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 organized by the following committee members: Jean-Luc Jannink, Robert Jernigan, Kendall Lamkey, Michael Wade, Jack Dekkers, Charles F. Sing, Stephen Proulx, Marit Nilsen-Hamilton.
Speakers and participants shall submit abstracts for posters and short oral presentations of their research. The atmosphere will be informal. An important purpose of this symposium is to promote interactions between individuals who might not encounter each other in less focused meetings. With this informal structure, we seek a broad spectrum of participants, ranging from distinguished scientists to highly promising students and post-doctoral fellows. This is a valuable educational opportunity for the students and post-doctoral fellows because the have the opportunity 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 De Luna, 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
Sergey Nuzhdin, University of California, Davis
Suzanne Rutherford, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Charlie 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
Bruce Walsh, University of Arizona
Lilach Hadany, University of Iowa
Charles Goodnight,
University of Vermont
Alexander De Luna, 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
Suzanne 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
Dan Gianola, University of Wisconsin-Madison
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