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THE 2022 VIRTUAL WORKSHOP ON STATISTICAL GENETIC METHODS FOR HUMAN COMPLEX TRAITS

ADVANCE NOTICE

JUNE 6th – JUNE 16th, 2022

We have elected to hold the 2022 workshop virtually, with plans to hold the 2023 course in-person in Â鶹ӰԺ, CO. We have made this decision based on the success of last year’s workshop, the desire to continue to build our library of online content, the enhanced ability to reach a larger pool of students, and the continued uncertainty regarding travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Like last year, we will hold the workshop at the beginning of June (June 6 – June 16, 2022). Because last year’s workshop focused more heavily on measured genetics and genetic association, this year’s workshop will focus more heavily on latent genetic analyses, structural equation modeling, and twin/family designs.

Like last year, the daily schedule will include prerecorded lectures, plenary sessions, practical work, and interactive tutorials. Registered students will need to be able to commit approximately 2 hours per day for watching pre-recorded videos and 3 hours per day for live lecture and practical work for each of the 8 days of the workshop. Pre-recorded lectures will be available for viewing one week before the start of the course. The workshop will be held 4 days per week (Monday - Thursday, US) across two weeks: June 6-9 and June 13-16. As with last year, participants will be able to sign up for one of two course tracks that differ only in the time of day of presentations and tutorials: one meant to be most convenient for students in Europe/Africa/Americas (track A) and one most convenient for students in Western North America/Asia/Australia/Oceania (track B).

Topics will include: the biometrical model, structural equation modeling, path analysis, maximum likelihood, univariate twin models, sex limitation, GxE interaction, segregation variance, polygenic scores, assumptions in twin models and effects of violating those assumptions, genetic nurture and G-E covariance, multivariate genetic analyses, and longitudinal models. Software will include R, OpenMx, PLINK, and GCTA.

Participants are strongly advised to have some familiarity with R programming before attending the workshop. Students not familiar with R can take advantage of an R tutorial we will post before the workshop or any number of introductory R tutorials available online. Students will use workshop facilities for practical work but will need their own desktop or laptop computer to connect to the workshop resources.

The Academic Directors for this workshop are:

• Ben Neale (Broad Institute and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)),
• Dave Evans (Institute for Molecular Bioscience, University of Queensland (UQ), Australia),
• Sarah Medland (Queensland Institute for Medical Research (QIMR), Australia),
• Michael Neale (Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University).

The local hosts for this workshop are at the Institute for Behavioral Genetics:

• Matthew Keller (Principal Investigator)
• Jeffrey Lessem (IT director)
• Courtney Greenwood (local coordinator; IBGworkshop@colorado.edu).

In addition to the academic directors and hosts, faculty will include Conor Dolan, Hermine Maes, Brad Verhulst, Katrina Grasby, Lucia Colodro Condre, and Elizabeth Prom-Wormley, who will offer world-class instruction on the topics listed above and who will help students work through practical sessions in real time. 

Registration will open January 31. The registration fee will be $300, payable at the time of registration using a credit card. Cancellations after April 15^th will be non-refundable. We will make another announcement in mid-January with details about scheduling, registration, and course materials. This information will also be available at /ibg/workshop-2022 or from the workshop coordinator: tel: +1-303-735-8490; e-mail: IBGworkshop@colorado.edu.

In an effort to increase diversity at the workshop, financial support is available in the form of a scholarship for those who (a) are from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, individuals with disabilities, and individuals from socially, culturally, economically, or educationally disadvantaged backgrounds and/or (b) can demonstrate financial hardship that would affect their ability to pay the registration fee (including individuals from other countries). Please fill out the Qualtrics survey  before registering if you believe you qualify for financial assistance. You will be notified about whether you qualify shortly after you complete the survey, and scholarship recipients will be sent a promo code, reducing their registration fee from $300 to $50. Twenty-five tickets in each session will be held in reserve for scholarship recipients; these will be given out on a first come, first serve basis. If you plan to apply for a scholarship, please do not register at this time. Rather, apply for the scholarship first, and then we will send you a follow-up email about next steps. Please note that, in the original announcement, it was specified that this scholarship was only available to US participants; this is no longer the case. Participants who fulfill the requirements above who are not US citizens are now welcome to apply. Contact the workshop coordinator, Courtney Greenwood, if you would like more information regarding financial support.

Financial support for this workshop is provided by grant MH19918 from the National Institute of Mental Health.