Abstract:

The recent release of the first phase of the  Haplotype Mapping
project (Nature, Oct. 26, 2005 - see also, e.g. NY Times, Oct. 27),
and the rapid reduction in genotyping costs, open new directions and
opportunities in the study of complex genetic disease such as cancer
or Alzheimer's disease. The advances in genotyping technology set new
computational and statistical challenges due to the increased size of
the datasets analyzed.

In this talk I will discuss some of the computational challenges that are
set by these studies, and the current and potential  impact of
computation on the understanding of complex diseases. In particular, I
will describe recent results on  genotype phasing, tag SNP selection
(feature selection), population stratification issues (clustering),
and algorithmic issues involved in the study design.