PhyloSeminar anuncia: Philippe Lemey speaking on Phylogenetic diffusion models

The next speaker will be Philippe Lemey speaking Friday, July 16
at noon PDT on "Phylogenetic diffusion models and their applications
in viral epidemiology."

Emerging infectious diseases continue to appear all over the world,
and importantly, they have also risen significantly over time after.
Having the potential to quickly adapt to new hosts and environments,
RNA viruses are prime candidates to emerge as global threats to human
health. Their rapid rate of evolution, however, also turns viral
genomes into valuable resources to reconstruct the spatial and
temporal processes that are shaping epidemic or endemic dynamics. In
this seminar, I will highlight recent developments in phylogenetic
diffusion models that tie together sequence evolution and geographic
history in a coherent statistical framework. Both discrete and
continuous phylogeographic models have recently been implemented in a
Bayesian statistical approach. I will position this approach among
other popular phylogeographic methods, and then focus on applications
in viral molecular epidemiology to demonstrate their use. Finally, I
will hint at future extensions that may provide entirely new
opportunities for phylogeographic hypothesis testing.

I hope you will be able to attend this exciting talk.

To attend this and other talks, learn how to connect ahead of time, and join the email list by sending an email to phyloseminar+subscribe@googlegroups.com.
If you can't make it, don't fret-- you can always watch the recording.


Thanks,

Erick

Nueva revista sobre Mastozoologia: Therya

La Asoc. Mex. de Mastozoologia ha lanzado THERYA, una nueva revista que pretende dar salida a la publicación de artículos sobre todos los aspectos de los mamíferos.

El contenido del primer número puede ser consultado en línea en:
http://www.mastozoologiamexicana.org/therya.php
Los artículos de este primer numero no son ni taxonómicos ni filogenéticos. Pero estemos pendientes de los próximos números y veremos si esta revista publica investigación filogenética.

IX Reunion Argentina de Cladistica y Biogeografía, Ciudad de La Plata

IX Reunión Argentina de Cladística y Biogeografía
15 al 17 de noviembre 2010 La Plata-Buenos Aires
SEGUNDA CIRCULAR
IX REUNIÓN ARGENTINA DE CLADÍSTICA Y
BIOGEOGRAFÍA
La Plata-Buenos Aires
15 al 17 de noviembre 2010
Organiza:
Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo - UNLP

Nos dirigimos a ustedes para hacerles llegar la Segunda Circular de la IX Reunión
Argentina de Cladística y Biogeografía, que se realizará en la localidad de La
Plata, Buenos Aires, los días 15 al 17 de noviembre de 2010.
La Comisión Organizadora los invita a visitar la página web: http://www.racb2010.com.ar
En la misma encontrarán la información actualizada sobre la Reunión.
Sede
La Reunión tendrá lugar en la Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo (FCNyM) de la
Universidad Nacional de La Plata, con sedes en el edificio de la avenida 60 y 122 y en
el Museo de La Plata situado en el Paseo del Bosque s/n, La Plata, Buenos Aires,
Argentina.
Actividades
Se organizan conferencias, simposios, comunicaciones libres y taller pos-reunión.
Programa preliminar
Las Conferencias plenarias estarán a cargo de:
-Dr. Jorge V. Crisci, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, UNLP, Argentina.
-Dr. Gonzalo Giribet, Harvard University, USA,
-Dr. Miguel Angel Arnedo, Universidad de Barcelona, España

Los Simposios agruparán una serie de ponencias sobre las siguientes temáticas:

• Problemas metodológicos Coordinador: Dr. Pablo Goloboff (CONICET, UN de Tucumán)
• Problemas empíricos Coordinador: Dra. Adriana Marvaldi (CONICET, IADIZA-CRICYT, Mendoza)
• Biogeografía Coordinador: Dr. Sergio Roig (CONICET, IADIZACRICYT, Mendoza)

Las Comunicaciones Libres podrán ser presentadas en forma oral o poster y serán
sometidos a evaluación por un Comité Científico.
El envío de resúmenes se realizará a través de esta página web (modalidad on-line),
entre el 1 de junio y el 31 de agosto del corriente. Al menos uno de los autores deberá
estar inscripto.
Las indicaciones sobre el formato de los resúmenes se brindarán en la próxima
circular.
Inscripción
Se realizará a través de la página web de la Reunión ( http://www.racb2010.com.ar )
a partir del 1º de junio.
Montos de inscripción
CATEGORÍAS 
Profesionales $300, Hasta el 31 de agosto de 2010 $400, Desde 1 de septiembre de 2010
Estudiantes de grado $150 $200
Formas de Pago
El abono de la inscripción podrá realizarse a partir de 1º de junio a través de:
- Depósito a la Cuenta Corriente BBVA Banco Francés Denominación: Fundación
Museo de La Plata “Francisco Pascasio Moreno”
Nº de Cuenta: 300379/6
Sucursal: 093 (Calle 47 nº 641, La Plata)
CBU: 0170093020000030037960
CUIT: 30-62526995-0
SWIFT: BFRPARBA
Para acreditar el pago, una vez realizado el depósito bancario, se debe escribir a la
dirección de correo electrónico: fundacion@fcnym.unlp.edu.ar, consignando los
siguientes datos: Apellido y nombres del inscripto, monto depositado, fecha del
depósito, nº de comprobante, banco y sucursal. Junto con este aviso adjuntar una
copia de la boleta de depósito.

- Mediante efectivo, tarjeta de crédito (Visa o Mastercard) o cheque (a nombre
de Fundación Museo de La Plata “Francisco Pascasio Moreno”) en la Secretaría de la
Fundación Museo de La Plata “Francisco Pascasio Moreno”, Museo de La Plata, en el
horario de lunes a viernes de 9 a 13 hs.
Contactos e Información
Para mayor información, consultas o sugerencias escribir a través del link “contacto”
de la página web de la Reunión.
Próximamente en la página web y en la tercera circular se ampliará la información
sobre:
-cronograma de actividades
-formato para el envío de resúmenes
-listas de hoteles y promociones de alojamiento
Le agradeceremos que difunda este documento entre sus colegas.

Coming up: Botany 2010

Botany 2010 Conference Overview

BOTANY 2010 will be held in Providence, Rhode Island July 31– August 4, 2010.

Societies participating in BOTANY 2010 will include:

• American Bryological and Lichenological Society (ABLS),
  
• American Fern Society (AFS),
  
• American Society of Plant Taxonomists (ASPT), and
  
• Botanical Society of America (BSA).

READ MORE ::>

Marzo 29 en PhyloSeminar: Probabilistic analysis of gene families with respect with gene duplication, gene loss, and lateral gene transfer

On March 29th, phyloseminar.org will present Jens Lagergren speaking
on "Probabilistic analysis of gene families with respect with gene
duplication, gene loss, and lateral gene transfer."
NOTE: the seminar will begin at 10h PST, which is three hours earlier
than the previous seminars.
ABSTRACT
Incongruences between gene trees and corresponding species trees are
common. Gene duplication, gene loss, and lateral gene transfer are
three types of evolutionary events that can cause such incongruences.
I will first describe a probabilistic process that contains standard
models of nucleotide substitutions (i.e., such that underly
probabilistic methods for phylogenetic tree reconstruction) as well as
gene duplication and gene loss. This process takes place in a given
species tree and can be used to reconstruct a gene tree for a gene
family of interest and simultaneously reconcile the gene tree with the
species tree. I will describe the algorithms available for this model
and also describe how they perform on biological data compared to
competing methods. Finally, I will describe an extension of this model
that also contains lateral gene transfer and show how it performs on
synthetic data.


Hope to see you there!

Erick Matsen

Internship opportunity at the NHM, London

Taxonomy Trainee Scheme: Natural History Museum
As a response to the widely perceived decline in taxonomic and curatorial expertise, the Natural History Museum, London invites expressions of interest for taxonomy trainees. The aim is to enthuse and help train a number of people with a demonstrable interest in taxonomy and museum collections, by giving them an opportunity to learn taxonomic and curatorial skills under guidance from experienced staff in the environment of the Natural History Museum’s world famous specimen collections.
The traineeship will equip you with a range of basic taxonomic and curatorial skills and are suitable for individuals seeking further development in this discipline and who wish to experience this type of work.
This project is intended to be rolled out as a fee paying traineeship, but for the first year, as a trial, a small number of short-term (three month) traineeships will have the fee waived, and instead the Museum will provide daily allowances toward accommodation, subsistence and travel.
Traineeships will be available in the Departments of Botany, Entomology and Zoology. Dates of traineeships are negotiable with supervisors, but must take place between March and October 2010.
Successful applicants will have:

• a good general education to A-level or equivalent
• a demonstrable enthusiasm for natural history
• previous experience, however small, of handling animal or plant specimens
• attention to detail
• the ability to work with others
• the ability to work to deadlines
• a willingness to take on tasks with a positive attitude
• familiarity with standard computer software e.g. Word, Excel.

If you wish to apply, please send a letter outlining you interests, qualities and reasons for applying to the following address not later than 15th March 2010. Please state which department you have a preference for (you may apply to all of them but please make clear how your interests fit with each department).
Shazima Tejani
Taxonomy Traineeship Scheme
The Natural History Museum
Cromwell Road
London SW7 9BD
Email: s.tejani@nhm.ac.uk
The successful candidates will be involved in one of the following projects:
Taxonomy Traineeship Scheme:
1. Botany. Identification of type specimens in the Liverwort Herbarium This project involves tracing which specimens represent type material. It is very strongly taxonomy oriented and provides an opportunity to work in an internationally important botanical collection, learning the core skills of curation as well as specimen-based research.
2. Open Air Laboratory (OPAL) surveys. This is an opportunity to take part in a citizen science project. Some field work is involved and there may be limited week-end work.
3. Taxonomic and curatorial work in the Natural History Museum’s beetle collections. Beetles are the most diverse group of organisms on the planet, and the Natural History Museum’s collections are probably the most comprehensive in the world. The successful applicant will spend three months working on designated taxonomy and curatorial projects in the collections, learning essential skills from the Museum’s renowned team of coleopterists.
4. Taxonomic and curatorial work in the Natural History Museum’s Zoology Department. The Zoology Department's collections comprise 30 million specimens, 22 million of which are in spirit. The successful candidate will experience the diverse challenges of identifying and curating specimens from one, or several, zoological groups possibly including, but not necessarily limited to, fish, birds and lower invertebrates. Please state your preferences in your application.