Date:
Location:
Molly F. Przeworski
Alan H. Kempner Professor of Biological Sciences and Systems Biology
Columbia University
Reading genetic tea leaves: promises and pitfalls of genomic trait prediction
Abstract: Natural populations harbor extensive genetic diversity. In 150,000 people, for instance, over 600 million positions in the genome differ among individuals. Over the past decade, it has become routine to survey this genomic variation in large samples, and to associate variation in traits (e.g., height) to these genetic differences. Such associations can then be used to predict, albeit very noisily, a person’s traits–be it their height, cancer risk, or educational attainment–from their genome. Dr. Przeworski will outline current approaches to genomic trait prediction in humans and some of their important pitfalls, notably those arising from the difficulty of disentangling genetic and environmental effects. She will also discuss how an analogous approach can be taken to study traits that are likely to be important in the response to climate change, using coral bleaching as an illustration.
Co-sponsored by Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Molecular and Cellular Biology, and the Harvard Museum of Natural History
This event will be livestreamed on the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture Facebook page. A recording of this program will be available on the HMSC Lecture Videos page approximately three weeks after the lecture.