Erasmus Summer Programme Courses
Take a look at all the courses in the Erasmus Summer Programme, and find the course right for you.
View all ESP coursesAdvanced Analysis of Genome-wide Association Studies [ESP74]
Course highlights
EC points
1.4
Start date
14 August 2023
End date
18 August 2023
Course days
Monday to Friday (5 full days)
Course time
From 8:45 till 16:00 CEST
Faculty
Prof. Fernando Rivadeneira, Dr. Carolina Medina Gomez and others
Course fee
€ 1028
Location
Erasmus MC, Rotterdam NL
Level
Advanced
Prerequisites
Basic understanding of genetic epidemiology and statistics (regression analysis and maximum likelihood estimation).
See course description below for more information.
Disciplines
- Genetic Epidemiology
- Methodology
- Advanced Statistics
Course Materials
Digitally, download instructions will be sent before the start of the course, by e-mail.
Design your programme
Use our Programme Configurator to design and plan your own programme.
ConfiguratorTestimonial

Itai Magodoro
Zimbabwe
The professors - who are at the cutting edge in their respective fields - bring science to life!
Read the full storyDetailed information about this course:
Description
Faculty: Prof. Fernando Rivadeneira, MD PhD, Carolina Medina Gomez, PhD and others
Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) constitute a powerful approach to investigate the genetic basis of complex traits and disorders. The course consists of lectures providing a conceptual framework on crucial aspects of quality control, genotype imputation, methods to detect and correct for stratification, meta-analysis and genomic annotation of GWAS signals. An overview of the most frequently used statistical tools will be accompanied by instructive hands-on computer exercises on the principles of analysis of quantitative traits and disease outcomes. State of the art procedures for running GWAS will be taught, including: Quality Control / QC (PLINK2); GWAS analysis including mixed models (rvtests and SAGE); Meta-analysis QC (EasyQC); and GWAS Meta-analysis (METAL). Post-GWAS functional follow-up procedures will include downstream analysis (FINEMAP and FUMA). While theoretical background is provided on all topics, this is by definition a "hands-on" practical course, meaning you will spend most of the day performing genetic analyses. The course format will allow interactive break-out discussion sessions on theoretical and practical aspects of running GWAS, together with expert-advice procurement on diverse components of collaborative research within networks and consortia.
Participants of this course should be familiar running Linux commands and with running scripts and packages in R-programming language. These skills are taught in the NIHES courses: EL016 (GE14) "Linux for Scientists" and EL019 (GE03) "Genome-wide Association Studies"; and participants are encouraged to follow these courses in advance.
Note for participants of the 2021 NIHES GE03 edition! This edition of GE03 was an advanced version, so content overlap with this ESP74 will be present. Please inquire before registering. There is no overlap for participants of the 2022 edition of the course (now EL019).
Objectives
This course aims to train participants in the principles of GWAS, addressing aspects of study design, data analysis, extending to the interpretation and follow-up of results.
After completing the course, participants will be able to understand the principles of GWAS; perform genome-wide association analysis using state-of-the-art software tools; interpret GWAS results; and integrate them in a genomic context by means of web-based bioinformatics resources.
Participant profile
Clinical researchers, clinical epidemiologists, molecular biologists, bioinformaticians and biostatisticians aspiring to run analyses of genome-wide association studies.
Assessment
Attendance