Workshop: Distinguishability in Phylogenetic Networks

This week we are back in Leiden (in the Netherlands), for the third workshop sponsored by the Lorentz Center. The first workshop, in October 2012, is discussed in this blog post: Workshop: The Future of Phylogenetic Networks. The second one, in July 2014, is discussed here: Workshop: Touching the Data.

I say "we" because all of the blog authors are attending, making up nearly one-quarter of the participants. As before, it has been organized by Steven Kelk, Leo van Iersel, and David Morrison, this time along with Céline Scornavacca. The program and abstracts can be found here. It runs for the whole week 13 August – 17 August 2018.

The workshop is similar to the previous one, in that it is intended to be a small and well-focused event. The basic aim, as before, is to get biologists and computational people to sit down in a small group and actually talk about real phylogenetic issues. The main issue at hand this time can be called "indistinguishability", which significantly complicates the reconstruction, analysis and interpretation of phylogenetic networks. This includes the problems of: (i) distinguishing horizontal from vertical descent, (ii) distinguishing among reticulate processes, (iii) distinguishing reticulate evolution from incomplete lineage sorting, and (iv) distinguishing among network topologies.

You will note that we seem to be in the Netherlands in World Cup years. This is quite safe this year, but last time the workshop was in July, and my wife and I traveled through Germany at the end of the campaign, which was an "interesting" experience.

I am hoping to add some blog posts based on what happens at the workshop, either as it proceeds or at the end.

Workshop: Touching the Data

This week we have returned to Leiden (in the Netherlands), for another workshop sponsored by the Lorentz Center. The previous workshop, in October 2012, is discussed in this prior blog post: Workshop: The Future of Phylogenetic Networks.

The full title of the new workshop is: Utilizing Genealogical Phylogenetic Networks in Evolutionary Biology: Touching the Data. As before, it has been organized by Steven Kelk, Leo van Iersel, Leen Stoogie and myself. The program and abstracts can be found here. It runs for the whole week 7 July – 11 July 2014.

The workshop differs significantly from the previous workshop in two ways: it is intended to be a much smaller and more focused workshop, and it is intended to be practical rather than theoretical. The basic aim is to get biologists and computational people to sit down in small groups and actually talk about real phylogenetic data, so that each side of the phylogenetics "coin" gets to understand a bit better what is going on on the other side. To this end, we have gathered together some of the experts in the field specifically of evolutionary / genealogical networks (rather than data-display networks), as this is the area that needs the greatest future development. We have also gathered together some real-world datasets involving apparent reticulating evolution, which will be the focus of discussion. These datasets are available here and also here.

The weather is predicted to be changeable during the workshop, which is to be expected in northern Europe even in summer — that is why everyone else has gone to southern Europe.

I am hoping to add some blog posts based on what happens at the workshop, as it proceeds.

The Future of Phylogenetic Networks: Videos

This note is just to inform everyone that video files of some of the presentations from the workshop The Future of Phylogenetic Networks are now online at a DailyMotion web page called Phylogenetic Networks. This page has been set up by Philippe Gambette, who also recorded the videos.

Those of you who were there can reminisce about what happened, and those of you who were not there can see what it was all about.

The Future of Phylogenetic Networks: Presentations

This note is just to make sure that everyone knows that PDF files of most of the presentations from the workshop The Future of Phylogenetic Networks are now online at the Lorentz Center web page.

Those of you who were there can check up on things you may have missed, and those of you who were not there can see what it was all about. Some of the presentations have been modified slightly (to remove unpublished or confidential data, for example).

Note especially that Leo van Iersel's final summary of the Workshop is an excellent digest of what was said.

Workshop: The Future of Phylogenetic Networks

I am currently sitting in a hotel room in Leiden (in the Netherlands), ready to take part tomorrow in the above workshop, which is sponsored by the Lorentz Center.

The workshop has been organized by Steven Kelk, Leo van Iersel, Leen Stoogie and myself, and the program and abstracts can be found here. It runs for the whole week, 15 Oct - 19 Oct 2012. We have gathered together a real wealth of talent in the field, both biologists and mathematicians, and so we are expecting a productive week for everyone involved. In particular, the weather is predicted to be changeable during the workshop, which is to be expected in northern Europe in October, and so we shall all have to stay indoors and actually discuss phylogenetic networks.

I am hoping to add some blog posts based on what happens at the workshop, as it proceeds. We have, unfortunately, had a couple of "no shows", but otherwise things are proceeding smoothly.