Workshop

The goal of the conference is to bring individuals from genetics and the mathematical sciences into closer contact so that they might share objectives and skills needed to advance both areas, and especially their intersection. After introductions, the conference will begin with a panel discussion on mathematical genomics by experts from different fields that make contact with the general subject of mathematical genomics. David Galas will chair the panel; there are commitments to participate from Peter Bickel, Wing Wong, and Rick Woychik. The conference will continue Monday evening with a session on new approaches to genomic profiling. Tuesday morning will be devoted to studies of human disease, particularly cancer and autism. That afternoon’s talks and discussion concern genomic analysis. Wednesday morning will be a session on model organisms because understanding them may bear upon understanding human disease. Leroy Hood has agreed to give a closing lecture Wednesday afternoon. Plans are for wide-ranging discussion. It will include particular new technologies for sequencing, human polymorphisms that predispose to autism, The Cancer Genome Atlas, Markov processes and their application to understanding copy number variation in malignant cells, and applications of combinatorics and pattern recognition to genetic problems. This conference is supported by a generous grant from Dr. J. Simons. Accomodations: A block of rooms has been reserved at the Rose Garden Inn. Reservations may be made by calling 1-800-992-9005 OR directly on their website. Click on Corporate at the bottom of the screen and when prompted enter code MATH (this code is not case sensitive). By using this code a new calendar will appear and will show MSRI rate on all room types available. The cut-off date for reservations is March 27, 2009. A block of rooms has been reserved at the Hotel Durant. Please mention the workshop name and reference the following code when making reservations via phone, fax or e-mail: 0904MSRISY. The cut-off date for reservations is March 12, 2009.