About OBF

History

2000

First Bioinformatics Open Source Conference (BOSC).

2001

OBF grows out of volunteer projects BioPerl, BioJava and BioPython and is formally incorporated.

2005

Bylaws enacted for the first time and formal membership created.

2012

OBF becomes an associate project of Software in the Public Interest, Inc., a fiscal sponsorship organization.

Who we are

The Open Bioinformatics Foundation (OBF) is a non-profit, volunteer-run group dedicated to promoting the practice and philosophy of Open Source software development and Open Science within the biological research community.

The OBF is governed by a Board of Directors. Our bylaws lay out how the Board is elected, holds public meetings, and conducts its business, as well as the scope and role of our membership. OBF is an associated project with Software In The Public Interest, Inc., a fiscal sponsorship organization, and through SPI we can accept tax-exempt charitable donations.

The OBF is open to anyone who is interested in promoting open source bioinformatics / open science. Please see the Membership page for more information.

Main Activities

  • Running and supporting the BOSC Conferences.
  • Organizing and supporting developer-centric “Hackathon” events.
  • Participating in the Google Summer of Code program on behalf of our member projects as an umbrella mentoring organization.
  • Running the OBF Travel Fellowship program (launched March 2016).
  • Managing servers, colocation facilities, bank account, domain names, and other assets for the benefit of our member projects.
  • Public opinion and policy statements about matters related to Open Source and Open Science in bioinformatics.