<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1">
</head>
<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
Gregory J. Matthews, Post-Doctoral Research Fellow and Lecturer in
the Division of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, UMass, Amherst<br>
<br>
"Genome Wide Association Studies (GWAS) and Mixed Modeling of
Meta-Analysis P-values (MixMAP)"<br>
Wednesday, March 5 at 4:00 p.m., in ASH Auditorium<br>
<br>
Abstract: With advances in technology, mapping of the human genome
has become easier and cheaper than ever before. This has led to an
increase in studies searching for associations between genetic
variation and complex diseases. These studies are conducted by
scanning across the genome at locations of genetic variability
called single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) seeking to detect
associations with complex disease phenotypes. These studies are
referred to as genome wide association studies (GWAS). Whereas in a
GWAS large parts of the genome are scanned, candidate gene studies
target a specific set of genes for exploration based on previous
biological information and are then analyzed similarly to GWAS.
Results of a candidate gene study performed to find genetic loci
that are associated with coronary artery calcification (CAC) in
patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) will be presented. Along
with this analysis, a proposed methodology, termed MixMAP, for
identifying gene-level, as opposed to SNP level, associations will
be described. Finally, results of applications of MixMAP to two
large meta-analyses will be presented as well as a brief example of
the software that we have developed.<br>
<br>
Biography: Gregory J. Matthews received his Ph. D. in statistics
from the University of Connecticut in 2011 and has spent the past
three years as a post-doctoral research fellow and lecturer at the
University of Massachusetts in the Division of Biostatistics and
Epidemiology. Prior to this, he attended Worcester Polytechnic
Institute (WPI) as both an undergraduate, where he graduated with
distinction, and for a master's degree in applied statistics. His
current research interests include analysis of high dimensional
genetic data, statistical disclosure control, and the analysis of
sports. He actively writes about statistics for a more general
audience and his work has appeared on many websites including the
ASA's Significance blog, TeamRankings.com, and Deadspin as well as
his own blog StatsInTheWild.com.<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-signature">
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;
charset=ISO-8859-1">
<title>test two</title>
<br>
<div class="moz-signature">
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;
charset=ISO-8859-1">
<small>Paula Harmon, Administrative Assistant <br>
School of Cognitive Science <br>
Hampshire College<br>
893 West Street Amherst, MA 01002 <br>
phone: 413.559.5502 <br>
fax: 413.559.5438 <br>
<a href="http://cs.hampshire.edu/">http://cs.hampshire.edu</a></small>
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>