About the OBF

The Open Bioinformatics Foundation (OBF) is a non-profit, volunteer-run group that promotes open source software development and Open Science within the biological research community. Membership in the OBF is free and open to anyone who wants to help promote open source or open science in a biological field.

OBF runs the annual Bioinformatics Open Source Conference (BOSC).

BOSC 2025 will be July 21-22, 2025, in Liverpool, UK (as part of ISMB/ECCB 2025). BOSC 2024 took place July 15-16, 2024, as part of ISMB 2024 in Montréal, Canada.

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Poster session at GCCBOSC2018

OBF Treasurer Heather Wiencko introducing OBF at BOSC 2024

OBF Event Awards

The OBF Event Fellowship program aims to increase diverse participation at events promoting open source bioinformatics software development and open science in the biological research community.

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Ruth Nanjala, an OBF Travel Award winner, by her poster

Two new members elected to OBF Board

 Posted on October 6, 2021  |  nlharris

The OBF held a public Board meeting on September 21, 2021, via Zoom. During the meeting, one Board member, Bastian Greshake Tzovaras, whose term expired, was elected to another term as Board member-at-large, and two new Board members were elected: Hilyatuz Zahroh and Caleb Kibet. Additionally, two proposals were presented (see below). The meeting minutes will be made available in the obf-docs GitHub repository. Hilyatuz (“Hilya”) Zahroh is a bioinformatician at the Genetics Research Centre, Universitas YARSI, in Indonesia. [Read More]

OBF Public Board Meeting, 2021-09-21

 Posted on September 11, 2021  |  nlharris

Date, Time, and How to Join Date and time: 2021-09-21, 17:00 UTC (10am PT / 1pm ET / 18:00 UK) Participation link: https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/97312757115 Password: OBF2021 Meeting ID: 973 1275 7115 Agenda Approve minutes from the previous Public Board Meeting: https://github.com/OBF/obf-docs/pull/87 Term expirations and Elections to the Board (electronic ballot) Hilyatuz Zahroh and Caleb Kibet, running for Board member at-large Board member Bastian Greshake Tzovaras’ term expires this year and he would like to stand for another term as member-at-large. [Read More]

ISCBacademy webinar: Open Sourcing Ourselves - Together (Mad Price Ball)

 Posted on September 10, 2021  |  nlharris

The ISCB, which runs the annual ISMB conference, is offering a series of webinars hosted by the Communities of Special Interest (COSIs), which include BOSC/OBF. These webinars are free to ISCB members. The first BOSC/OBF ISCBacademy COSI webinar will take place on Tuesday, September 14, 2021, at 15:00 UTC / 11am EDT, and will feature Mad Price Ball of the Open Humans Foundation speaking about “Open Sourcing Ourselves - Together.” Before Dr. [Read More]

Ariel Mundo Ortiz: My participation at BOSC 2021 sponsored by the BOSC-OBF Event Support

 Posted on September 8, 2021  |  aimundo

The BOSC-OBF 2021 Event Support Fund was awarded to Ariel Mundo Ortiz, a researcher from the University of Arkansas, to participate in BOSC 2021, an annual conference hosted by the Open Bioinformatics Foundation (OBF). Based on the OBF Event Fellowship program, this fund aimed to facilitate the participation of diverse researchers from historically underrepresented groups at BOSC to help wider awareness and adoption of open source bioinformatics practices in the biological research community. [Read More]

David Twesigomwe: My BOSC 2021 Experience

 Posted on September 7, 2021  |  twesigomwedavid

The BOSC-OBF 2021 Event Support Fund was awarded to David Twesigomwe, a PhD student based at the Sydney Brenner Institute for Molecular Bioscience (SBIMB) - South Africa, to participate in BOSC 2021, an annual conference hosted by the Open Bioinformatics Foundation (OBF). Based on the OBF Event Fellowship program, this fund aimed to facilitate participation of diverse researchers from historically underrepresented groups at BOSC to help wider awareness and adoption of open source bioinformatics practices in the biological research community. [Read More]

Gemma Turon: Highlights of my participation at the BOSC-2021 conference thanks to an OBF Event Fellowship

 Posted on August 31, 2021  |  gemmaturon

The BOSC-OBF 2021 Event Support Fund enabled awardees to register for free for BOSC 2021, an annual conference hosted by the Open Bioinformatics Foundation (OBF), which promotes and facilitates the open source bioinformatics development and open science. Based on the OBF Event Fellowship program, the BOSC-OBF support fund aimed to facilitate participation of diverse researchers from historically underrepresented groups at BOSC, helping to spread wider awareness and adoption of open source bioinformatics practices in the biological research community. [Read More]

Call for application for the OBF Event Fellowship - second round 2021

 Posted on August 18, 2021  |  malvikasharan

The call for application for the second round of this year’s Open Bioinformatics Foundation (OBF) Event Fellowship is open. Please submit your application before October 1, 2021 (save a calendar reminder). Just announced: deadline extended to October 4, 2021! Please apply via this Google application form: https://forms.gle/7ocmgvypiFHeFNfy7. The OBF Event Fellowship program is aimed at increasing diverse participation at events promoting open science practices such as open source bioinformatics resource development and dissemination in the biological research community. [Read More]

Join us for BOSC 2021!

 Posted on July 28, 2021  |  nlharris

BOSC 2021, which is a track (COSI) of ISMB/ECCB 2021, will take place online the 29th and 30th of July. The complete schedule is here. The event is being held in the Showcare platform – check out our tips for making the most of your online conference experience. We invite all attendees to join us at the pre-BOSC happy hour at the BOSC [roundtable](http://All attendees are invited to our pre-BOSC happy hour today from 17:30-18:30 UTC! [Read More]

Working on a CWL-Toil project with the Open Bioinformatics Foundation

 Posted on June 23, 2021  |  yo

This is a guest post from Mihai Popescu, a GSoC student with CWL, which participates under the OBF umbrella. Cross-posted on the CWL forums: https://cwl.discourse.group/t/working-on-a-cwl-toil-project-with-the-open-bioinformatics-foundation/390 I am Mihai Popescu, a second year master student at VU Amsterdam in Parallel and Distributed Computer Systems. I am happy that my GSoC proposal got accepted and that I have started working on the project. I attended some CWL meetings since I submitted the proposal and I got to know a small part of the community. [Read More]