Start planning your training schedule for 2017 now!

To see the (Black) Forest for the trees: next generation sequencing and phylogenetics

24-27 July
Location: Herzogenhorn, Germany
Organised by the University of Marburg

We will not teach you how to program, we will teach you which existing tools are out there to process NGS data and to infer phylogenies!

This summer school on bioinformatics is intended for MSc/PhD students and early career postdocs with molecular biology background.

Expert lectures on cutting edge topics, secluded venue and participant presentations ensure high knowledge gain and scientific exchange.

Registration will be open from 20 February until 27 June. Early bird registration will end 25 April.

More information here.

Summer School on “Integrated methods to detect polygenic adaptation from genomic data"

28-30 August
Location: WSL, Birmensdorf
Organised by WSL

Day 1
Modeling the polygenic architecture of quantitative traits and analysis of signals of polygenic adaptation from simulated data
Prof. Sam Yeaman (University of Calgary, Canada)
Prof. Frédéric Guillaume (University of Zurich, Switzerland)
 
Day 2
The role of epistasis and gene interaction networks in adaptation
Prof. Thomas Hansen (University of Oslo, Norway)
Dr. Josh Payne (University of Zurich, Switzerland)
Dr. Josephine Daub (University Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain)
 
Day 3
The principles of genome wide association mapping (GWAS) and phenotype prediction, post-GWAS and applications in plant-systems
Prof. Peter Visscher (Institute for Molecular Bioscience, Queensland, Australia)
Prof. John Mckay (Colorado State University, USA)

The Summer School can  accommodate 40 participants.

Students of the Life Science Graduate Program Zurich from the ETH and the University of Zurich, and members of the EVOLTREE European network will have priority.

Due to the limited number of seats, applicants are asked to send a CV and a short motivation letter (300 words) to polygenic.adaptation @ ieu.uzh.ch by 26 March 2017.

Applicants will be informed if their application was accepted by 7 April and will be invited to apply via the on-line registration system.

Cost: 200 CHF (including coffee breaks and a social event)

This Summer School is supported by the Graduate Campus of the University of Zurich, the European network EVOLTREE, and the WSL Birmensdorf.

It will be followed by a separate Symposium on the same subject from 31 August to 1 September 2017 at ETH Zentrum in Zurich

More information here.

Genomic selection and Breeding without Breeding strategy - first announcment

11-15 September
Location: Czech University of Life Sciences Prague – University Campus, Prague, Czech Republic
Organised by Czech University of Life Sciences Prague

Day 1

  • Introduction to genomic selection: principle description, implementations, current experiences
  • Factors affecting the accuracy of genomic selection: definition of factors contributing to the accuracy of genomic selection such as heritability, training population size and an effective number of genomic fragments.

Day 2

  • Genomic data filtering: comparison of different types of genomic data used in forest tree species, their manipulation and filtering
  • Genomic BLUP: introduction to mixed linear models with emphasis on “animal model”, construction of marker-based relationship matrix, cross-validation
  • Generalized Ridge Regression: introduction to model based on variable selection which is suitable for prediction of phenotypes with mixed inheritance (genetic architecture contains both large and small effect QTLs)
  • Estimation of additive and non-additive genetic components: construction of marker based additive and non-additive genetic relationship matrices and their implementation in mixed linear models to explore the sources of genetic variance.

Day 3

  • Single-step evaluation: blending pedigree and marker information into single combined relationship matrix to predict breeding values.
  • Seed orchard designs and software tools

Day 4

  • BwB strategy (El-Kassaby and Lstibůrek 2009) – theoretical background
  • BwB strategy - applications

Day 5

  • Discussion and conclusion: Challenges of genomic predictions in forest tree species

Contact person/organizer: Jiri Korecký, Ph.D., korecky @ fld.czu.cz

Lecturers:
Doc. Ing. Jaroslav Klapste, Ph.D.
Prof. Ing. Milan Lstiburek, Ph.D.
Ing. Jan Stejskal, Ph.D.
Ing.  Jiri Korecký, Ph.D.

Registration will be open shortly

More information here.