NIMBioS Seminar Series

In conjunction with the interdisciplinary activities of the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS), a seminar series on topics in mathematical biology will be hosted at NIMBioS every other Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. (unless otherwise noted) in the Hallam Auditorium, Room 206, Claxton Building, 1122 Volunteer Blvd. Seminar speakers will focus on their research initiatives at the interface of mathematics and many areas of the life sciences. Light refreshments will be served in Room 205 beginning 30 minutes before each talk. Faculty and students from across the UT community are welcome to join us.

Speaker: Dr. Sarah Flanagan, NIMBioS postdoctoral fellow
Time/Date: Tuesday, September 20, 2016, 3:30 p.m.*
Location: Room 206, Claxton Building, 1122 Volunteer Blvd.
Topic: Identifying signatures of selection on the genome: Case studies using pipefish
Abstract: Understanding the genetic basis of complex traits is one of the major goals of evolutionary biology. Population genetics, which focuses on genetic variation within and among populations, is one way to approach understanding the genetic basis of evolutionarily relevant traits by differentiating between signatures of neutral processes (e.g. migration and drift) and selective pressures. In this talk, I will discuss various approaches to identifying signatures of selection in the context of next-generation sequencing studies, as well as some of their challenges and constraints when applied to actual datasets. Specifically, I will focus on traditional population genetics approaches to identifying signatures of selection among populations, such as F_ST outlier scans, as well as selection components analysis, a method that compares allele frequencies among individuals within a single population to identify signatures of selection. Throughout the talk, I will include results from empirical studies of natural populations of the Gulf pipefish, a marine fish characterized by male pregnancy and sex-role-reversal.

Sarah Flanagan (Biology, Texas A&M Univ., 2016) is developing different approaches to generate better a priori predictions for next-generation sequencing population genetics studies.

*Join us for refreshments at 3 p.m.

Seminar Flyer (pdf)

This seminar was streamed live and is now available for viewing on NIMBioS' YouTube channel.
Watch seminar online.

For more information about this and other NIMBioS Seminars, visit /seminars.

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1122 Volunteer Blvd., Suite 106
University of Tennessee
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From 2008 until early 2021, NIMBioS was supported by the National Science Foundation through NSF Award #DBI-1300426, with additional support from The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.