National Workshops for Graduate Students and Other Scientists
offered by the Research School of Biology,
The Australian National University, Canberra in 2009

Plant Specialized (Secondary) Metabolism: Genetics, Biochemistry and Evolution
(With a special emphasis on plant volatiles)

April 15-17, 2009

A course offered by Professor Eran Pichersky (University of Michigan, USA)

We are pleased to announce a new 3-day workshop on the evolution of plant specialized metabolism.   Topics to be covered include 1. Why plants produce specialized metabolites: Ecology and evolution. 2.   Genomics of specialized metabolism. 3. Metabolomics. 4.   Biochemistry of terpenes. 5. Biochemistry of phenylpropanoids. 6.   Biochemistry of alkaloids. 7. Glucosinolates, cyanogenic glucosides, acyl sugars, fatty acid derivatives, unusual amino acids. 8. Evolution of specialized metabolism - molecular mechanisms. Hands-on practical sessions will cover methods of volatile collections from live plants, GC-MS analysis for separation and identification, databases and database searching.

Genetic Analysis for Population Studies

July 10-17, 2009

A course offered by Professor Rod Peakall (ANU) and Professor Peter Smouse (Rutgers University, USA)

This workshop covers a wide range of standard and new statistical procedures for the population analysis and is designed to ensure that students fully understand the procedures involved.   For many of the analyses, students will learn to calculate the various statistics by hand, before attempting the self-paced, computer-based tutorial examples. Examples will be drawn from a wide range of organisms. registration and more info

Analytical Methods for Population Genetics

October 6 to 9, 2009

A course offered by Dr David Gordon and Dr Celeste Linde (ANU)

The workshop will present the theoretical framework and concepts necessary to understand the processes shaping the genetic structure of microbial and eukaryote populations. Participants will be introduced to the basic analytical principles underlying a range of public domain software that are available for the analysis of population genetic data. registration and more info