Is your data playing hide and seek, ever elusive and just out of reach?  Are you looking for something and not finding it?  Ask a question in the new NIF Forum.

We are confident that most of the time, you will find what you want at NIF.  NIF has the largest repository of curated neuroscience-relevant data, tools, and materials on the web, accessible through our dynamic semantic search engine. While NIF may not be able to help you find the meaning of life, we can help you find what you are looking for.

For those few times when you may not find what you are looking for, please ask at the new NIF Forum.  The NIF Forum is a place to ask questions and get answers about neuroscience resources, to start neuroscience discussions, to join a community of researchers like you who have questions and comments about neuroscience resources on the web.

Our curators spend their days and weeks and lunch breaks searching for resources to register to the NIF, so we know a lot about what is available.  If we don’t know, perhaps you or one of your colleagues does.  So please join the new NIF forum to post questions and answers such as   “What is the definition of adult?”, or “Where can I find genetic studies on the cockroach?”

Go on.  Ask now.  We’ll wait.  We know you want to know.

On December 7th, 2010, Macmillan Publishers Ltd. announced the launch of Digital Science (http://www.digital-science.com/), a new division of the company and a new kind of scientific information enterprise. Digital Science will focus on providing software tools and information to researchers and research administrators in their everyday work, with the ultimate aim of making research more productive through the use of technology.

Led by Timo Hannay, former publishing director of nature.com, the Digital Science team brings together a wide range of expertise in science and technology. Their activities build on the reputation for editorial and technological excellence of its sister company, Nature Publishing Group (NPG), but will focus on technology-based solutions for research rather than scientific content.

See the full announcement about Digital Science by Macmillan.

The annual INCF Neuroinformatics Congress provides a meeting place for researchers in all fields related to neuroinformatics, including data- and knowledge-bases of the nervous system from molecular to behavioral levels; tools for the acquisition, analysis, and visualization of nervous system data; and theoretical, computational, and simulation environments for modeling the brain.

This year’s program committee is headed by Professor Mitsuo Kawato, director at ATR Brain Information Communication Research Laboratory Group in Japan, who was himself a keynote speaker at the Stockholm Congress in 2008:

Neuroinformatics 2011 Program Committee

• Mitsuo Kawato (Chair, Japan)
• David N. Kennedy (UMass Medical School, USA)
• Upinder S. Bhalla (NCBS, India)
• Jan Bjaalie (Norway)
• Fritz Sommers (CRCNS)
• Kenji Doya (Japan)
• Jeanette Hellgren Kotaleski (Sweden)
• Sean Hill (Switzerland)
• David Van Essen (USA)

David Kennedy, from the University of Massachusetts Medical School and the US INCF National Node, heads the local organizing committee:

Neuroinformatics 2011 Local Organizing Committee

• David N. Kennedy, Chair (UMass Medical School)
• Randy Buckner (Harvard University)
• Blaise Frederick (Harvard Medical School)
• Michael Hasselmo (Boston University)
• Ron Kikinis (Harvard Medical School)
• Jean King (UMass Medical School)
• Maryann Martone (UCSD)
• Bruce R. Rosen (Harvard Medical School)
• Alan Ruttenberg (Science Commons)
• Clifford Saper (Harvard Medical School)

Participants’ presentations are vital components of the Neuroinformatics Congresses. Traditional poster sessions included as well as live computer demonstrations and selected oral “spotlight” presentations. Due to popular demand, these sessions have been given additional program space.

The first Neuroinformatics Congress was held in 2008 in Stockholm, Sweden, and drew 260 attendees. For information on the 2008 event as well as snapshots and keynote lecture videos, please visit: www.neuroinformatics2008.org. The 2009 Neuroinformatics Congress took place in Pilsen, Czech Republic, and attracted 213 participants. For more details, please visit: www.neuroinformatics2009.org. The third INCF Congress was held in Kobe, Japan, in August-September of 2010. It attracted around 230 participants: www.neuroinformatics2010.org