Objectives
Our ability to obtain DNA sequence data has increased dramatically over the last two decades and nucleotide information is now common in many biological fields, for example systematics, phylogeography, and population genetics. It has been argued that population genetics methods based on phylogeny (i.e. evolutionary history) and genealogical structure are much more efficient than estimators based on the traditional pairwise statistics. These new approaches are currently attracting a lot of attention under the name of coalescense methods. The coalescent considers the present while taking the past into account, i.e. the phylogeny, whereas most of the classical population genetics considers the future of a population given a starting point.
Many of the DNA-based methods currently used for phylogeny reconstruction and coalescent analyses are mathematical to an extent many biologists find difficult. The aim of this course is to give biologists an insight in these methods, and to give mathematicians a sense of the kind of scientific questions biologists are interested in. The main focus of the course is practical sessions and analyses of students research project using a number of relevant computer programs.
Place
Medicinaregatan 18, Zoologiska institutionen, Konferensrummet bottenvåningen, datorsalen bottenvåningen
Reading and Project assignments (click here)
Plan and Time table (click here)
Grading
passing grade is awarded for active participation in lectures, exercises, student projects
and completing the reading assignments
Examiner
Per Sundberg
Instructors
Mary Kuhner
David Posada
Serik Sagitov
Arne Nygren