STAT 550 : Projects

Broadly the class has three main topic areas:
Topic 1: Inferences from population data, at one or several loci (including haplotyping issues etc.)
Topic 2: gene identity by descent, and its use in sib pair analyses etc.
Topic 3: linkage analysis and probabilities on pedigrees
There are not hard dividing lines -- the division is just supposed to guide your thinking. Topic 3 has most scope, but is less easy for those not already familiar with some of these ideas, unless they are willing to read ahead.

Here is a list of papers (PDF). Right now this is still the 2013 list.
It will be updated with more recent papers, of which there are several suitable. Note, for ease of updating etc, I have just made a rough list (first 3 pages), and then used bibtex to create the list of full references (last 4 pages).

Any additional suggestions or requests may be sent to me by email.

Format for report
Your report should be no more than the equivalent of six single-spaced typed pages. It should contain an introduction, a description of what the paper does, and how this fits into the broader content of work in Statistical Genetics. Your report should also have a conclusion. I would expect it to contain (a few) citations to other papers. If it does, these should be properly cited, and there should be a bibliography (for which you may use an additional half-page, if necessary).

If necessary, your report may have appendix material beyond the main 6.5 pages, but the main report should be self-contained. Appendix material should be purely supplementary, and lengthy appendices will be disregarded.

Alternatively you may choose to do
A computing simulation study or data analysis project.
Various software is, or can be made, available, or you can write your own program. Same idea, and same report format. Summarize the analyses, their objectives, your results, and what they tell us about the broader picture.
IMPORTANT NOTE: It will not be possible to give much advice or help to those doing this option. If you know what you want to do, and can do it, you are welcome to email me your proposal to get it approved, but please note that after that you are on your own.