On 10th of May 2016, APBioNet witnessed the establishment of the Indonesian Society for Bioinformatics and Biodiversity (ISBB). This was in conjunction with the 3rd Workshop on Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (BioCompBio), held at Universitas Padjadjaran, Bandung, Indonesia from 9-12 May, 2016. The event was attended by local representatives from the Universitas Padjadjaran (UNPAD), Swiss German University (SGU), University of Indonesia (UI), Indonesia Institute for Statistics (IIS), PT. Smart Tbk (industry representative), and workshop participants, who hailed from different parts of the country. Dr. Kholis Abdurachim Audah has been elected as the founding President of the society, to help lead and establish long-term strategies and plans for a strong footing. Dr. Mohammad Asif Khan, the Vice President (Corporate) of Asia-Pacific Bioinformatics Network (APBioNet) and the Director of Perdana University Centre for Bioinformatics (PU-CBi), who has been invited as a speaker for the workshop since its inception in 2014, was instrumental in realising the establishment of the society, by working closely with the organizers of the workshop, who are active in promoting bioinformatics in the country, namely Dr. Kholis Abdurachim Audah of SGU, Dr. Bimo Tejo (an APBioNet ExCo Observer), then of Surya University, now with UCSI, Malaysia, Dr. Setia Pramana of IIS, and Dr. Dwi Agustian of UNPAD. Their collective efforts paved the way for this landmark milestone, the establishment of a national society for bioinformatics. The mission of the society is two-fold, to promote bioinformatics in the country and advance scientific understanding of the local biodiversity through various platforms and activities, such as research collaborations and networking through workshops and conferences, among others. The society is particularly interested in bidding for the next International Conference on Bioinformatics (InCoB), APBioNet’s flagship conference.
APBioNet wishes Dr. Audah all the best in spearheading ISBB’s mission and looks forward to working closely with him to support the society.