By Francis Tablizo
Three members of the DNA Sequencing and Bioinformatics Facility of the Philippine Genome Center (PGC) attended the recently concluded Winter Institute for Statistical Genetics (WISG) held at the New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD), Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, last January 22-24, 2017. WISG is an offshoot of the Summer Institute for Statistical Genetics being offered annually by the University of Washington with the aim to introduce recent statistical methods to geneticists – preparing them for the challenges of analyzing modern genetic data.
This year’s WISG bannered six workshop modules, all of which are geared towards the analysis of different types of “omics’’ data. These include the following topics: (1) Introduction to R, (2) Population and Genetic Data Analysis, (3) Gene Expression Profiling, (4) Metagenomics, (5) Association Mapping: GWAS and Sequencing Data, and (6) Pathway and Network Analysis for Omics Data.
Each of the aforementioned modules were ably handled by some of the leading methods developers and researchers in their respective fields from various formidable universities. The list includes: Thomas Lumley from University of Auckland and Ken Rice from University of Washington (Introduction to R), Jérôme Goudet from Lausanne University and Bruce Weir from University of Washington (Population Genetics Data Analysis), Greg Gibson from Georgia Institute of Technology and Youssef Idaghdour from NYUAD (Gene Expression Profiling), Frank Stewart from Georgia Institute of Technology and Antonio Gonzáles Peña from University of California San Diego (Metagenomics), Weir and Elizabeth Blue from University of Washington (Association Mapping), and Gibson and Alison Mortzinger-Reif from North Carolina State University (Pathway and Network Analysis for Omics Data).
The PGC members who attended the WISG 2017 are Francis Tablizo, El King Morado and Marylette Roa. Each of them took different modules over the span of the program – with Tablizo attending the Gene Expression Profiling and Pathway and Network Analysis modules, Morado taking the Introduction to R and Metagenomics modules, and Roa signing up for the Population Genetics and GWAS modules. Their attendance at the said event is a great boost for the capacity-building efforts of PGC, particularly in the realm of bioinformatics and “omics” data analysis.
Team Philippines (L-R) Erwin Tandayu, Kris Llantada, Nelvie Fatima Jane Soliven, Marylette Roa, Francis Tablizo, Jae Rodriguez, El King Morado
Team PH & some of the speakers (L-R) Marylette Roa, El King Morado, Erwin Tandayu, Alison Motsinger-Reif, Bruce Weir, Greg Gibson, Thomas Lumley, Nelvie Fatima Jane Soliven, Jae Rodriguez, Kriz Llantada
At the NYUAD (L-R) Francis Tablizo, Jae Rodriguez, Erwin Tandayu, El King Morado, Kriz Llantada, Nelvie Fatima Jane Soliven, Marylette Roa
NYUAD (L-R) Marylette Roa, Jae Rodriguez, Kriz Llantada, Erwin Tandayu, El King Morado, Nelvie Fatima Jane Soliven, Francis Tablizo
NYUAD (L-R) Erwin Tandayu, El King Morado, Kriz Llantada, Marylette Roa, Nelvie Fatima Jane Soliven, Jae Rodriguez, Francis Tablizo
NYUAD (L-R) Erwin Tandayu, Kriz Llantada, Nelvie Fatima Jane Soliven, Marylette Roa, Francis Tablizo, Jae Rodriguez, El King Morado
