COMBINE 2014
Dates: August 18-22, 2014
Location: Los Angeles, California, USA
Hosted by: University of Southern California
The "Computational Modeling in Biology" Network (COMBINE) is an initiative to coordinate the development of the various community standards and formats in systems biology and related fields.
COMBINE is a workshop-style event with oral presentation, posters, and breakout sessions. The five meeting days will include talks about the COMBINE standards and associated or related standardization efforts, as well as presentations of tools using these standards. Oral presentations will be selected from the submitted abstracts. In addition to oral presentations, poster sessions will allow people to inform each other about their software and other projects in a setting that fosters interaction and in-depth discussion.
The 2014 COMBINE meeting was held at Keck School of Medicine of USC in Los Angeles, California from Monday August 18 to Friday August 22, 2014.
![]() Agenda, Slides & Videos | ![]() List of attendees | ![]() Abstracts | ![]() Photos | ![]() Exit Survey |
Thanks for a great meeting!
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Registration
The 2014 workshop was the same format as that of COMBINE 2013. The first day was a symposium with invited speakers. As it was for educational purposes, local students were encouraged to attend, and there was no registration fee. Days 2-5 were the main workshop, and the registration fee was $120.
Registration for the main workshop (Day 1-5 or Day 2-5)
The COMBINE 2014 registration is hosted by the USC Course Registration website. Therefore, you need only answer the required (*) information.
Please follow the instructions here.
Please click here to register. The process takes 5-10 minutes.
Registration for Day 1 Symposium ONLY
If you plan to attend Day 1 (Aug. 18) symposium ONLY, please click here to register.
Venue
The conference will be held at two different venues
Monday - Wednesday
Harlyne Norris Research Tower
USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center
1441 Eastlake Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90033
Main event: Room NRT LG503-504
Breakout session rooms: LG503 and LG504
Quiet room: NRT2517P
Parking: Biggy Parking Structure located on Biggy Street between Zonal Ave. and Eastlake Ave. See map for details. You can also use street metered parking.
Thursday and Friday
Soto Building, USC Health Science Campus
2001 North Soto Street, Los Angeles, California
Main event: Room 115/116
Breakout session rooms: 115/116, 110
Quiet room: 106
Parking: You can use metered parking in the Soto Building parking lot.
Shuttle buses will be arranged to run between the hotels and the venues. The schedule will be announced later.
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Accommodation
There is a large convention in Los Angeles during the week of COMBINE 2014, so the hotels are going to be busy and the rate will be higher than usual. A block of rooms was reserved at a discount rate at the following two hotels.
Radisson Hotel Los Angeles Midtown at USC
- Rate: $139.00 plus tax per night.
- Click here to reserve (for check-in/check-out between Aug. 15 and Aug. 22).
- If you wish to check out on Aug. 23 or later, please call hotel directly at 213-748-4141 and mention promotion code COMBINE 2014. You will get the same rate for those additional days.
- Last day of reservation for discounted rate: July 30, 2014.
- Includes:
- Complimentary high-speed internet and wifi
- Complimentary 24-hour fitness center
- If you rent a car, the self-parking is $20 per day.
Courtyard Marriott in Pasadena
- Rate: $139.00 plus tax per night
- Click here to reserve (for check-in/check-out between Aug. 17 and Aug. 22).
- If you wish to check out on Aug. 23 or later, please call hotel directly at 626-403-7600 and mention promotion code USC COMBINE 2014. You will get the same rate for those additional days.
- Last day to reserve with discount rate and to cancel without penalty: July 28, 2014
- Complimentary high-speed internet and wifi.
- Self-parking: $15 per day.
Additional hotels near USC Medical Center - These are other options, but unfortunately we are not able to get discount rate from these hotels.
Travel Information
Flying to Los Angeles
The closest international airport to USC is Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). This is likely to be the best option for most international travelers, and is a good option for domestic travelers as well.
A second international airport is John Wayne Airport (SNA), also know as Santa Ana Airport. This airport is smaller and easier to get in and out of, but it is farther away than LAX. However, if you are planning on renting a car anyway, then SNA may be an option for you, especially since flights and car rentals are often less expensive from SNA than LAX. The tradeoff is time: not only is SNA farther away under the best traffic conditions, but during peak travel times, the main highway (I5) between SNA and USC is extremely clogged with traffic. You are better off avoiding the roads completely in the time ranges 07:00–09:00 and again 15:00–20:00. Also, beware that the highways immediately around SNA are particularly convoluted and difficult to navigate. Make sure to study the highways and plan your route ahead of time.
For domestic flights, a third airport to consider is Burbank Airport (BUR). It is the closest airport to USC, but serves only a limited number of airlines. (If you fly Southwest Airlines, however, it is probably your best bet.)
From airports to the hotels
By airport shuttle
USC has special discount from Prime Time Shuttle. The following are the rates from LAX to the hotels. The rates from BUR are different. You can get the quote from the reservation website.
- $15.53 plus 15% gratuity to USC Radisson Hotel.
- $24.84 plus 15% gratuity to Courtyard Marriott in Pasadena.
Reserve with one of the following three options:
- Call 800-733-8267 and hit 1 for reservations and give this discount code 602585.
- Reserve online at http://www.primetimeshuttle.com/. Where it says frequent rider ID, use discount code COMBINE.
- Go to the USC portal link here for the reservation.
By taxi
The estimated taxi fares are as below:
- LAX to Radisson: $60-70
- LAX to Courtyard Marriott: $80-90
- BUR to Radisson: $60
- BUR to Courtyard Marriott: $40-50
Local transportation during the meeting
Daily shuttles from hotels
We have arranged shuttle buses from PrimeTime Shuttle to transport participants between the hotels and the conference venues. Each bus can seat 9 passengers. Below is the schedule.
Shuttle schedule for Radisson Hotel
Date | Hotel tp USC, AM Pick-up | USC to Hotel, PM Pick-up |
---|---|---|
Monday, Aug. 18 | 9:00am, 2 vans | 6:00pm, 3 vans |
Tuesday, Aug. 19 | 7:45am, 2 vans | 6:00pm, 3 vans |
Wednesday, Aug. 20 | 7:45am, 1 vans; 8:00am, 1 van | 6:30pm, 2 vans |
Thursday, Aug. 21 | 7:45am, 1 vans; 8:00am, 1 van | 6:30pm, 2 vans |
Friday, Aug. 22 | 7:30am, 1 vans | 6:30pm, 1 vans |
Shuttle schedule for Courtyard Marriott Hotel
Date | Hotel tp USC, AM Pick-up | USC to Hotel, PM Pick-up |
---|---|---|
Monday, Aug. 18 | 9:00am, 1 vans | None* |
Tuesday, Aug. 19 | 7:45am, 1 vans | None* |
Wednesday, Aug. 20 | 7:45am, 1 vans | 6:30pm, 1 vans |
Thursday, Aug. 21 | 7:45am, 1 vans | 6:30pm, 1 vans |
Friday, Aug. 22 | 7:30am, 1 vans | 6:30pm, 1 vans |
- Please note that there will be no shuttle buses going back to the Courtyard Marriott Hotel on Monday and Tuesday, because of the reception and the conference dinner. There will be transportation arranged from Radisson Hotel to Courtyard Marriott after those events.
USC shuttle bus services
The Radisson Hotel is right across the USC main campus. You can also use the USC Intercampus Shuttle Service, which runs every 30 minutes between the main campus (UPC) and the Health Science Center (HSC). To go to the Soto Building, you need to change the Soto line at the HSC stop.
Metro
If you stay in places other than those two hotels, you can take the metro train to LA Union Station, and then take the USC Shuttle Service (HSC-Union Station line) to the Health Science Center or Union Station-Soto line the Soto Building.
Parking
On Monday to Wednesday, you can park at the Biggy Parking Structure. It is located on Biggy Street between Zonal Ave. and Eastlake Ave. Here is the campus map. The rate is $10.00 per day. We have reserved a number of guest-pay spots. When you enter, just tell the staff the even name COMBINE, and you will be directed to the right parking space.
You can also use metered parking along the street, but those are only 2 hours or 4 hours maximum.
On Thursday and Friday, you can use metered parking in the parking lot.
The street metered parking is enforced by the City of Los Angeles. The parking structure and parking lot are enforced by USC Transportation. Please read the rules and regulations to avoid any parking citation.
Abstract submission
The deadline for the submission was July 18th, 2014. Contact meeting organizers if you have any question.
Organisers
Local Organisers
- Huaiyu Mi, USC, USA.
- Pauline Martinez, USC, USA.
COMBINE Coordinators
- Gary Bader, University of Toronto, Canada.
- Martin Golebiewski, Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies (HITS), Germany.
- Michael Hucka, California Institute of Technology, USA.
- Nicolas Le Novère, Babraham Institute, UK.
- Chris J. Myers, University of Utah, USA
- Falk Schreiber, Monash University, Australia
Contact for scientific organization: Combine Coordination
Local contacts:
Huaiyu Mi huaiyumi@usc.edu
Pauline Martinez Pauline.Martinez@med.usc.edu
Funding acknowledgements
Support for COMBINE 2014 was provided by the following organizations:
![]() National Science Foundation | ![]() USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center |