High performance computing applications and gene expression arrays are expected to be the hot topics at the sixth annual Pacific Symposium on Biocomputing conference to be held in Hawaii on January 3-7, said conference organizer Larry Hunter.

The conference itself is becoming more of a draw as about 400 attendees are expected — a more than 50 percent jump over last year when over 200 bioinformaticists attended, said Hunter, who is also director of the Center for Computational Pharmacology at the University of Colorado.