The Department of Statistics at Iowa State University will host a one-day conference on new statistical methods for next-generation sequencing data analysis. Modern sequencing (next and second generation sequencing) technologies are revolutionizing genomic analysis by improving existing high throughput methods and making other analyses feasible for the first time. For example, RNA sequencing provides an uncensored view of RNA molecules in cells or tissues; massive resequencing uncovers genetic variation across thousands of genomes; metagenome sequencing reveals genetic shifts in whole populations or ecosystems; and single-cell sequencing pinpoints genetic heterogeneity in cancer tumors. While the potential applications of the new sequencing technologies are boundless, the extraction of quantitative information from such data is severely limited by a lack of statistical methods. The conference will provide a platform to discuss the latest statistical research in next-generation data analysis and promote potential collaborations for statisticians worldwide. Confirmed speakers include George Casella, University of Florida; Sunduz Keles, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Alicia Oshlack, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Australia; Terry Speed, University of California at Berkeley; Nancy Zhang, University of Pennsylvania; and Hongyu Zhao, Yale University. In addition to plenary talks by these leaders in the field, there will be poster sessions where researchers may present their work related to next generation sequencing data.
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