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ABSTRACT

The fields of Genetics and Molecular Biology are undergoing an unprecedented revolution triggered by mappings of genomes of various organisms (including human) which has put emphasis on high-throughput, semi- or fully-automatized genetic experimentations. The high-throughput techniques were developed to gain faster understanding of the roles of various pieces of molecular machinery and thus DNA chips (or microarrays), SNP (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism) arrays, and now proteome chips, were born. If sequencing the genome is aimed at answering the questions "What?" and "Where?", functional genomics addresses the important questions of "Why?" and "How?".

Modern functional genomics utilizes biochips and other high-throughput modalities in ever larger experiments generating huge quantities of data. This high-throughput genomics data is quite varied depending on modality and technology used or the nature of experiment carried out. It also presents many common statistical challenges which, together, represent a unique set. The field of Statistical Genomics is being born to work with molecular biologists, genetists and bioinformatitians to answer these challenges including: large to huge data dimensionality compared to number of observations available, small signal to noise ratios, many uncontrollable sources of variability, multistage approach to data generation and preparation, unique experimental design issues, vast quantities of raw data. Despite the fact that the field of Statistical Genomics is so young, it has already attracted a number of researchers in Applied Statistics. We have obtained enthusiastic support for this workshop from Canadian statisticians who have already contributed to this field, or whose expertise and interests poises them to contribute in near future.

This workshop will focus on defining important outstanding questions in the analysis of high-throughput genomics data, including DNA chip data, and on ways that Canadian statistical community can contribute to answering these questions. Following the workshop, a network of researchers will be formed to establish a research program in the field of Statistical Genomics. For more information please contact
Dr Rafal Kustra, Dept of Public Health Sciences, University of Toronto.

Workshop Schedule

Invited Participants:

Derek Bingham (SFU) Shelley Bull (Toronto) Jenny Bryan (UBC) Hugh Chipman (Waterloo) Vincent Carey (Harvard) Chris Field (Dalhousie) Debasis Ghosh (Michigan) Gregory Gloor (UWO) Tim Hughes (Toronto)

Rafal Kustra (Toronto) Duncan Murdoch (UWO) Robert Nadon (McGill) David Sankoff (Ottawa) Ed Susko (Dalhousie) Rob Tibshirani (Stanford) Elisabeth Tillier (Toronto) David Tritchler (Toronto) Brent Zanke (Ontario Cancer Research Network)

Audio and Slides from the workshop are available here.

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