Fall 2013 Graduate Course in Applied Ecological Genetics: ECL242 / PHR242

Thought this might be of interest

Dynamic graduate level course in ecological genetics offered Fall 2013 at UC Davis.

Applied Ecological Genetics:
Genetics and Genomics for Ecology, Health, and Conservation of Natural Populations

Making genetics friendly and accessible.
This course is an introductory course to the topic for graduate students…and yet packed with great information.

REGISTRATION INFO:
Ecology and Pop Bio grad students sign up for ECL242 CRN 29983
Grad students in all other grad groups sign up for PHR242 CRN 46002 

3 units
10:00-11:50 Wed and Fridays Fall quarter 2013
Instructor: Holly Ernest

For graduate students in any graduate group interested in applications of genetics/genomics for ecology, conservation biology, and natural systems management.  Space as available for post-docs, project scientists, and others.

More info:  http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/vgl/wildlife/Ecological_Genetics_Course.html

Great course for students interested in:
• building skills and knowledge to develop the best questions and approaches for ecological genetic and genomics projects
• gaining knowledge in ecological and conservation genetics/genomics for a career in wildlife and natural resource agencies, nonprofit organizations, and academic institutions.  Genetics and genomics is increasingly a key conservation tool.
• evaluating published genetic analyses for ecological questions and management applications.
• applicable to fields including, but not limited to, conservation ecology, population biology, wildlife health, disease ecology, avian science, plant biology, anthropology, entomology, veterinary medicine, and others.

Objectives: 
1. Students will gain understanding of the scope and breadth of genetic/genomic applications for research and applications in ecology, conservation management, and wildlife population health.
2. Students will become familiar with concepts of laboratory and computational techniques commonly used for ecological genetics research.
3. Students will become familiar with key theory underlying genetic data analysis for ecology.
4. Students will gain knowledge and skills in development of well-designed questions, hypotheses and research projects, basic data analysis techniques, and problem-solving in the field of ecological genetics.

Topics
• Sampling techniques and strategies
• Molecular markers and lab techniques: including next generation sequencing, whole genome, microsatellites, mitochondrial DNA, etc
• Data analysis
• Study design
• Genetics of endangered species; invasive species
• Introductory material for Ecological genomics – future courses will be offered by Ecology faculty in this area.  ECL242 will help set the foundation for the more advanced genomics courses.
…and much more! … covered in lecture, computer lab, and discussion

Special Guest speakers and sessions tentatively on schedule
• Computer lab sessions: intro to computational aspects of work with genetic data, genotypic data, sequence data;
• Genome research specialists lined up to tell us about: genomics of wild ancestors of crop plants, insects that are key disease vectors, polyploid fish, birds of conservation concern, endangered mammals, genomics and ecotoxicology, etc
• UCD Genome Center talk and tour

Note that this course will likely be one of the core courses for Ecology Grad Group’s proposed new Area of Emphasis (AOE) in Ecological Genetics and Genomics

Author: Jonathan Eisen

I am an evolutionary biologist and a Professor at U. C. Davis. (see my lab site here). My research focuses on the origin of novelty (how new processes and functions originate). To study this I focus on sequencing and analyzing genomes of organisms, especially microbes and using phylogenomic analysis View all posts by Jonathan Eisen