Biobanks: Study Design and Data Analysis
November 1-2, 2018
Harvard Medical School Conference Center | Boston, MA
#HarvardPQG18
The impetus for the 2018 Conference of the Program in Quantitative Genomics of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health comes from the proliferation of large scale biobanks worldwide. Biobanks are composed of massive genetic and genomic data, epidemiological data, Electronic Medical Records, wearable devices and imaging data. Examples of large biobanks include UK Biobank, China Kadoorie Biobank, eMERGE, Finland Biobank, Million Veteran Program, and MyCode Project of the Geisinger Health System, among others. The use of biobanks is becoming an essential and potentially revolutionary approach to biomedical research, with the capacity to improve the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of a wide range of illnesses, and to advance personalized health. To take full advantage of the enormous opportunities presented in biobanks, there is an urgent need for discussing important quantitative issues, leveraging interdisciplinary expertise, and designing studies with increased scale and power. This conference aims at discussing several key quantitative challenges in biobank studies, including designing biobanks to meet a wide array of needs, developing strategies for improving phenotyping accuracy, harmonizing data across biobanks, and developing analytic methods for biobank data.
The conference will be centered on the following three topics:
SESSION 1: Types of Biobanks
SESSION 2: Biobank Data Analysis
SESSION 3: Phenotyping and Harmonization Across Biobanks
Keynote Speakers:
Tianxi Cai Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Gil McVean Oxford University
Catherine Sudlow UK Biobank, University of Edinburgh
Distinguished Speakers:
Zhengming Chen China Kadoorie Biobank, Oxford University
Kelly Cho Boston VA, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, HMS
Joshua Denny Vanderbilt University
David Ledbettter Geisinger Health System
Seunggeun Shawn Lee University of Michigan
Shawn Murphy Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School
Benjamin Neale Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School
Samuli Ripatti University of Helsinki, Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM)
Manuel Rivas Stanford University
The conference program includes time for scientific presentations and a poster session and reception for submitted abstracts. Please visit the conference website for more details.
Registration + travel awards will be provided to support junior researchers who submit abstracts.
*Three abstracts will be selected to be presented as 10-minute platform talks
