SHORT COURSE: “INTRODUCTION TO THE STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF GENOME-WIDE ASSOCIATION STUDIES”

Course Dates: 4-8 July 2016

Course Location: Department of Genomics of Common Disease, Imperial College, London, UK

Course Leader: Dr Inga Prokopenko

Course Lecturers: Dr Krista Fischer (Tartu, Estonia), Dr Marika Kaakinen (London, UK), Dr Reedik Mägi (Tartu, Estonia), Prof Andrew Morris (Oxford and Liverpool, UK) , Dr Inga Prokopenko (London, UK)

Cost: (pound sterling) academic £650 / non-academic £1050. Discount of £100 will be offered for attendees registering by 3 April 2016.

Fellowships: A limited number of the European Society of Human Genetics (ESHG) -funded scholarships are available for young scientists in training from European countries. Preference will be given to ESHG members and researchers from countries which are disadvantaged economically, although scholarships are not limited to these groups. Scholarships will cover the full attendance fee only.

Deadline for applications for Fellowships: 3 April 2016.

Application information: https://www1.imperial.ac.uk/publichealth/education/shortcourses/intro_stat_genomics/

Audience: Geneticists facing the need to analyse large-scale human genotyping data in relation to their effect on common human traits and diseases. Scientists and students in training aiming to undertake genome-wide association studies and their meta-analyses. Researchers willing to understand better the statistical approaches and analytical procedures for the genetic association studies.

Applicants’ background: Applicants should understand basic genetic principles such as modes of inheritance, DNA and gene structure, SNPs and other genetic variants, principles of crossing over and recombination, concepts of heritability and penetrance. Additionally, knowledge of basic statistical tests and some command line scripting skills would be an advantage.

Course content: This course will enable you to analyse large-scale genetic data using standard analytical approaches and freely available software tools. The course will cover statistical background for association studies; primer on scripting in the most frequently used computational environments, design and analysis of such studies, interpretation of the results. Each topic will be covered by a lecture, followed by a practical exercise, which will include use of the state-of-art software tools and example datasets. Practical exercises will be tailored to illustrate the ideas discussed during lectures and will be accompanied by discussion of the results.

Topics covered:

•          Introduction to statistics for geneticists
•          Introduction to Linux and R
•          Genome-wise association studies (GWAS)
•          Quality Control (QC) for GWAS
•          Association analysis
•          Population structure
•          Imputation of GWAS
•          Meta-analysis of GWAS
•          Analysis of rare variants

Three guest lectures will be given by renowned scientists in the field of human genetics.

There will be no need to bring own laptop or data. Computers will be available at the venue; datasets will be designed and provided for each analytical exercise.

Applications and all accompanying documentation should be submitted to the Course Administrator using email:gcdshort.courses@imperial.ac.uk

Application documents:

•          Application form
•          A curriculum vitae (résumé) in English, including work and research experience
•          A letter of motivation in English (max. 500 words)
•          A signed letter of recommendation from a supervisor

Please refer to our website

https://www1.imperial.ac.uk/publichealth/education/shortcourses/intro_stat_genomics/

or the attached flyer and application form for more details.

Flyer
Application form