WELCOME

Dear Colleague,

On behalf of the International Structural Genomics Organization (ISGO), it is our very great honor to invite you to participate in the ISGO International Conference on Structural Genomics 2006 (ICSG2006) to be held in Asia. The main conference will be held in Beijing, China, from October 22-26, 2006. An ISGO policy meeting will be held in Beijing, China on October 22, 2006 from 2:00pm to 4:00pm. Hands-on workshops will be held in Yokohama, Japan from October 19 to 21, 2006.

Structural Genomics is now completing a transition from pilot phase to second phase. Automation technologies have matured, and the accelerating pace of structure determination now presents new challenges in the structural genomics field. ICSG 2006 is therefore an excellent opportunity to review progress and discuss future visions for the rapidly expanding structural genomics initiatives. We also intend to extend the meeting to include discussion of the impacts of structural genomics on structural biology in general.

The two major themes of ICSG 2006 will be: large-scale Structural Genomics to create new innovations and technologies; and application of new technologies for conventional structural biologists. Other major topics of this conference will include protein production technologies, drug discovery, membrane proteins, and new directions for Structural Genomics. The goal of the conference is to encourage connections and co-operations among the international structural genomics community, as well as friendships.

Other meetings in this series were held in Yokohama (Japan, 2000), Berlin (Germany, 2002) and Washington (U.S.A., 2004). We hope that this Conference will be as memorable and successful as in previous years. We also trust this Conference will encourage connections and co-operations among the international structural genomics community, as well as friendships.

We look forward to welcoming you to Beijing in 2006 and hope that your visit will be an enjoyable one, as well as a rewarding scientific and social experience.

Chairs

Zihe Rao (China)
Shigeyuki Yokoyama (Japan)

Honorary Chair

Dong-Cai Liang (China)