A Review of Coalescent Genealogy of Populations
Academic Level at Time of Presentation
Sophomore
Major
Biomedical Sciences
Minor
Mathematics
List all Project Mentors & Advisor(s)
Dr. Maeve McCarthy
Presentation Format
Oral Presentation
Abstract/Description
Coalescent theory of genetics is a theory that can help determine the relationship between different forms of the same genes (alleles) and their ancestral copies. Coalescence helps us describe how recently two individuals in a population had a most recent common ancestor, and it can tell us when in an ancestral history an allele generated. This theory has a variety of applications in disease gene mapping, polymorphism, and evolutionary theory. There are several equations that go into this theory of population genetics, the foundation of which was developed by John Kingman in the 1980s. The presentation will discuss Kingman’s contributions to coalescent theory and how it has been developed for our utilization today.
Spring Scholars Week 2018 Event
Projects in Biomathematics (BIO/MAT 460)
A Review of Coalescent Genealogy of Populations
Coalescent theory of genetics is a theory that can help determine the relationship between different forms of the same genes (alleles) and their ancestral copies. Coalescence helps us describe how recently two individuals in a population had a most recent common ancestor, and it can tell us when in an ancestral history an allele generated. This theory has a variety of applications in disease gene mapping, polymorphism, and evolutionary theory. There are several equations that go into this theory of population genetics, the foundation of which was developed by John Kingman in the 1980s. The presentation will discuss Kingman’s contributions to coalescent theory and how it has been developed for our utilization today.