRRI

People are our most important resource.

Terrorism with an improvised nuclear bomb in a major city could injure or kill thousands of people. Our capacity to respond to such a catastrophe is most restricted in the area where it is most important: providing medical care and saving human lives.

We do not have excess medical capacity; our medical care system functions nearly at capacity most days in our large metropolitan trauma centers.

Solutions beam brightly: automation, artificial intelligence, and high throughput assessment in biomarkers and cytogenetics. Such solutions will help focus medical resources where they are most needed as radiation injury plays out in predictable stages.

We’ll put down a foundation of radiation biology, discuss platforms and technology, delve into automation and artificial intelligence, and then pull it all together to set a path for the science of tomorrow.

Welcome to the 1st International Symposium of Emerging Advances of Information Technology for Radiation Biology: RadioInformatics, hosted by the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute, part of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.

Chairman's Welcome

Adarsh Ramakumar Chairman, IRIS

We live in an extremely challenging and constantly changing world where many of our threats are invisible. Our capacity to measure an unknown, unanticipated threat, to identify and address key issues, to develop comprehensive response plans, and to understand the modality of treatments and save lives creates the race to an ultimate solution through science.

Our challenges are modern and our science to form a response and save lives must be even more modern. In an industry of science and technology where every little bit counts to get us ready for the challenges of tomorrow, it is no longer sufficient to know just the biology of the cause. It is equally important to transform the know-how of biology into an application to treat the cause.

In an earnest attempt to contribute to this transformation, we have organized a two-day symposium designed to bring together highly distinguished cross-disciplinary experts from diverse areas. The intent of the symposium is to set a new benchmark and show how cross-disciplinary sciences, stimulating and innovative ideas from experts, as well as the thoughts and action plans of experienced science policy-makers can shape radiation science for modern times. You will witness and partake in the birth of a 21st century science: Radioinformatics.

It is a great honor and privilege for me to welcome you to the 1st International Symposium of Emerging Advances of Information Technology for Radiation Biology: Radioinformatics, to be held from May 12–13, 2011, at the Uniformed Services University, in Bethesda, Maryland.

Please join us in Bethesda to help make the 1st International Radioinformatics Symposium (IRIS) a truly transformative experience.

I look forward to the pleasure of your company.

Limited attendance

Owing to space restrictions, this symposium may not be able to accommodate all who seek to participate. Those wishing to attend should register online as soon as possible. Symposium organizers will respond to all requests.

Correspondence

Please address all correspondence to the following contact points.

Postal mail:
IRIS 2011 Staff Team
AFRRI, NNMC
Building 42
8901 Wisconsin Avenue
Bethesda, MD, 20889-5603

E-mail: ramakumar@afrri.usuhs.mil