| Title |
Concepts and current topics in evolution |
|---|---|
| People | Prof. Gadau |
| Duration | Winter block II |
This module provides a comprehensive review and hands on practices of fundamental concepts in evolutionary biology (e.g. evolutionary theories and history, population genetics/genomics, speciation, extinction, biodiversity, biogeography, sex and sexual selection, fitness, systematics and phylogenetics, quantitative genetics, as well as human evolution). Furthermore, the students will learn to plan, conduct and present independent scientific projects they develop during the course. The projects will be partly computer-based, and the students will test a developed hypothesis e.g. by conducting multiple sequence alignments, constructing phylogenetic trees using several tree building methods, etc.
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| Title |
Molecular Phylogenetics |
|---|---|
| People | Prof. Müller |
| Duration | Winter Block III |
The course gives an introduction to the main methods used today in phylogenetics, including e.g. multiple sequence alignment, phylogenetic inference with parsimony, likelihood and Bayesian methods or model- and hypothesis testing. For all these methods there will be a lecture on the theoretical background helping you to understand the advantages and disadvantages of each method, and corresponding practicals, where you learn to apply the different methods on research data and handle phylogenetic software tools. Research-relevant modern methods for dealing with genomic data is integrated in the course, both in terms of theoretical elaboration (lecture) and practical use.
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| Title |
Host-Parasite Coevolution |
|---|---|
| People | Prof. Kurtz |
| Duration | Winter block IV |
Grundlegendes Verständnis evolutiver Prozesse, insbesondere von Koevolution; Kenntnisse des Hintergrundes sowie des aktuellen Forschungsstandes auf dem Gebiet der Wirt-Parasit Koevolution; Vermittlung einiger grundlegender Kenntnisses auf den Gebieten der Evolutionsbiologie, Immunologie, Parasitologie und Koevolution; Befähigung, kleinere Forschungsarbeiten auf diesen Gebieten selbständig zu planen, durchzuführen und die Ergebnisse darzustellen
| Title |
Biocomputing I / II |
|---|---|
| People | Prof. Bornberg-Bauer |
| Duration | Winter block |
Students will learn how to write powerful scripts to automatize repetitive tasks and analyze diverse datasets from disparate resources. The module includes lectures covering the basics of Python programming and supervised practicals in which the students will apply the techniques covered in the lectures to biological datasets. Biocomputing II is aimed at students who are comfortable with Python scripting (or who have significant experience in another programming language) and who wish to extend their skills to more advanced topics and data analysis.
| Title |
The Growth of Evolutionary Thought |
|---|---|
| People | Dr. Czuppon |
| Duration | Winter throughout the semester |
The lectures and accompanying journal clubs will deal with different aspects of evolutionary biology, in particular offering an interdisciplinary and historical perspective on the development of evolutionary theory. Lectures will be given by various experts from the WWU and from elsewhere on their current research, e.g. in evolutionary ecology, evolutionary medicine, or behavioral ecology. The lectures vary from year to year. The journal clubs will introduce the students to the topic related to the next lecture by discussion of a research or review article.
| Title |
Advanced statistical methods for biological data analysis |
|---|---|
| People | Dr. Czuppon |
| Duration | Summer Block I |
The course is about advanced statistical concepts to analyze experimental data. The first week of the course is a crash-course of basic statistical analysis and covers concepts like statistical significance, t-tests and ANOVA. The second week will address the more general framework of general linear models. In particular, this framework encompasses all of the models studied in the first week and newly introduced ones like ANCOVA. In the third week, we will talk about what to do when data is not normally distributed. The models known as generalized linear models are the flexible framework, in which one can study a large variety of experimental setups and data that is not necessarily normally distributed. In the last week, we will talk about Bayesian inference, which is a shift in viewpoint to the traditional frequentists analyses (weeks 1-3). Bayesian inference has gained a lot of popularity in the last decade, thanks to a huge increase of computational power, and is a very powerful tool to analyze highly complex data structures. Lastly, we will also talk a lot about `diagnostics' throughout the course, i.e., the assessment of the adequacy of the statistical model to describe the data.
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| Title |
Modeling of biological systems |
|---|---|
| People | Dr. Czuppon |
| Duration | Summer block II |
The module is an introduction into modeling of biological systems in ecology, evolution and molecular biology. The goal is to teach the whole process of model analysis, i.e., model design, model simulation and model analysis. The choice of a suitable model strongly depends on the biological question that one wants to study. In the module the advantages and disadvantages of different modeling approaches will be taught. Additionally, the students will learn some basic tools to analyze these different types of models. In the accompanying tutorials a special focus will be put on the implementation and simulation of the models (julia and/or python).
| Title |
Experimental Ecology |
|---|---|
| People | Prof. Meyer |
| Duration | Summer block II |
Selected topical problems of aquatic ecology will be addressed and exemplified by use of model systems, experimental approaches, and basic statistical models. Experiments refer, depending on the problem and the selected methods, to different spatio-temporal scales and allow for inference to specific properties of the studied systems which are e.g., dynamics of organismic structures, functional processes, interactions with the environment, integrative characteristics of autecological traits, physiological/behavioral responses, and trophic energy pathways. Formulation of premises, hypotheses, the critical evaluation and discussion of results will form a theoretical substructure. The thematic scope spans various ecological aspects, systematic morphology, environmental biology, physiology, and molecular biology. The students will conduct projects in smaller groups.
| Title |
Molecular Protein Evolution |
|---|---|
| People | Prof. Bornberg-Bauer |
| Duration | Summer block III |
This course is an introduction into the principles of molecular protein evolution, and experimental techniques to study protein evolution along with their applications in biotechnology. Laboratory techniques covered in the course focus on mutating proteins at specific sites (rational design) or at random sites (directed evolution), and selecting the mutated proteins for specific functions.
Lecture: The following topics are addressed in theoretical lectures: Introduction to biodiversity, methods to estimate biodiversity in aquatic environments, biodiversity indexes, food web models, (short) taxonomy and ecology of phyto- and zooplankton, invertebrates and macrophytes including morphological characters and adaptations, statistical analysis methods.
Practical: Sampling techniques, mapping of water plants, working with identification keys, quantification and classification of sampled material and generating basic data (with reference to taxonomy, trophic position, functional type, etc.).
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