Gordon Research Conference on Quantitative Genetics and Genomics, Ciocoo, Italy, February 9-15, 2019

Gordon Research Conferences, East Greenwich RI

Investigators

Abstract

The 17th Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Quantitative Genetics and Genomics is entitled "The Use of Big Data in Quantitative Genetics", and scheduled for February 10-15, 2019 in Lucca (Barga), Italy. This is timely because as datasets become larger they demand new analytical approaches for yielding new knowledge. Quantitative genetics and genomics refer to the fields of science that combines concepts of genetics with computational and statistical tools to study the evolution and function of complex traits (e.g., clutch size in birds), medicine (e.g., cardiovascular disease), and agriculture (e.g., yield of corn). The genetics underlying complex traits was, until recently, very poorly known. Over the last decade there has been a revolution in research on quantitative traits due to availability of genomic and computational technologies. However, extracting knowledge from such data is challenging and this conference will discuss the latest research and technological advances. The outcomes from the conference will be an exchange of knowledge between the various uses of these technologies to a variety of biological questions. In the longer term, there will be benefits to medicine and to agriculture such as new drugs and information to support personalized medicine and new varieties of crop. Genome wide association studies have discovered many loci that affect important traits in a wide variety of species, contributing to the understanding of these traits. Despite the success in mapping risk loci for many traits, the number of causal mutations that have been identified is low. To overcome this problem experiments using a range of omic technologies are underway. These include use of RNA sequencing to study the genetics of gene expression and functional annotation of genomic sites, e.g. using ChipSeq. While there are many conferences that cover parts of the same agenda as this GRC, this is probably the only conference that brings together those working in complex trait genetics from agriculture, medicine, and evolution in order to exchange techniques, approaches, and technologies. The GRCs are also unusual in the large amount of time set aside for discussion and the opportunities for informal discussion. This leads to cross fertilization of ideas and new collaborations. An associated Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) will take place over the course of two-days leading up to the start of the conference for young scientists and investigators. In the GRS there is also a strong mentoring component where senior scientists attending the GRC are invited to the GRS for a mentoring lunch as well as a panel discussion with graduate students and post-docs attending the GRS. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.