NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2008

2008 财年 NSF 生物学博士后研究奖学金

• 批准号: 0805455
• 负责人: Adam Leache
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Leache Adam D
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Fellowship
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2008-09-01 至 2010-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0805455&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NSF; Postdoctoral; Research; Fellowship; Biology

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship for FY 2008. The fellowship supports a research and training plan entitled "From Gene Trees to Population Demography: An Approximate Bayesian Computation Approach" for Adam D. Leache. The host institutions for this research are University of California, Davis, and University College London, and the sponsoring scientists are Dr. Bruce Rannala and Dr. Ziheng Yang, respectively. Phylogenetics is entering a new era in which researchers will have the opportunity to apply genomic-scale data sets to the study of non-model organisms. Novel computational methods and the accompanying software tools are required to handle these larger, more complex biological data sets. This research is developing an approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) statistical framework for estimating demographic parameters (ancestral and contemporary population sizes, levels of gene flow, and species/population divergence times) that is based on gene tree summary statistics. Estimating demographic parameters using ABC simulations conditional on gene tree summary statistics is appealing, because many genetic studies generate data conducive to gene tree estimation, creating a rich source of bioinformatics data. Training objectives include extensive training in bioinformatics, computational biology, theoretical population genetics, and statistical phylogenetics. This interdisciplinary bioinformatics research will build links between the fields of mathematics, statistics, computational biology, theoretical population genetics, and statistical phylogenetics, while at the same time maintaining a central focus on concepts in evolutionary biology. This new statistical approach and accompanying software tools will accommodate complex biological problems across many nested levels in the tree of life.

这项行动资助了 2008 财年 NSF 博士后研究奖学金。该奖学金支持 Adam D. Leache 题为“从基因树到人口统计：近似贝叶斯计算方法”的研究和培训计划。这项研究的主办机构是加州大学戴维斯分校和伦敦大学学院，资助科学家分别是 Bruce Rannala 博士和杨子恒博士。系统发育学正在进入一个新时代，研究人员将有机会将基因组规模的数据集应用于非模式生物的研究。需要新颖的计算方法和随附的软件工具来处理这些更大、更复杂的生物数据集。这项研究正在开发一个近似贝叶斯计算（ABC）统计框架，用于估计基于基因树汇总统计的人口参数（祖先和当代人口规模、基因流水平和物种/人口分化时间）。使用以基因树汇总统计为条件的 ABC 模拟来估计人口参数很有吸引力，因为许多遗传学研究生成有利于基因树估计的数据，从而创建了丰富的生物信息学数据源。培训目标包括生物信息学、计算生物学、理论群体遗传学和统计系统发育学方面的广泛培训。这项跨学科的生物信息学研究将在数学、统计学、计算生物学、理论群体遗传学和统计系统发育学领域之间建立联系，同时保持对进化生物学概念的中心关注。这种新的统计方法和随附的软件工具将适应生命树中许多嵌套级别的复杂生物学问题。