VDOS 2026: The 15th International Workshop on Vaccine and Drug Ontology Studies.

The 15th International Workshop on Vaccine and Drug Ontology Studies will be held along with the 17th International Conference on Biomedical Ontology (ICBO 2026), which is co-located with ISMB 2026 at the Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C. This year, we continue and extend our focus on artificial intelligence's transformative role in drug and vaccine ontology research, with a special emphasis on semantic awareness in the age of generative AI. The workshop aims to explore innovative solutions and challenges in representing and analyzing drugs and vaccines, covering administration, immune responses, adverse events, and more. Key topics include the ontological representation of drugs and vaccines, real-world application challenges, drug components, administration, immune responses, drug interactions, and adverse events in clinical and research settings. A special emphasis will be placed on how AI and large language models can revolutionize ontology studies, enhancing literature mining, meta-analysis, and complex data interpretation. Despite progress, challenges remain in fully representing and utilizing ontologies for research and clinical issues, such as detailed representation of administration and adverse events, drug interactions, and analysis of immune responses. The workshop will bring together experts from clinical, research, and pharma-biotech sectors to discuss solutions to these challenges, aiming to foster advancements in drug development, administration, and the integration of AI in ontological research. Our goal is to contribute to public health improvement by enhancing the understanding and application of drug and vaccine ontologies.

Please refer to the ICBO website for more information on other workshops and the main ICBO conference.

Conference Dates

Journal Paper submission: May 15, 2026 (extended from May 1)
EasyChair (full, short, & abstract) submission: June 1, 2026
Notification of acceptance: June 15, 2026

Workshop: TBD (July 2026, on or around July 15-17; Half-day)
Venue: Washington Hilton, Washington, D.C. (co-located with ICBO 2026 and ISMB 2026)
Registration: Registration details will be announced soon.

Submission to journal: JBMS (continuous; https://www.biomedcentral.com/collections/vdosseries)
Alternatively, submission to EasyChair: https://easychair.org/my/conference?conf=vdos2026

Recording and Publishing Disclaimer

By participating in this workshop, attendees acknowledge and agree that the workshop will be recorded and that their participation, including any comments, questions, and visual/audio presence, may be captured during this recording. The recorded content may be edited, repurposed, or otherwise modified by the workshop organizers, who reserve the right to publish the content on platforms, including but not limited to YouTube. By participating, attendees grant the workshop organizers the irrevocable right to use the recorded content for promotional, educational, and other appropriate purposes without further notice or compensation. By continuing with participation, attendees confirm their understanding and agreement to these terms.

Conference Videos

Playlists of the current and previous VDOS conference recordings are available on YouTube.