Epistasis plays critical roles in processes important to livestock and crop improvement
and to evolution in natural populations. Epistasis reduces parent-offspring
resemblance and can decrease response to selection;
it can be a component
in heterosis; and it can serve to maintain a reservoir of potential genetic variation
far exceeding apparent variation. Novel biotechnologies to identify interaction
candidates promise to give us unprecedented access to the molecular mechanisms
of epistasis. At the same time, epistasis remains an obstacle in the identification
of target genotypes for modern animal and crop improvement.
The symposium is being organized by the following committee members: Jean-Luc Jannink, Robert Jernigan, Kendall Lamkey, Michael Wade, Jack Dekkers, Charles F. Sing, Stephen Proulx, and Marit Nilsen-Hamilton.
Speakers and participants shall submit abstracts for posters and short oral presentations of their research. The atmosphere will be informal, as an important purpose of this symposium is to promote interactions between individuals who might not encounter each other in less focused meetings. In doing this, we seek a broad spectrum of participants, ranging from distinguished scientists to highly promising students and post-doctoral fellows. This will be a valuable educational opportunity for the students and post-doctoral fellows, who will have the chance to interact with leading researchers in the field.
The symposium is sponsored by the Department of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology, Plant Sciences Institute, Laurence H. Baker Center for Bioinformatics and Biological Statistics, Office of Biotechnology, Center for Integrated Animal Genomics, all at Iowa State University; United States Department of Agriculture-CSREES NRI (2007-3520-17864); Molecular Express, Inc.
Following the symposium on June 4-8, the Iowa State University Department of Animal Science will hold a short course on "QTL mapping, MAS, and Genomic Selection"
Jose Alvarez-Castro, Linneaus Center for Bioinformatics
Christina Burch, University of North Carolina
James Cheverud- Washington University
Mark Cooper, Pioneer Hi-bred International
Alexander DeLuna, Harvard Medical School
Laura Galloway, University of Virginia
Dan Gianola, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Charles Goodnight, University of Vermont
Lilach Hadany, University of Iowa
Ryan Kelley, University of California- San Diego
Sergei Nuzhdin, University of California, Davis
Suzannah Rutherford, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Charles Sing, University of Michigan
Paul Sternberg, California Institute of Technology
Michael Wade, Indiana University
Bruce Walsh, University of Arizona
Gunter Wagner,Yale University
Jason Wolf, University of Manchester
Michael Wade, Indiana University
Lilach Hadany, University of Iowa
Charles Goodnight, University of Vermont
Bruce Walsh,
University of Arizona
Alexander DeLuna, Harvard Medical School
Ryan Kelley, University of California, San Diego
Gunter Wagner, Yale University
Sergey Nuzhdin, University of California, Davis
Charles Sing, University of Michigan
Suzannah Rutherford, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Laura Galloway, University of Virginia
Jason Wolf, University of Manchester
Mark Cooper, Pioneer Hi-bred International
Jose Alvarez-Castro, Linnaeus Centre for Bioinformatics
Daniel Gianola, University of Wisconsin
James Cheverud, Washington University
Christina Burch, University of North Carolina
Paul Sternberg, California Institute of Technology
Symposium Office
3208 Molecular Biology Building
Iowa State University
Ames, Iowa 50011-3260 USA
TEL: 515-294-7978 FAX: 515-294-2244
pbmb@iastate.edu