Mike
Weale
The Centre for Genetic Anthropology
Departments of Anthropology and of Biology, University College London
I have worked as a statistical geneticist
within The Centre for Genetic Anthropology since 1999. In that time I
have contributed to the publication of 11 published papers, and one book
chapter, arising from my TCGA work (see my publication
list ). The analysis of data for genetic anthropological questions
presents several challenges. Often, one wants to use genetic data collected
from modern samples to make inferences about past demography. A typical
example is presented here
. In order to make these inferences, models have to be constructed that
make assumptions both about the mutational mechanisms acting on the genetic
data and on the demographic forces acting on past populations. As neither
of these is known with great certainty, the trick is to construct analyses
that are robust to a range of plausible mutational and demographic scenarios.
In many cases, I have had to develop new statistical methods to meet the
challenges presented in this field (see TCGA
software ). To take two examples: (1) “FLIP” is a package
developed for the study on Anglo-Saxon
mass migration . It allows a wide variety of alternative population
genetic models to be explored, focusing on distinguishing the three ways
in which genetic similarity can be generated between two populations (these
are: recent descent from a common ancestral population; continuous “background”
migration over time; and “single-event” mass migrations).
(2) “YTime” is a package for inferring Time to Most Recent
Common Ancestor (TMRCA) of Y chromosome clades based on linked microsatellite
data. Recent work (AJHG 74: 1183-97) suggests that the old Single Stepwise
Mutation Model for Y chromosome microsatellites is not a good descriptor
of the mutational mechanisms involved, and an alternative linear length-dependent
model has been proposed instead. “YTime” allows the use to
select either model (as well as various population growth models), and
so investigate the effect this has on the inference of the TMRCA.
In addition to my work at TCGA, I also work as a consultant statistical
geneticist within Professor David Goldstein’s group. For more on
this work see herehere
.
Finally, in addition to the above I have also co-founded an e-learning
development company called Henry Stewart
Talks , and edited its first series on Genetic Epidemiology.
Publications list
Contact
infomation
++44 (0) 207 679 2654
++44 (0) 207 679 7096
The Centre for Genetic Anthropology
Darwin Building
Gower StreetLondon,
WC1E 6BT