Genetic epidemiology and genome-wide association analyses
Postgraduate course
- ECTS credits
- 4
- Teaching semesters
- Autumn, Spring
- Course code
- GENESTAT-B
- Number of semesters
- 1
- Teaching language
- English
- Resources
- Schedule
Course description
Objectives and Content
The first part of the course will provide a broad overview of genetic epidemiology and statistical genetics, including biometrical genetics such as twin studies, topics from population genetics, as well as linkage versus linkage disequilibrium, risk and penetrance models, and gene-environment interactions.
The second part will cover genetic association analyses in detail: Power and sample size calculations, choice of design (independent versus family designs); basic case-control association analyses, family-based association analyses; testing and measuring gene-environment interactions; haplotype analyses; post-processing and interpretation of results. Control for multiple testing.
The course will use freely available software, including PLINK, GenABEL (in R), HapMap/HaploView, and Haplin (in R).
Learning Outcomes
On completion of the course the student should have the following learning outcomes:
Knowledge:
Familiarity with fundamental aspects of genetic epidemiology. Basic understanding of selected topics in population genetics and biometrical genetics. Knowledge of common statistical methods and study designs in genetic epidemiology.
Skills:
Be able to use software to conduct full genetic association analyses, including data quality control, analyses, interpretation of results, and post-processing/presentation of results.
General competence:
To acquire the tools and understanding to plan and conduct genetic association analyses.
Level of Study
Semester of Instruction
Recommended Previous Knowledge
Teaching and learning methods
40 hours (1 week), lectures combined with group work/hands-on exercises
40 hours (1 week), take-home project
Compulsory Assignments and Attendance
Forms of Assessment
Grading Scale
Reading List
A Statistical Approach to Genetic Epidemiology- Concepts and Applications (Second Edition)
by Andreas Ziegler and Inke R. König. Wiley, 2010.
Chapters 10-14 (140 pages)
+ parts of introductory chapters
In addition, relevant research papers and software manuals, as needed.