Overview of Workshop 3

Genome Variation, Diversity and Evolution

Co-chairs: K Thangaraj and Sharif Akhteruzzaman

It is generally accepted that humans originated in Africa and spread to the rest of the world within the last 60,000 years. However, we have still not understood many of the details of the evolution and migration of human populations. Traditionally historians, archaeologists and paleontologists have investigated the past, while indirect evidence from modern human populations has been sought by linguists, and increasingly today by molecular biologists. In recent years, several groups of scientists from all over the world have been investigating these. Similarly, efforts are being made to understand the genetic basis of differences in disease susceptibility, including complex disorders, by studying the genetic variations among different ethnic populations, an area that many see as important for the future of medicine. This sets the stage for a highly interesting Workshop on "Genome Variation, Diversity and Evolution" where leading experts of this field could assemble and discuss the current status and future directions of this important and interesting topic. This workshop would provide a platform to discuss on the following topics: Prehistoric/fossil evidence; Anthropology and linguistics; Global human population structure; mtDNA, Y-chromosome, autosome and X-chromosome variations; Evolution of disease susceptibility; Forensic genetics; Natural selection; Statistics/software in phylogenetic analysis; and other related fields.