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Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference: EP/C531558/1
Title: Analysis of Spatial-Temporal Genetic Data
Principal Investigator: Fearnhead, Professor P
Other Investigators:
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
Department: Mathematics and Statistics
Organisation: Lancaster University
Scheme: Springboards Scheme (Pre-FEC)
Starts: 01 September 2005 Ends: 31 August 2007 Value (£): 44,625
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:
Statistics & Appl. Probability
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:
No relevance to Underpinning Sectors
Related Grants:
Panel History:  
Summary on Grant Application Form
In recent years there has been a growth in the number of data sets which both describe the position and time of an event (for example a cow diagnosed with some bacterial infection) together with genetic information about this event (for example the genetic type of the bacteria). Common examples of these data include studies of diseases in both humans and animals, and the data offers the possibility of learning about the evolution and spread of such disease, as well as the genetic and environmental risk factors for the disease.With experimental methods for determining genetic information becoming increasingly cheaper, there is likely to be an explosion in the amount of such data that is collected over the coming years. Developing sophisticated statistical methods for analysing this type of data is thus becoming an important statistical challenge.At the moment, methods for analysing such data generally do not take account of the special structure inherent in the genetic information, and purely rely on standard methods from spatial statistics. To make maximum use of the data will require to model this genetic structure and will need ideas from both population genetics and spatial statistics. The aim of this fellowship is to provide the opportunity for the Investigator, who currently has expertise in population genetics, to develop expertise in spatial statistics.As a focus for the fellowship, the Investigator will develop methods suitable for learning about the evolution and spatial structure of a bacteria, Campylobacter Jejuni, carried in farm animals and wildlife. This bacteria causes sickness if contracted in humans, and is the major cause of gastroenteritis in the Western world.While the focus is on this specific problem, the methods developed for analysing the Campylobacter Jejuni data will be of general use in analysing spatial genetic data. The fellowship will also place the investigator in an ideal place to further develop methods for a wide range of spatial genetic data in future years.
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Organisation Website: http://www.lancs.ac.uk