PhD - Medical science (SS 2022)
Genetische Epidemiologie (Wahlfach)

LVA-Verzeichnis

Lecturer

Objective

To understand the principal methods of gene identification by the methods of genetic epidemiology (e.g. linkage analysis, association studies, genome-wide association studies, Mendelian randomization studies). Students should become experienced in critical reading of papers in this field published in all major and minor journals.

Content

The following topics will be discussed:

  1. Some basic principles of genetics important for genetic epidemiology
  2. What methods can we use to map genes?
  3. Linkage analysis
  4. Linkage disequilibrium mapping (association studies)
  5. Genome-wide association studies
  6. Case-control studies (including pitfalls, advantages and disadvantages) versus population-based studies
  7. Candidate gene approach versus whole genome scan
  8. Mendelian randomization studies as tool to support causality.
  9. Why should we put more weight on the phenotype? The course will consist of a lecture introducing the basic principles followed by discussion of published literature with the goal to read the papers very critically and to come up with recommendations how to perform an optimal project. The lecture is also interesting for students who perform functional studies to show them which sources they have to combine their data with genetic epidemiological sources that are widely available.