PhD Studentship Available for October 2012
Applications are invited for a PhD studentship in Statistics at the University of Warwick, funded by a NIH RO1 grant, joint with University of Maryland, Baltimore.
Title: SOLAR-Eclipse Computational Tools for Imaging Genetics
Supervisors: Dr. Thomas Nichols (Warwick) and Dr. Peter Kochunov (U. Maryland Baltimore)
Funding: Tuition fees (at UK/EU level) and tax-free stipend for a 3.5 year PhD. Stipend rises annually as per the UK Research Councils minimum rate (£13,590 for 2011/11).
Start Date: October 2012
Project Description: Imaging genetics is an exciting merger of neuroscience and genomics, looking to discover and understand the genetic variation in brain imaging phenotypes. The over-all goal of this project is to create a new imaging genetic tool, that will allow the use of imaging data with classical genetic and epigenetic epidemiological analyses such as heritability, pleiotropy, quantitative trait loci (QTL) and genome-wide association (GWAS), gene expression, and methylation analyses. The project will extend the the widely used genetics SOLAR software, creating the "SOLAR-Eclipse" toolkit.
This studentship specifically concerns the development of inference methods that account for the genomic and spatial structure in the data analyzed. In particular, multiple testing methods that account for both the spatial nature of the signal and correlated noise structure. The methods must work with both independent samples (unrelated individuals) and pedigrees (related subjects). The methods developed will be ultimately be released as a standalone application and integrated into the existing neuroscience eScience networks. Such an integrate analysis package will greatly enhance and speed up the search for genes that influence brain's neuroanatomic and functional traits and provide comprehensive tools to illustrate pathways from genes to brain structure/function. It is expected that a combination of permutation and random field theory based methods will be developed to meet these goals. Grant pending final approval; studentship conditional on grant award.
Requirements: The studentship is available to candidates with the equivalent of a first class or upper second class degree in a relevant discipline, and who meet University entry requirements (see http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/academicoffice/gsp/prospective ).
Eligibility: UK or EU nationals. Non-EU nationals can apply, but would be responsible for the difference between UK/EU fees and international fees.
To Apply: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/statistics/postgrad/research/apply (and please notify Dr. Nichols t.e.nichols@warwick.ac.uk when application is submitted)
Deadline: Applications are considered on rolling basis, up until 31 July 2012, but priority given to applications received before 15 April.
Inquires: Specific questions on this project should be directed to Thomas Nicholst.e.nichols@warwick.ac.uk; questions on the postgraduate application process at Warwick should be directed to stats.pg.support@warwick.ac.uk
Links:
- Peter Kochunov recently moved to University of Maryland Baltimore. For more on his work see his lab's profile from U. Texas Health Science Center.
