Methods for Population Genetics (Winter 2017/18) - Tobias Marschall

General info

• Spezialvorlesung (2+1) with exercises (5 credits)
• Lecture time: Thursdays 12:15-13:45 (FIRST LECTURE: October 19)
• Place: Room 007, Campus E2.1
• Exercise: biweekly, time slot to be determined.
• Oral exam at the beginning of semester break, exact date will be announced.
• Re-exam at the end of semester break, exact date will be announced.

Course overview

Population Genetics studies the distribution of genetic information across populations under varying conditions. This lecture provides the necessary methods to answer questions such as: Is there evidence for selection pressure on a certain gene? How can ancient migration patterns be retraced based on genetic information? How can quantitative traits such as disease susceptibility be attributed to genetic loci? We first cover basic concepts like the Hardy-Weinberg principle, genetic drift, and linkage disequilibrium. Then, we proceed to studying selection and population structure. We will cover haplotype phasing and imputation of missing genotype data as well as the interplay of population genetics and next-generation sequencing. Towards the end of the course, we discuss genome-wide association studies and quantitative traits.

Registration

If you want to take this course, you should subscribe to the mailing list. Important announcements will be send to this list. Also, it can serve as a platform for discussing questions related to the course.

Course material

The main source for the course will be the text book Principles of Population Genetics by Hartl and Clark.

• Principles of Population Genetics by Daniel Hartl and Andrew Clark.

Furthermore, the following books also cover many of the topics that we will discuss:

• Population Genetics -- A Concise Guide by John Gillespie.
• Population Genetics by Matthew Hamilton (eBook available on campus).

Lecture slides and supplementary course material will be available here: password protected area.