Lectures

Keynote lectures 

We invited keynote lecturers with strong roots in both population genetics and its application to data. We currently plan a total of 24 hours of keynote lectures. They will consist of an introduction part where speakers give the basics of the current topic and then a second part where they show its application to real biological questions, especially from their own research in the field.

• Nick Barton
  • Introduction: Principles of population genetics I, the neutral theory
    • Neutral theory (diffusion of allele frequencies)
    • Coalescence of genealogies
  • Application: Genome wide patterns of divergence across a hybrid-zone of snapdragons
    • the genotype-phenotype map
    • Wright’s FST
  • Reference/prestudy/notes/etc.:
    • A basic calculus knowledge is recommended
    • Chpt. 15 in Evolution, Barton et al., Cold Spring Harbor Press (see the book’s website for references, background notes, problems)

• Thomas Lenormand
  • Introduction: Principles of population genetics II, selection
    • population genetics of selection (selection at a single locus, stabilising selection, mutation-selection balance)
    • measuring fitness and inferring selection in the wild
  • Application: Experimental evolution
    • local adaptation
    • evolution of gene expression
  • Reference/prestudy/notes/etc.:
    • Gallet et al. (2012), “Measuring selection coefficients below 10^-3: method, questions, and prospects,” Genetics, 190, 175-186
    • Lenomard et al. (2009), “Stochasticity in evolution,” Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 24, 3, 157-165
    • Wittkopp, P.J. (2013), “Evolution of Gene Expression” in The Princeton Guide to Evolution (Editor-in-chief, Jonathan Losos; Second editor, Hopi Hoekstra)

• Nadia Singh
  • Introduction: Molecular Evolution
    • testing neutrality
    • genomic signatures of selection
    • challenges to detecting selection ( i- demography, ii- …)
  • Application: Analysis of of population genetics data of Drosophila melanogaster
    • inferring demographic history
    • test for departure from neutral evolution
    • identify genes under selection
  • Reference/prestudy/notes/etc.:
    • Nielsen R. (2005),”Molecular Signatures of Natural Selection“, Annu. Rev. Genet. 39:197–218
    • Cutter D.C. & Payseur B.A. (2013), “Genomic signatures of selection at linked sites: unifying the disparity among species“, Nature Review Genetics, 14, 262–274

• Aida Andres
  • Introduction: Next generation sequencing data analyses
    • overview of sequencing technologies
    • workflow overview (i- data acquisition, ii- data curation, filtering, iii- imputation, haplotype inference)
    • pitfalls and sources of bias
    • finding candidate targets of selection
  • Application: Balancing selection in humans
    • from long-standing to short-term balancing selection
    • the sharing of selection among populations and species
  • Reference/prestudy/notes/etc.:
    • on balancing selection:
      • Charlesworth D. (2006), “Balancing Selection and its Effects on Sequences in Nearby Genome Regions,” Plos Genetics
      • Andres M.A. (2011), “Balancing Selection in the Human Genome,” In: Encyclopedia of Life Sciences (ELS). John Wiley & Sons, Ltd: Chichester
    • on data production for population genetic studies
      • Nielsen R. et al. (2011), “Genotype and SNP calling from next-generation sequencing data,” Nature Review Genetics

Short lectures 

Young scientists will deliver short lectures (i.e., extended seminar, 1-1.5 hours) on their research topics.

• Tugce Bilgin: “Phenotypic variation and robustness in complex biological systems”

• Emily Jane McTavish: “Effects of ascertainment bias on population genetic inference”

• Hannes Svardal : “Population genomics of widely distributed African primates”

• Lilia Perfeito : “New mutations seen through the eyes of natural selection”

• Melis Akman : “What can landscape transcriptomics tell us about local adaptations in South African Protea repens (sugarbush)”

Armchair Lectures: 

The idea is to have informal lectures where senior scientists tell about their scientific career as it is usually not presented in classic talks. It would be a good occasion for students to see different career path and ask question about topics such as career choices and life as a scientist.

Most of the photos were taken in the Workshop on Quantitative Evolutionary Biology 2013 in the Mathematics Village. See the link for the other photos from this event.