<div dir="ltr"><p dir="auto"><em>Having trouble viewing this email or looking for a permalink? <a href="https://github.com/OBF/newsletter/blob/master/newsletters/2025-02.md">View this newsletter in your browser</a>.</em></p>
<p dir="auto"><em>This email was sent to the <a href="https://groups.google.com/g/bosc-announce" rel="nofollow">bosc-announce</a> and <a href="http://mailman.open-bio.org/mailman/listinfo/open-bio-l/" rel="nofollow">open-bio-l</a> mailing lists.</em></p>
<div class="gmail-markdown-heading" dir="auto"><h1 tabindex="-1" class="gmail-heading-element" dir="auto">OBF Newsletter February 2025</h1><a id="gmail-user-content-obf-newsletter-february-2025" class="gmail-anchor" aria-label="Permalink: OBF Newsletter February 2025" href="https://github.com/OBF/newsletter/blob/master/newsletters/2025-02.md#obf-newsletter-february-2025"></a></div><p dir="auto">TL;DR: Updates from BOSC 2025, call for projects for OBF's participation in GSoC 2025, OBF fellowship news, and community news!</p>
<p dir="auto">In longer form:</p>
<div class="gmail-markdown-heading" dir="auto"><h2 tabindex="-1" class="gmail-heading-element" dir="auto">OBF News</h2><a id="gmail-user-content-obf-news" class="gmail-anchor" aria-label="Permalink: OBF News" href="https://github.com/OBF/newsletter/blob/master/newsletters/2025-02.md#obf-news"></a></div><div class="gmail-markdown-heading" dir="auto"><h3 tabindex="-1" class="gmail-heading-element" dir="auto">BOSC news</h3><a id="gmail-user-content-bosc-news" class="gmail-anchor" aria-label="Permalink: BOSC news" href="https://github.com/OBF/newsletter/blob/master/newsletters/2025-02.md#bosc-news"></a></div><div class="gmail-markdown-heading" dir="auto"><h4 tabindex="-1" class="gmail-heading-element" dir="auto">BOSC 2025</h4><a id="gmail-user-content-bosc-2025" class="gmail-anchor" aria-label="Permalink: BOSC 2025" href="https://github.com/OBF/newsletter/blob/master/newsletters/2025-02.md#bosc-2025"></a></div><p dir="auto">Our annual conference, the <a href="https://www.open-bio.org/events/bosc-2025/" rel="nofollow">Bioinformatics Open Source Conference</a>
 (BOSC), will take place July 21-22, 2025 in Liverpool, UK as part of 
ISMB/ECCB 2025. This will be the 26th BOSC; as always, it will cover all
 aspects of open source bioinformatics and open science.
The second day of BOSC will be a joint session with the 2025 meeting of 
the newly-renamed <a href="https://www.bio-ontologies.org.uk/2025-meeting" rel="nofollow">Bio-Ontologies and Knowledge Representation</a>.
This day will feature a joint keynote and talks on some of our favorite 
topics, including open data and reusable and reproducible science.</p>
<p dir="auto"><a href="https://www.open-bio.org/events/bosc-2025/submit/" rel="nofollow">Abstract submission is open until April 17 for talks and posters</a>
 (and then until May 15 for late posters). Some registration fee support
 is available for presenters; you can request this on the abstract 
submission form.</p>
<p dir="auto">To keep up with BOSC news, please follow us on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14344023/" rel="nofollow">LinkedIn</a>, <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/bosc.bsky.social" rel="nofollow">Bluesky</a>, <a href="https://genomic.social/@BOSC" rel="nofollow">Mastodon</a>, and <a href="https://join.slack.com/t/obf-bosc/shared_invite/zt-n5ur1gsj-z2C~69_4lYTFPg5tbWA8Ew" rel="nofollow">Slack</a>! (We are no longer on Twitter/X; <a href="https://www.open-bio.org/2023/11/20/leaving-x/" rel="nofollow">find out why</a>.)</p>
<div class="gmail-markdown-heading" dir="auto"><h3 tabindex="-1" class="gmail-heading-element" dir="auto">OBF Event Fellowships</h3><a id="gmail-user-content-obf-event-fellowships" class="gmail-anchor" aria-label="Permalink: OBF Event Fellowships" href="https://github.com/OBF/newsletter/blob/master/newsletters/2025-02.md#obf-event-fellowships"></a></div><p dir="auto">Given that costs for travel and event attendances have increased in the past years, the OBF board has decided to <strong>increase the maximum amount of funding that OBF Event Fellowships can cover to US $1,500</strong>.</p>
<p dir="auto">Next deadline: April 1, 2025</p>
<p dir="auto">The current application period for the OBF Event Fellowship lasts until April 1, 2025, so there is still time to <a href="https://forms.gle/3yLg94G1C9nkZkvq5" rel="nofollow">get your application submitted</a>.</p>
<p dir="auto">These fellowships are ideal to support your virtual or 
in-person participation in conferences related to open source 
bioinformatics or open science (in-person or virtual), and potentially 
additional expenses such as travel, lodging, childcare for the duration 
of the event, small hardware (e.g. a headset or webcam), or high-speed 
internet.</p>
<p dir="auto">You can read more about <a href="https://www.open-bio.org/event-awards/#fellowships-applications" rel="nofollow">applying for an OBF Event Fellowship</a>, and <a href="https://www.open-bio.org/category/travel-fellowship/event-fellowship/" rel="nofollow">the experiences of past awardees</a>.</p>
<div class="gmail-markdown-heading" dir="auto"><h3 tabindex="-1" class="gmail-heading-element" dir="auto">GSoC 2025 Call For Projects</h3><a id="gmail-user-content-gsoc-2025-call-for-projects" class="gmail-anchor" aria-label="Permalink: GSoC 2025 Call For Projects" href="https://github.com/OBF/newsletter/blob/master/newsletters/2025-02.md#gsoc-2025-call-for-projects"></a></div><p dir="auto">OBF
 is excited to apply to GSoC again this year and welcomes project ideas 
from the community. This year, the projects can be of various lengths: 
small (~90 hours), medium (~175 hours), or large (~350 hours). The 
standard coding period will be 12 weeks for medium and large projects 
and 8 weeks for small projects.</p>
<p dir="auto">If you have a project idea, please reach out via the mentors and admins mailing list (<a href="https://groups.google.com/g/obf-gsoc-mentors" rel="nofollow">https://groups.google.com/g/obf-gsoc-mentors</a>). Please refer to the project ideas from 2022 for inspiration: <a href="https://www.open-bio.org/events/gsoc/gsoc-project-ideas/" rel="nofollow">https://www.open-bio.org/events/gsoc/gsoc-project-ideas/</a>.</p>
<p dir="auto">Submission deadline: February 8, 2025</p>
<div class="gmail-markdown-heading" dir="auto"><h2 tabindex="-1" class="gmail-heading-element" dir="auto">Community updates</h2><a id="gmail-user-content-community-updates" class="gmail-anchor" aria-label="Permalink: Community updates" href="https://github.com/OBF/newsletter/blob/master/newsletters/2025-02.md#community-updates"></a></div><div class="gmail-markdown-heading" dir="auto"><h3 tabindex="-1" class="gmail-heading-element" dir="auto">sandbox.bio: Command-line tutorials</h3><a id="gmail-user-content-sandboxbio-command-line-tutorials" class="gmail-anchor" aria-label="Permalink: sandbox.bio: Command-line tutorials" href="https://github.com/OBF/newsletter/blob/master/newsletters/2025-02.md#sandboxbio-command-line-tutorials"></a></div><p dir="auto"><a href="https://sandbox.bio/" rel="nofollow">sandbox.bio</a> is a platform for bioinformatics command-line tutorials.
Everything runs in your browser so no setup is required.</p>
<p dir="auto">Here are a few of their recent tutorials:</p>
<ul dir="auto"><li><a href="https://sandbox.bio/tutorials/seqkit-intro" rel="nofollow">Wrangling FASTA/FASTQ files with SeqKit</a></li><li><a href="https://sandbox.bio/tutorials/carpentries-shell-novice" rel="nofollow">Command-line exercises from a Carpentries tutorial</a></li><li><a href="https://sandbox.bio/tutorials/blast-intro" rel="nofollow">Introduction to sequence alignment with BLAST</a></li></ul>
<div class="gmail-markdown-heading" dir="auto"><h2 tabindex="-1" class="gmail-heading-element" dir="auto">Your content needed for the next issue!</h2><a id="gmail-user-content-your-content-needed-for-the-next-issue" class="gmail-anchor" aria-label="Permalink: Your content needed for the next issue!" href="https://github.com/OBF/newsletter/blob/master/newsletters/2025-02.md#your-content-needed-for-the-next-issue"></a></div>Tell us about the things that catch your attention in the open source bioinformatics world!
If you have an exciting project update, request for feedback, or interesting link,
<a href="https://github.com/OBF/newsletter/issues/45">feel free to share it with us on GitHub</a>,
or contact Bastian Greshake Tzovaras (Mastodon: <a href="https://scholar.social/@gedankenstuecke" rel="nofollow">@gedankenstuecke@scholar.social</a>, Email: <a href="mailto:bgreshake@proton.me">bgreshake@gmail.com</a>)
 if you're not sure whether or not your content is suitable for our 
newsletter. We're looking for content that's primarily open source / 
science related.</div>