One of the small changes coming in Biopython 1.54 (which you can try out already using the Biopython 1.54 beta) is to Bio.SeqIO and Bio.AlignIO. Previously the input and output functions had required file handles , but they will now also accept filenames . This is a case of practicality beats purity (to quote the Zen of Python), and is particularly handy when doing very short scripts or working at the Python prompt.

A beta release for Biopython 1.54 is now available for download and testing. Since Biopython 1.53 was released at the end of last year, several new features and more documentation have been added, plus the usual bug fixes. For full details see the NEWS file.

The Open Bioinformatics Foundation has been accepted as a mentoring organization for this summer’s Google Summer of Code.  Our list of project ideas and mentors is linked from the O|B|F GSoC page. Student applications must be submitted to Google by April 9, 2010, see the official GSoC 2010 FAQ. That is less than three weeks away!

**Abstract submissions for the 11th Annual Bioinformatics Open Source Conference (BOSC 2010) are now open.** At-a-glance BOSC is an ISMB 2010 Special Interest Group (SIG) Date: July 9-10, 2010 Location: Boston, Massachusetts, USA BOSC 2010 web site: /wiki/BOSC_2010 Abstract submission via Open Conference System site:  http://events.open-bio.org/BOSC2010/openconf.php E-mail: bosc@open-bio.org Bosc-announce list:

The BOSC 2010 organizing committee is hard at work getting prepared for this July’s meeting in Boston: /wiki/BOSC_2010 One of the items we’ve traditionally had at the conference is a project update from each of the OpenBio affiliated groups. This year, we’re thinking about organizing these talks around a central theme: the OpenBio solution challenge.

BioPerl developers and users attended the BioPerl satellite meeting on January 13th, just prior to the GMOD Meeting.

We are pleased to announce the release of BioRuby 1.4.0. This new release contains many new features, in addition to bug fixes and improvements.

BOSC 2010 is currently in the planning stages. It will be held for 2 days in conjunction with the 18th Annual International Conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB 2010) in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. The dates of BOSC 2010 are July 9-10; the main ISMB Conference runs July 11-13, 2010.  The BOSC 2010 web site can be accessed here:  /wiki/BOSC_2010.

I’m delighted to announce an open access publication in Nucleic Acids Research describing the FASTQ file format based on the conventions agreed by the OBF projects: This will hopefully serve as a reference describing the original standard Sanger FASTQ, and the two variants from Solexa/Illumina, and how to inter-convert between them.

We are pleased to announce the availability of Biopython 1.53, a new stable release of the Biopython library, three months after the release of Biopython 1.52. This is our first release since migrating from CVS to git for source code control.

The official 2009 Board of Directors meeting is taking place today, Monday Dec 14, at 4pm EST (21:00 UTC) via teleconference. If you are an O|B|F member, you will have received the announcement and dial-in information earlier. O|B|F Board of Director meetings are public - anyone interested in O|B|F business can participate, which is one reason we are holding the meeting over teleconference.