[Colloquium] Xia/Dissertation Defense/Nov 10, 2009

[Margaret Jaffey]

       Department of Computer Science/The University of Chicago

                     *** Dissertation Defense ***


Candidate:  Fangfang Xia

Date:  Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Time:  11:00 AM

Place:  Searle 240A (5735 Ellis)

Title: Inference of Evolutionary Trees and Horizontal Gene Transfer

Abstract:
As sequence data has accumulated, emphasis in evolutionary molecular
biology has been placed on identifying homologous gene families, and
from gene families, reconstructing evolutionary histories for species.
However, evolutionary processes such as gene duplication, gene loss
and horizontal gene transfer can result in incongruence between gene
and species trees. In this thesis, we present algorithms for tree
reconciliation and species tree reconstruction both within a parsimony
framework and a likelihood framework. Our focus will be on the
likelihood model that integrates sequence evolution, macroevolutionary
processes and a relaxed molecular clock for substitution rates. We
validate our algorithms by simulation studies and we demonstrate their
utility in case studies with real sequence data to estimate rates of
evolutionary events, infer subsystem and species phylogenies, and
detect horizontal gene transfer.

Candidate's Advisor: Prof. Rick Stevens

Login to the Computer Science Department website for details,
including a draft copy of the dissertation:

 https://www.cs.uchicago.edu/phd/phd_announcements#fangfang

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Margaret P. Jaffey            margaret at cs.uchicago.edu
Department of Computer Science
Student Support Rep (Ry 156)               (773) 702-6011
The University of Chicago      http://www.cs.uchicago.edu
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