THE 2009 INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP ON STATISTICAL GENETICS & METHODOLOGY OF TWIN AND FAMILY STUDIES: THE ADVANCED COURSE

MARCH 2ND - MARCH 6TH, 2009

The next workshop will be held in Boulder, Colorado, March 2-6, 2009, with John Hewitt as Local Host and Pak Sham, Genome Research Centre, University of Hong Kong, as Academic Director.

This advanced course is intended for those who have attended earlier workshops and/or who are already familiar with the statistical and genetic principles for studying univariate and multivariate twin and family data. This course will emphasize QTL analysis in the context of twin and sibling studies as well as other designs such as case-control genome wide association studies.

The registration fee will be $350, payable by January 16, 2009. Thereafter, the registration fee will be $400. Details of local arrangements, registration, and accommodation are available from the workshop secretary, Kendra Locher.

A home page is on the World Wide Web at http://ibgwww.colorado.edu/workshop2009

An outstanding international faculty roster includes:

Pak Sham (Academic Director), Stacey Cherny
Genome Research Centre, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Lindon Eaves, Hermine Maes, Sarah Medland, Mike Neale,
Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, VA

Dorret Boomsma, Meike Bartels, Danielle Posthuma, Irene Rebollo
Amsterdam Vrije Universiteit, Netherlands

Manuel Ferreira, Nick Martin, Kate Morley, Peter Visscher
Queensland Institute of Medical Research, Australia

Ben Neale, Shaun Purcell

Harvard University, MA

David Evans,

University of Bristol, United Kingdom

Luis Barreiro

University of Chicago, IL

John Hewitt (Local Host), Jeff Lessem, Matt Keller
Institute for Behavioral Genetics, Boulder, CO

The course will include: an introduction to QTL mapping, statistical and genetic theory, basic principles of linkage and association analysis, identity by descent (IBD) and genetic covariance, IBD estimation, single marker and haplotype based association analysis, segmental sharing, homozygosity mapping, stratification, genome-wide association studies (GWAS), signatures of natural selection, epistasis, genotype x environment interaction, copy number variation, multivariate phenotypes, power, MCMC methods, gene networks, epigenetics, risk prediction and prediction of diagnoses. Hands-on analysis will be an integral part of the course and will employ networked notebook computers. The provisional schedule is available at: http://ibgwww.colorado.edu/workshop2009/schedule.html

An application form can be printed from http://ibgwww.colorado.edu/workshop2009/registration.html and on-line registration is available at: https://ibgwww.colorado.edu/workshop/workshop2009/registration-online.html.

Further information may be obtained from John Hewitt, or the workshop secretary, Kendra Locher, IBG, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0447, USA; Telephone: 303-735-5440; FAX: 303-492-8063; E-mail: John.Hewitt@Colorado.edu or Kendra.Locher@Colorado.edu.

Minority students and scientists are especially encouraged to attend. Partial financial support for US minority participants is available by application to the local host, John Hewitt. Financial support for this workshop is provided by grant MH19918 from the National Institute of Mental Health.