Current Topics Workshop Description:

The Problems of Phylogenetic Analysis of Large Datasets
December 1-2, 2005
(cosponsored by the College of Medicine at The Ohio State University)

In this workshop, we will focus on recent advances in phylogenetic analysis of large datasets considering two major aspects. The first is the problem of analysis of datasets with a large number of taxa (exceeding several hundreds). This includes recent improvements in tree search algorithms and synergistic application of parallelization strategies using Beowulf clusters and distributed computing. The workshop participants will also compare and discuss the use of improved search tools for competing methods (e.g., parsimony, maximum likelihood, Bayesian). This discussion will illustrate advantages and problems associated specific to various methods with the analysis of datasets with large number of taxa.

The second point of discussion will be the problems associated with analysis of large comparative genomic datasets with various types of information (homology, rearrangement, origin, loss, and multiplication among loci between ancestor and descendant genomes). This problem includes the generalization of edit cost models to account for of multiple kinds of genomic change rather than only DNA substitution.

In summary, this workshop aims to gather leading researchers in this field to discuss common and specific problems, applications, and new models for large-scale phylogenetic and genomic analysis.