For two weeks I have an opportunity of a lifetime! I am visiting my genetics collaborators, Pår Ingvarsson and Carolina Bernhardsson (and colleagues) at Umeå University in Sweden! During my visit, I am learning about the genetic pipelines that my collaborators have put together to (1) extract DNA from each clone at our WisAsp Common Garden, (2) sequence these data with RapidGenomics, (3) align the raw sequence reads, (4) call SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms), (5) filter these SNPs, and (6) then process these data using GWA (genome-wide association) analyses to identify the particular genes that underlie key aspen traits and insect communities. Through all of this, Carolina has given me a crash course in genomic data analyses and UNIX, and Jing Wang has answered all of my GWA questions!
I have also had some time to explore the city of Umeå and some of the Swedish culture! The city itself has great access to nature with rivers, lakes, and forests in walking distance, and the culture is fantastic! I have enjoyed the university, fikas, and the strong coffee!
Also, I would like to thank the Graduate School at UW-Madison for funding this adventure!
Hilary Barker 