DIMACS Tutorial on Phylogenetic Trees and Rapidly Evolving Pathogens

June 19 - 20, 2006
DIMACS Center, CoRE Building, Rutgers University

Organizer:
Katherine St. John, The City University of New York, stjohn@lehman.cuny.edu
Presented under the auspices of the Special Focus on Computational and Mathematical Epidemiology.

DIMACS Workshop on Phylogenetic Trees and Rapidly Evolving Diseases, June 21 - 22, 2006.

DIMACS Working Group on Phylogenetic Trees and Rapidly Evolving Diseases II, June 23, 2006.

DIMACS Working Group on Phylogenetic Trees and Rapidly Evolving Diseases I, September 7 - 8, 2004.


Phylogenies, or evolutionary histories, are used throughout biology. In addition to the study of taxonomy, they are used widely to do such things as design drugs, align biomolecular sequences, and to understand rapidly evolving diseases, such as HIV. This tutorial is an introduction to computational phylogenetics and its applications to real-world problems. The topics will include standard phylogenetic reconstruction methods and concepts, as well as advanced topics needed to understand the application of phylogeny to rapidly evolving diseases.

The tutorial is aimed at researchers interested in phylogenetics research and their applications. The goal is to understand the standard reconstruction methods and concepts well enough to understand cutting-edge research in the field (i.e. the workshop following the tutorial). The attended audience for this tutorial are those with a graduate background in computer science, discrete mathematics, or biology. No biological or algorithms background is assumed but knowledge of one will be helpful.

The tutorial includes sessions on the necessary biological and algorithmic topics, standard phylogenetic reconstruction methods, and the use of statistical analysis in the field. ``Hands-on'' laboratory sessions on using these methods and tools are included.

Immediately following this tutorial, DIMACS is running a workshop on rapidly evolving diseases. This tutorial has been coordinated with the workshop to make it possible for the non-specialist to attend and understand most of the talks.


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Document last modified on March 10, 2006.