Opportunities Offered by Big Data in Quantitative Genetics and Genomics: Methods, Insights and Future Directions

In the fast-moving field of quantitative genetics, some of the most exciting and cutting edge work and ideas come from graduate students and post-doctoral researchers. The Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) on Quantitative Genetics and Genomics is a unique forum for graduate students and post-docs from human, animal and plant genetics to present their current work, exchange ideas, share insights, and establish new collaborations. There will be opportunities to meet and interact with senior scientists during the seminar. A mentoring session will be organized on the second day, where small groups composed of attendees and mentors will discuss topics related to careers in quantitative genetics.

The focus of this year's meeting is the opportunities and challenges in working with big data. Big data encompasses and is not limited to: large sample sizes; multiple phenotypes, tissue types or molecular layers; diverse genetic backgrounds; rich environmental or context information; novel data-types generated through both high throughput and targeted experiments. We will discuss the insights we gain into genetics of complex traits using diverse datasets, the challenges we need to overcome, and the opportunities for future research. Statistical, computational, and experimental methods will be presented.

The mentorship component will consist of informal interactions during lunch where participants are split into groups to discuss a topic of their choice with senior scientists, followed by a panel discussion session where mentors summarize the discussions at lunch and take further questions from the participants. The mentors are distinguished senior scientists who are invited for this session and who will also interact with participants throughout the GRS. They will cover the following topics relevant to career progression of early career researchers at the mentoring session:

• Tuuli Lappalainen: Identifying directions of research in a fast expanding field
• Ruth Wagner (Monsanto): Research opportunities in industry
• Guilherme Rosa: Gaining and managing independence in research
• Bruce Walsh: Method development in quantitative genetics
• Ed Buckler: Soft skills in research - writing, presenting and networking
• Anne Stapleton: Interdisciplinary work - how to ace challenges and gain new skills
• Bogdan Pasaniuc: Making the postdoctoral position work for you