UCLA/La Kretz Workshop in Conservation Genomics, 22-27 March, 2015
Conservation biology and genetics have had a long
and intimate relationship, and constitute one of
the key applications of evolutionary analysis to
real-world biological problems. The impacts of
population genetics, phylogenetics and
phylogeography have been particularly striking
for conservation biology, and have helped solve
some of the most pressing problems in biological conservation.
As the field of landscape-based
genetics continues to grow and mature, the
increasing availability of genomic-level data,
analytical models and methods stand to make
profound new contributions to our ability to
identify and protect at-risk populations and
recover those that are most endangered. However,
genomic level analyses also carry a heavy
burdendata sets are enormous, often requiring
diverse computational approaches for assembly, quality control and analysis.
This annual workshop will provide a
comfortable, informal training environment for a
small group of motivated graduate students to
explore how conservation problems can best be
addressed with genomic-level data. Our goal is to
provide hands-on experience on the efficient
collection, troubleshooting, and analysis of
large data sets for conservation-relevant
problems. One of the highlights of our workshop
is active participation from members of several
US government agencies who are at the forefront
of endangered species protection and management,
providing a forum for exploring the most relevant
aspects of conservation genomics to managers.
The UCLA/La Kretz workshop will be held at the La
Kretz Field Station in the heart of the Santa
Monica Mountains. Only 30 miles from UCLA (and
LAX airport), but nestled in the relatively
undeveloped 160,000 acre Santa Monica Mountains
National Recreation Area, the Field Station
provides an ideal location that brings exciting
new developments in genomic science and pressing
needs in conservation and management together in a single setting.
Our current instructor list, drawn from UCLA
faculty and several other southern California partners, includes:
Jonathon Chang
Ben Fitzpatrick
Paul Gugger
Kirk Lohmueller
Evan McCartney-Melstad
Mark Phuong
Peter Ralph
Brad Shaffer
Victoria Sork
Phil Spinks
Bob Wayne
Ying Zhen
Topics covered include:
Traditional conservation genetics
Next generation platforms: the best tool for the job
Data management pipelines:
Quality Control
Data storage
Data organization
Data analysis:
SNPs
Sequences
Exploring very large data sets
Functional genomic data
Genomic data and GIS
Visualizing geographic structure and demographic history
Conservation phylogenomics
Prerequisites
Available housing limits course
enrollment to ~15 students. Preference is given
to doctoral candidates who are in the early to
middle stages of their thesis research, and who
have completed sufficient prerequisites (through
previous coursework or research experience) to
have some familiarity with using a command line
interface or programming languages (i.e. Perl,
python etc.). Unfortunately, because of limits on
class size, postdocs and faculty are discouraged from applying.
Admission and Fees
Students will be admitted based on
academic qualifications and appropriateness of
research interests. The course fee is $425. This
includes food and lodging at the La Kretz Field
Station, as well as any incidental fees, for the
duration of the course (arriving Sunday March 22,
departing Friday March 27). In addition, those
students who want to stay at the field station
for the remainder of the weekend may do so for no
extra charge. For those opting to stay the
weekend, departure time will be by noon on Monday March 30.
Application Forms and Information
Visit the La Kretz Center for California
Conservation Science website for additional
information and to download an application form:
Mario--Insert URL Here
Application Deadline
Applications are due by February 2, 2015. Please
send a completed application form and one letter
of recommendation from your major advisor.
Students will be notified via e-mail by February 9, 2015 of acceptance.
Applications should be sent as PDFs via email to:
Phil Spinks
email: [email protected]
