Chair: Phil Wilcox
Genomic selection and genomic estimated breeding values in genotype by environment data: a proof of concept for RPBC
Brian Cullis, Alison Smith and Paul Jefferson
10.15 am - 10.40 am
Selection tools built on factor analytic models for genotype by environment data
Alison Smith and Brian Cullis
10.40 am - 11.15 am
Media and technology is evolving so quickly that making exciting science communication seems both temptingly possible and impossibly scary. Where do you start? Come and have lunch while meeting and listening to people who have taken their first steps, dived in, survived and created some fantastic stuff about science - in public?
Confirmed Speakers
Jack Scanlan, PhD Candidate, Melbourne University, Editor-in-Chief, Lateral Magazine.
Joshua Harris, Chiasma Dunedin CEO
Jean Balchin, English Literature Honours student, University of Otago, author of
A History of NZ Science in 25 Objects
Ellen Rykers, Master of Science Communication Student, University of Otago, freelance writer and science communicator.
Jesse Bering, Assoc. Professor, Centre for Science Communication, University of Otago
Evolution of a global superbug
Myth or relict: Does ancient DNA detect the enigmatic Upland seal? Alex Salis
Untangling the evolutionary history of the European Bison Ayla van Lenen
Madagascar’s extinct elephant birds: what we know from molecular studies Alicia Grealy
Out of Australia - Are New Zealand's extinct giant birds of prey descendants of recent Australian migrants? Michael Knapp
Ancient DNA reveals extinction and replacement of New Zealand’s unique flight-reduced semi-terrestrial swans Nic Rawlence
Ancient DNA from museum specimens: techniques for minimizing damage Lara Shepherd
Ancient DNA clarifies the evolutionary history, taxonomy and distribution of crested penguins Theresa Cole
Jamie Gongora - University of Sydney
Katherine Harrisson - La Trobe University
Richard Frankham - Macquarie University
In Darwin's day, tracking the process of biological evolution was limited to studying changes and differences in the physical forms of fossils and living species. For nearly 40 years now, these studies have been supplemented, increasingly powerfully, by DNA analyses. From comparisons of just a few key DNA sequences, DNA technology itself has evolved to allow evolutionary biologists to compare the entire genomes (all of an organism’s DNA) of species.
In recent years, researchers have begun to integrate DNA from historic and even ancient specimens into such genomic analyses, following the realization that while analyzing modern samples can tell us about the end point of evolutionary processes, inclusion of samples from the past can literally provide insight into the changes as they happened.
We are now seeing the dawn of an era in which population level genomic analyses of ancient and present day populations are possible. Tom will explore the power of such approaches in this talk using human, dog and maize evolution as examples.