Society of Systematic Biologists

The Phyloinformatics Summer of Code program provides a unique opportunity for undergraduate, masters, and PhD students to obtain hands-on experience writing and extending open-source software for evolutionary informatics under the mentorship of experienced developers from around the world. The program is the participation of the US National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent) as a mentoring organization in the Google Summer of Code™.

Course Contacts: Wang Xiaoling training@genomics.org.cn and William Piel (piel@treebase.org) Organizing Committee: Li Zhuo, Wang Xiaoling, Hilmar Lapp, William Piel, Todd Vision

Computational Phyloinformatics (http://www.nescent.org/courses/2010/comphy/) is an 11-day intensive summer course co-sponsored by BGI-Shenzhen and the U.S. National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent), and will take place at the BGI-Shenzhen genomics institute in Yah Tian District, Shenzhen, China, August 5-17, 2010. The venue is in proximity to beaches, national forests, and holiday resorts. The course aims to give students practical knowledge and hands-on programming skills in phyloinformatics.

25 July - 6 August 2010, individual research session 6 - 13 August 2010
http://www.molecularevolution.org/workshop
Application Deadline 1 March 2010

The Workshop on Molecular Evolution has been the finest course on the subject since first offered in 1988 in Woods Hole, USA. The Workshop consists of a series of lectures, demonstrations and computer laboratories that cover various aspects of molecular evolution. Faculty are chosen exclusively for their effectiveness in teaching theory and practice in molecular evolution. Included among the faculty are developers and other experts in the use of computer programs and packages such as BLAST, BEAST, Clustal W and Clustal X, FASTA, FigTree, GARLI, Genealogical Sorting Index, LAMARC, MAFFT, MrBayes, PAML, PAUP*, and SeaView who provide demonstrations and consultations. The course is designed for established investigators, postdoctoral scholars, and advanced graduate students with prior experience in molecular evolution and related fields. Scientists with strong interests in molecular evolution, phylogenetics, population genetics, and related fields are encouraged to apply for admission. Lectures and computer laboratories total ~90 hours of scheduled instruction. An optional all-computer laboratory of 54+ hours of independent work with guidance and consultation of some faculty and teaching assistants is offered during the third week. Admission is limited and highly competitive, with admissions decisions determined by an international committee. Participants find the individual research session to be especially useful.

3-12 May 2010
Iraklio (Heraklion), Crete
http://cwp.embo.org/pc10-25/

Deadline for applications: 31 January 2010

This EMBO Practical Course aims to provide researchers with the theoretical knowledge and practical skills required to carry out molecular evolutionary analysis on their own data and on data drawn from sequence databases. The course will combine basic assumptions and ideas fundamental to the field with discussion of cutting-edge methodologies, and is therefore relevant to researchers with a range of different experience levels.

Český Krumlov, Czech Republic

24 January - 5 February 2010

Application Deadline: 1 October 2009

http://workshop.molecularevolution.org/

Michael P. Cummings and Scott A. Handley, Co-Directors
Naiara Rodriquez-Ezpeleta, Associate Director

The Workshop on Comparative Genomics consists of a series of lectures, demonstrations and computer laboratories that cover various aspects of comparative genomics. Faculty are chosen exclusively for their effectiveness in teaching theory and practice in comparative genomics. Included among the faculty are developers and other experts in the use of computer programs and packages such as Ensembl, Galaxy, and Species Assignment Package who provide demonstrations and consultations. The course is designed for established investigators, postdoctoral scholars, and advanced graduate students. Scientists with strong interests in the uses of short-read sequence data, analytical methods, comparative structure of genomes, SNP detection and analysis, CNV, genome visualization tools and related areas are encouraged to apply for admission. Lectures and computer laboratories total ~90 hours of scheduled instruction. Admission is limited and highly competitive, with admissions decisions determined by an international committee.

Topics to be covered include:

• Sequencing technologies: short-read sequencing technologies of various types
• Assembly and alignment: basic analyses in de novo and resequencing studies
  • Gene finding and annotation: functional description of genomic data
  • Genome characterization: gene content; genome structure; synteny; SNPs; copy number variation (CNV)
  Assigning sequences to taxonomic groups in metagenomic studies: moving from sequences of unknown taxa to known taxa

  2010 Fee: 2250 USD. Fee include opening reception and mid-course dinner, but does not include other meals or housing. Special discounted pricing has been arranged for hotels, pensions and hostels.

  For more information and online application see the Workshop web site http://workshop.molecularevolution.org/

  The Workshop on Molecular Evolution is also being offered immediately before the Workshop on Comparative Genomics.

Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic

10 - 22 January 2010, individual research session 22 - 29 January 2010

Application Deadline: 1 October 2009

http://workshop.molecularevolution.org/

Michael P. Cummings and Scott A. Handley, Co-Directors
Naiara Rodriquez-Ezpeleta, Associate Director

The Workshop on Molecular Evolution has been the finest course on the subject since first offered in 1988 in Woods Hole, USA. The Workshop will again be offerred in Europe, in January 2010. The Workshop consists of a series of lectures, demonstrations and computer laboratories that cover various aspects of molecular evolution. Faculty are chosen exclusively for their effectiveness in teaching theory and practice in molecular evolution. Included among the faculty are developers and other experts in the use of computer programs and packages such as BLAST, BEAST, Clustal W and Clustal X, FASTA, FigTree, Genealogical Sorting Index, GARLI, LAMARC, MAFFT, Migrate-N, MrBayes, PAML, PAUP*, and SeaView who provide demonstrations and consultations.

The course is designed for established investigators, postdoctoral scholars, and advanced graduate students with prior experience in molecular evolution and related fields. Scientists with strong interests in molecular evolution, phylogenetics, population genetics, and related fields are encouraged to apply for admission. Scheduled  lectures and computer laboratories total ~90 hours of instruction. An optional all-computer laboratory of 54+ hours of independent work with guidance and consultation of some faculty and teaching assistants is offered during the third week. Admission is limited and highly competitive, with admissions decisions determined by an international
committee.

Topics to be covered include:

• Databases and sequence matching: database searching: protein sequence versus protein structure; homology; mathematical, statistical, and theoretical aspects of sequence database searches
• Phylogenetic analysis: theoretical, mathematical and statistical bases; sampling properties of sequence data; Bayesian analysis; hypothesis testing
• Maximum likelihood theory and practice in phylogenetics and population genetics: coalescent theory; maximum likelihood estimation of population genetic parameters
• Molecular evolution integrated at organism and higher levels: population biology; biogeography; ecology; systematics and conservation; population genetics
• Molecular evolution and development: gene duplication and divergence; gene family organization; coordinated expression in evolution
• Comparative genomics: genome content; genome structure; genome evolution
• Molecular evolution of recently diverged species

2010 Fee: 1800 USD, plus an additional 750 USD for the highly recommended, but optional, third week of all-computer laboratory for work on your own data with guidance and consultation of some faculty and teaching assistants. Fees include opening reception and mid-course dinner,  but do not include other meals or housing. Special discounted pricing has been arranged for hotels, pensions and hostels.

For more information and online application see the Workshop web site http://workshop.molecularevolution.org/

The Workshop on Comparative Genomics is also being offered immediately following the Workshop on Molecular Evolution.

The Phyloinformatics Summer of Code program provides a unique opportunity for undergraduate, masters, and PhD students to obtain hands-on experience writing and extending open-source software for evolutionary informatics under the mentorship of experienced developers from around the world. The program is the participation of the US National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent) as a mentoring organization in the Google Summer of Code.

MORIARTY LEMMON LAB NOW ACCEPTING GRADUATE STUDENTS FOR FALL 2009

The new laboratory of Emily Moriarty Lemmon at Florida State University (Tallahassee) is now accepting enthusiastic and motivated graduate students for Fall 2009, particularly those with herpetological and evolutionary biology interests. The focus of the Moriarty Lemmon Lab is the study of speciation, and to study this process the lab employs an approach that integrates across diverse fields including behavioral ecology, phylogenetics, phylogeography, population genetics, genomics, and ecology.

For 2008 BSCS is offering an institute focused on evolution, titled “Evolution: Earth & Life” for those teaching Evolution. In addition to the information below, you can locate more at www.bscs.org/si. It includes a six-day, face-to-face workshop experience in Colorado Springs, Colorado (50 hours PD), 20-25 JULY 2008, and an online professional learning community that will be moderated through May 2009 (up to 55 hours additional PD).

24 July - 4 August 2008

http://www.nescent.org/courses/2008/comphy/

Course Director: William Piel (piel@treebase.org)
Course Administrator: Jory Weintraub (jory@nescent.org)
Organizing Committee: Hilmar Lapp, William Piel, Todd Vision, Jory Weintraub

Computational Phyloinformatics is a 10-day summer course sponsored by and held at the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent) in Durham, North Carolina (USA) that aims to give students practical knowledge and hands-on skills in phyloinformatics.