ConGen2015 – Puerto Rico

January, 12 – 22, 2015, Rincón, Puerto Rico

The American Genetic Association together with the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez is presenting a 10-day intensive course in methods, interpretation, and applications of molecular genetic and genomic analyses for conservation of endangered species. Applicants should be conservation-minded scientists (advanced graduate students, postdocs, teachers, and researchers with advanced degrees) from academia, government, NGOs, or industry who are studying the genetics of endangered species and who will apply the knowledge gained from this course to the conservation of such species. The cost per participant will be $2350 and will include your accommodation, all meals and travel from and to the airport. Partial or full scholarships may be awarded to registered students.

Topics to be covered include:

1. Phylogenetics (ML and Bayesian); divergence time estimation.

2. Population genetics/genomics: coalescence, estimation of Ne, demographic changes, gene flow (migration), structure/admixture, and kinship analysis

3. Analysis of SNPs: association mapping, signatures of selection

4. Current conservation genetics literature and personal experience stories by the faculty

Course Faculty

• Stephen J. O’Brien, St. Petersburg State University, RUSSIA

• Robert Wayne, University of California Los Angeles, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A.

• Scott Baker, Oregon State University, OREGON, U.S.A.

• Oliver Ryder, San Diego Zoo’s Institute for Conservation Research, CA, U.S.A.

• Joan Pontius, SRA International, VIRGINIA • Harris Lewin, University of California, Davis, USA.

• Warren Johnson, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., U.S.A.

• Eduardo Eizirik, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, BRAZIL

• Klaus-Peter Koepfli, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Inst., Washington, D.C., U.S.A.

• Rasmus Nielsen, University of California, Berkeley, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A.

• Bridgett vonHoldt, Princeton University, NEW JERSEY, U.S.A.

• Sher Hendrickson-Lambert, Shepherd University, WEST VIRGINIA, U.S.A.

• Agostinho Antunes, University of Porto, PORTUGAL

• Carlos Driscoll, National Institutes of Health, MARYLAND, U.S.A.

• Scott Citino, White Oak Conservation Center, FLORIDA, U.S.A.

• Jose Lopez, Nova Southeastern University Oceanographic Center, FLORIDA, U.S.A.

• Alfred Roca, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, ILLINOIS, U.S.A.

• Emma Teeling, University College Dublin, IRELAND

• Cindy Harper, University of Pretoria at Onderstepoor, SOUTH AFRICA

• Taras K. Oleksyk, University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez, PUERTO RICO