Gordon Research Conference on Quantitative Genetics and Genomics, Ciocoo, Italy, February 9-15, 2019

第17届戈登数量遗传学和基因组学研究会议（GRC）题为“大数据在数量遗传学中的应用”，将于2019年2月10日至15日在意大利卢卡（巴尔加）举行。这是及时的，因为随着数据集变得越来越大，它们需要新的分析方法来产生新的知识。定量遗传学和基因组学是指将遗传学概念与计算和统计工具相结合，研究复杂性状（如鸟类的卵窝大小）、医学（如心血管疾病）和农业（如玉米产量）的进化和功能的科学领域。直到最近，人们对复杂性状背后的遗传学知之甚少。在过去的十年中，由于基因组和计算技术的可用性，在数量性状研究方面发生了一场革命。然而，从这些数据中提取知识是具有挑战性的，本次会议将讨论最新的研究和技术进展。会议的结果将是这些技术在各种生物问题上的各种应用之间的知识交流。从长远来看，这将有利于医药和农业，例如新药和支持个性化医疗和新作物品种的信息。基因组全关联研究已经发现了许多影响多种物种重要性状的位点，有助于对这些性状的理解。尽管在绘制许多性状的风险位点方面取得了成功，但已确定的因果突变的数量仍然很低。为了克服这个问题，使用一系列基因组技术的实验正在进行中。其中包括使用RNA测序来研究基因表达的遗传学和基因组位点的功能注释，例如使用ChipSeq。虽然有许多会议涵盖了与本次GRC相同议程的部分内容，但这可能是唯一一次将农业、医学和进化领域的复杂性状遗传学研究人员聚集在一起，以交流技术、方法和技术的会议。GRCs在留出大量讨论时间和非正式讨论机会方面也很不寻常。这导致了思想的交叉受精和新的合作。在会议开始前的两天时间里，将为年轻科学家和研究人员举办一个相关的戈登研究研讨会（GRS）。在GRS中还有一个强大的指导组成部分，参加GRC的资深科学家被邀请到GRS参加指导午餐，并与参加GRS的研究生和博士后进行小组讨论。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The 17th Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Quantitative Genetics and Genomics is entitled "The Use of Big Data in Quantitative Genetics", and scheduled for February 10-15, 2019 in Lucca (Barga), Italy. This is timely because as datasets become larger they demand new analytical approaches for yielding new knowledge. Quantitative genetics and genomics refer to the fields of science that combines concepts of genetics with computational and statistical tools to study the evolution and function of complex traits (e.g., clutch size in birds), medicine (e.g., cardiovascular disease), and agriculture (e.g., yield of corn). The genetics underlying complex traits was, until recently, very poorly known. Over the last decade there has been a revolution in research on quantitative traits due to availability of genomic and computational technologies. However, extracting knowledge from such data is challenging and this conference will discuss the latest research and technological advances. The outcomes from the conference will be an exchange of knowledge between the various uses of these technologies to a variety of biological questions. In the longer term, there will be benefits to medicine and to agriculture such as new drugs and information to support personalized medicine and new varieties of crop. Genome wide association studies have discovered many loci that affect important traits in a wide variety of species, contributing to the understanding of these traits. Despite the success in mapping risk loci for many traits, the number of causal mutations that have been identified is low. To overcome this problem experiments using a range of omic technologies are underway. These include use of RNA sequencing to study the genetics of gene expression and functional annotation of genomic sites, e.g. using ChipSeq. While there are many conferences that cover parts of the same agenda as this GRC, this is probably the only conference that brings together those working in complex trait genetics from agriculture, medicine, and evolution in order to exchange techniques, approaches, and technologies. The GRCs are also unusual in the large amount of time set aside for discussion and the opportunities for informal discussion. This leads to cross fertilization of ideas and new collaborations. An associated Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) will take place over the course of two-days leading up to the start of the conference for young scientists and investigators. In the GRS there is also a strong mentoring component where senior scientists attending the GRC are invited to the GRS for a mentoring lunch as well as a panel discussion with graduate students and post-docs attending the GRS.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.