Colloquium Computer Science, Dr. Aree Witoelar (University of Oslo)

Title: Extracting the last bits of information from GWAS summary statistics

Abstract:

Advances in genetics technology in the past ten years allow for identification of genetic variants leading to human complex disorders through Genome Wide Association Studies (GWAS), such as Schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s Disease. Several lines of evidence indicate a number of unaccounted genetic risk variants, each with small effects, leading to the "missing heritability" problem. Efforts to identify these variants have led to large-scale collaborations due to the sheer number of required samples, more than any individual site could effectively maintain. The transfer of information between sites however are regularly restricted in the form of summary statistics, instead of individual genotype data, for various reasons. In this scenario, much information has been filtered and the choice of statistical methods becomes severely limited. A few avenues still remain available to GWAS, fortunately, including functional genomics and shared pleiotropic effects across similar disorders. In this talk we explore several methods to boost information out of ‘lifeless’ summary statistics by leveraging information from genomic annotations, estimating effect sizes through subsampling via Empirical Bayes methods, and cross-disorder analyses which provide hints to overlapping genetic mechanisms.

Colloquium coordinators are Prof.dr. M. Aiello (e-mail : M.Aiello rug.nl ) and
Prof.dr. M. Biehl (e-mail: M.Biehl rug.nl )

http://www.rug.nl/research/jbi/news/colloquia/computerscience