MARCH MEETING OF THE MERSEYSIDE LOCAL GROUP OF THE ROYAL STATISTICAL SOCIETY
All welcome. For parking permits and/or maps, please contact Helen Clough
(details below).
Title: Statistical issues in genetics
Date: Wednesday, 6th March 2002
Time: 2pm
Venue: Room 2.11, Maths and Oceanography Building, University of Liverpool
First speaker: David Balding (Department of Epidemiology and Public Health,
Imperial College)
Title: Approximate Bayesian Computation in Population Genetics
Abstract: I will discuss methods that have been evolving recently within
the population genetics literature for approximating low-dimensional
marginal posterior distributions under complex models involving large
numbers of nuisance parameters. Although MCMC is sometimes feasible, there
are typically problems with poor mixing, and model comparison is usually
unachieveable. The alternative being proposed is based on simulation of
parameters and datasets, from the prior and model respectively, followed by
various forms of nonparametric regression to model the posterior density in
terms of appropriate data summary statistics. Several levels of
approximation are involved, but the reward is the ability to handle complex
models and to perform model comparison via approximate Bayes factors.
I will discuss applications in human population genetics and conservation
genetics, as the possibility of applications in other fields.
This is joint work with Wenyang Zhang, Statistics, University of Kent, and
Mark Beaumont, Animal & Microbial Sciences, University of Reading.
Second speaker: Jenny Barrett (Cancer Research UK)
Title: Statistical Methods in Genetic Epidemiology
Abstract: Statistical methods are essential in addressing many issues in
genetic epidemiology. They are used to estimate the contributions of genes
and environment to disease causation, to locate the relevant genes in the
human genome, to determine which variants of these genes increase disease
risk, to quantify such risk and to investigate the joint action of genetic
and environmental risk factors. These methods will be illustrated in
applications to common diseases such as cancer, heart disease and arthritis.
Dr. Helen Clough,
Postdoctoral Research Assistant in Statistics,
Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences,
University of Liverpool,
"Leahurst",
Neston
S. Wirral CH64 7TE
Tel + 44 151 794 6173
Fax + 44 151 794 6028
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