Date: 2013-02-08

Time: 14:30-15:30

Location: BURN 1205

Abstract:

In the context of univariate association tests between a trait of interest and common genetic variants (SNPs) across the whole genome, corrections for multiple testing have been well-studied. Due to the patterns of correlation (i.e. linkage disequilibrium), the number of independent tests remains close to 1 million, even when many more common genetic markers are available. With the advent of the DNA sequencing era, however, newly-identified genetic variants tend to be rare or even unique, and consequently single-variant tests of association have little power. As a result, region-based tests of association are being developed that examine associations between the trait and all the genetic variability in a small pre-defined region of the genome. However, coping with multiple testing in this situation has had little attention. I will discuss two aspects of multiple testing for region-based tests. First, I will describe a method for estimating the effective number of independent tests, and second, I will discuss an approach for controlling type I error that is based stratified false discovery rates, where strata are defined by external information such as genomic annotation.

Speaker

Celia Greenwood is an Associate Professor at the Department of Oncology at the McGill Faculty of Medicine