Statistical Issues in Studies of Genetic Susceptibility to Disease
ABSTRACT:
Genetic epidemiology is the study of the relationship between genetic
factors and disease. In this research area there are different study designs
that depend on the type of disease as well as the nature of the genetic data
available. In this seminar, general study designs for genetic epidemiologic
studies will be explored. In addition, analytic challenges will be described.
A focus will be on association studies, where the goal is to investigate
specific candidate genes. In these studies, typical statistical assumptions
are not appropriate and methods that take into account the nature of the
observed data, for the purpose of study design, will be described.
About the Speaker
Gerarda Ann Darlington
obtained her B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from the University of Guelph. She
then moved to the University of Waterloo for her Ph.D. Following her
doctoral work Gerarda spent 10 years as a Senior Biostatistician in the
Division of Preventive Oncology, Cancer Care Ontario in Toronto. Two
years ago she returned to the University of Guelph as an Assistant
Professor. Her research interests are in the area of biostatistics.
She has worked on statistical methods for correlated data. She has also
worked extensively on statistical methods for epidemiologic and
genetic epidemiologic studies.
References
S. B. Bull, G. A. Darlington, C. M. T. Greenwoodand J. Shin (2001)
Design Considerations for Association Studies of Candidate Genes in
Families. Genetic Epidemiology20, 149-174.
A pdf copy of the transparencies from this talk are available
here.
