This page is archived

Links to external sources may no longer work as intended. The content may not represent the latest thinking in this area or the Society’s current position on the topic.

/ Events

Modelling networks from sequence to consequence in eukaryotes

28 - 29 March 2011 09:20 - 18:00

Organised by Professor Dirk-Jan de Koning and Professor Chris Haley

The projected benefits of systems biology for understanding variation in human disease susceptibility or sustainable agriculture requires a bottom-up integration of research in genetics, statistics, mathematical modelling, bioinformatics and physiology. The meeting will bring together keynote speakers from the intersection of these disciplines who apply ‘systems’ approaches to study complex variation in plants, animals or humans.

Programme available to download here (PDF).

Biographies and audio recordings are available below.

Organisers

  • Professor Dirk Jan De Koning, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden

    DJ received his Masters in Animal Sciences from Wageningen University (NL) in 1996. He was awarded his PHD from Wageningen University in 2001 on the thesis entitled: "Identification of (non-) Mendelian factors affecting pork production". This was followed by a post-doctoral position at The Roslin Institute, Edinburgh, where he became a career track fellow in 2003 followed by promotion to group leader in 2007.  In October 2010 he started his current appointment as professor in Animal Breeding and Genetics at The Swedish University of Agricultural sciences in Uppsala, Sweden, where he works full time since January 2011.  His main research interest is in unraveling the genetic basis of complex trait with a focus on, but not restricted to, livestock animals. Having searched, and found, genomic regions (so called QTL) affecting economically important traits in a range of species, he realized that genome mapping by itself is insufficient to find causal DNA variants and understand the mechanisms underlying genetic variation.  He then became interested in the use of intermediate phenotypes, such as gene expression, to try and unravel what genes or gene pathways are affected by the QTL and thereby providing a short track to potential candidate genes underlying the QTL. 

  • Professor Chris Haley, MRC Human Genetics Unit, UK

    Professor Chris Haley, FRSE holds a joint appointment between the MRC Human Genetics Unit and the Roslin Institute at the University of Edinburgh. He joined Roslin Institute in 1984, subsequently becoming head of the Department of Genetics and Genomics in 1996. In 2008 Professor Haley moved to the MRC Human Genetics Unit within the division of Biomedical Systems Analysis but retains a part time appointment and research programmes at Roslin Institute.

    Professor Haley’s interests lie in developing an understanding of the control complex traits, where inter-individual variation within and between populations is controlled by the variation of a number of genes and environmental factors and by the complex interactions of these components. Professor Haley’s research focuses both on developing approaches to dissect complex traits and in applications of these approaches to specific biological models.