Population Genetics

Catalog description

This is an exciting time for population genetics research. Increasingly sophisticated technologies are making it possible to obtain dense genomic data from large numbers of individuals. Further, advances in population genetics theory are improving our ability to make inferences about the evolutionary forces acting on populations. However, to effectively apply these new techniques to data being generated across populations, it is important to understand how evolutionary processes shape patterns of genetic variation. In this course, students will learn about the mathematical models employed in population genetics, and how these models can be used to make inferences from data. Specifically, this course emphasizes modern population genetic theory through the coalescent process, which provides a direct application to the analysis and understanding of empirical data.