2026 International Statistical Genetics Workshop

The 2026 International Statistical Genetics Workshop will be a virtual course held online, with live sessions on June 1—11, 2026, and pre-recorded lectures to be viewed before the live sessions. Live sessions will meet Monday--Thursday each week. To accommodate different time zones, sessions will be held twice per day, with students registering for the track most convenient to them.

This course will integrate material from both the Latent Genetics and Molecular Genetics traditions, emphasizing their synergy in understanding human complex traits.

Course Information

Timeline

  • January 31, 2026—Registration will open
  • Late May, 2026—Students will start watching pre-recorded lectures
  • June, 2026—The live sessions will be held
    Daily subtopics are a preliminary schedule of what may be covered on each day, and may not be the final or complete list of subject matter.
    • June 1, Day 1: Background
      • Lead: Loïc Yengo
      • Topics: biometrical modeling; population genetics; data sources; ethics and historical context; simulations and PCA.
    • June 2, Day 2: Working with data
      • Lead: Elizabeth Prom-Wormley
      • Topics: assumptions, QC, imputation, PLINK and R basics, phenotype distributions, and transformations.
    • June 3, Day 3: Modeling genetic and environmental components
      • Leads: Hermine Maes and Sarah Medland
      • Topics: heritability, variance components, matrix approaches, IBD vs IBS, family and twin modeling.
    • June 4, Day 4: GWAS and meta-analysis
      • Lead: Abdel Abdellaoui
      • Topics: PLINK, SAIGE, METAL, within-family GWAS, rGE and assortative mating, RAPs, interpretation.
    • June 8, Day 5: Prediction
      • Lead: Jian Zeng
      • Topics: prediction theory, ROC analysis, polygenic risk scores, SBayesRC, G×E applications.
    • June 9, Day 6: Multivariate Concepts
      • Lead: Andrew Grotzinger
      • Topics: genetic correlations, LD-score regression, Genomic SEM.
    • June 10, Day 7: Causation
      • Lead: David Evans
      • Topics: causal inference, Mendelian randomization (univariate and multivariate), longitudinal and family-based designs, genetic confounding.
    • June 11, Day 8: Biological Interpretation
      • Lead: Benjamin Neale
      • Topics: rare variants, fine mapping, TWAS, omics integration, cross-ancestry and AI-based prediction.

Session Times

Below is a table showing the expected start times of the two live sessions. The focus of the A and B tracks will be identical, only the meeting times are different. Students will only participate in one session per day. It is expected live sessions will last 2-4 hours.

ÌýSession A daily start timeSession B daily start timeTimezone
Los Angeles, USA06:0015:00PDT
Boulder, USA07:0016:00MDT
Boston, USA09:0018:00EDT
São Paulo, Brazil10:0019:00BRT
Corresponding UTC13:0022:00UTC
London, United Kingdom14:0023:00BST
Amsterdam, Netherlands15:0000:00 +1 dayCEST
Tel Aviv, Israel16:0001:00 +1 dayIDT
Kolkata, India18:3003:30 +1 dayIST
Beijing, China21:0006:00 +1 dayCST
Brisbane, Australia23:0008:00 +1 dayAEST