Call for Applications: The Search for Selection, a NIMBioS Tutorial

[Catherine Crawley]

The National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis
(NIMBioS) is now accepting applications for its Tutorial, "The Search
for Selection," to be held June 18-22, 2018, at NIMBioS.

*Objectives:* Biologists are obsessed (indeed, seduced) by the search
for signatures of selection in organismal features of interest, ranging
from specific traits to genome-wide signatures. A vast number of
approaches have been suggested in this search for selection, including
genomic-based signatures of recent or ongoing selection, tests based on
either excessive amounts or nonrandom patterns of divergence (in both
fossil sequences and functional genomics data) and the more classical
Lande-Arnold fitness estimates (direct association of phenotypic values
with fitness estimates) and their modern extensions (such as aster
models). Given the breadth of such searches, a large amount of machinery
has been developed, but is rarely presented in a unified fashion. This
tutorial presents an integrated overview of all these approaches,
highlighting common themes and divergent assumptions.

The goal of this tutorial is to expose investigators from all branches
of biology to this rich menagerie of tests. It is applicable for
population geneticists, genome biologists, evolutionary ecologists,
paleontologists, functional morphologists, and just about any biologist
who ponders on how to formally demonstrate that a feature (or features)
of interest might have been shaped by selection.

The intended audience is advanced graduate students, postdocs, and
faculty with an interest in searching for targets of selection, be they
particular genomic sequences or particular traits. Given the breadth of
this topic, we expect students from functional genomics, population and
evolutionary genetics, ecology, paleobiology, functional morphology, and
statistics (as well as other fields). The background required is some
basic introduction to population and/or quantitative genetics.

*Location:* NIMBioS at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville

*Co-Organizers:* J. Bruce Walsh, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Univ.
of Arizona

For more information about the tutorial and a link to the online
application form, go to http://www.nimbios.org/tutorials/selection

Participation in NIMBioS tutorials is by application only. Individuals
with a strong interest in the topic are encouraged to apply, and
successful applicants will be notified within several weeks after the
application deadline. NIMBioS will cover lodging (5 nights) and provide
breakfast and lunch each day at NIMBioS. If needed, limited financial
support for travel expenses is available.
*
**Application deadline: February 1, 2018*

The National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis
(NIMBioS) (http://www.nimbios.org) brings together researchers from
around the world to collaborate across disciplinary boundaries to
investigate solutions to basic and applied problems in the life
sciences. NIMBioS is sponsored by the National Science Foundation, with
additional support from The University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

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