Karl Broman
Professor Biostatistics and Medical Informatics
Ph.D., University of California at Berkeley, 1997
Postdoctoral Research: Marshfield Medical Research Foundation, Marshfield, Wisconsin
Lab Website: http://www.biostat.wisc.edu/~kbroman
Address: 4710 Medical Sciences Center
Telephone: 262-4633
E-mail: kbroman@biostat.wisc.edu
Research Interests:
Statistical problems in genetics, genomics, and molecular biology, particularly the characterization of meiotic recombination and the development of improved methods for detecting and identifying genes contributing to variation in complex traits in experimental organisms.
Research Fields:
Population - Evolution
Mouse
Research Description: My research is entirely computational, though it is driven by close collaborations with numerous laboratory scientists, at UW-Madison and elsewhere. My work has three parts: data analysis, methods development, and software development. Data analysis is my passion; I love nothing more than a new set of data, with new questions and new puzzles. Few real problems can be addressed cleanly with old methods, and so new methods must be developed. My efforts in methods development are almost entirely persuaded by the problems and data that I have at hand, and my focus is always on the problem and the data; I have retained little interest in methods for the sake of methods. Finally, I expend a great deal of effort on software development. I enjoy computer programming, but this is again something that I do not for its own sake, but in order to properly analyze data. New data lead to new methods, and new methods require new computer programs.
The primary focus of my research is on the genetic analysis of complex traits. While I have worked on problems in human linkage analysis, the bulk of my efforts concern quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping in experimental crosses (that is, mapping the genetic loci contributing to variation in quantitative traits). I have been involved in a variety of applications, largely in the mouse but also in other organisms. My methodological work has focused on the development of methods to identify multiple, interacting QTL, to tease apart the system of interacting loci that underly a complex trait.
My second major focus has been the analysis of recombination at meiosis. Without recombination, genetic mapping, whether by linkage or association, would not be possible, and so even if the analysis of recombination were not useful, the process would still deserve careful study. I have constructed genetic linkage maps in a variety of organisms, but my main interest is in characterizing crossover interference and individual and sex-specific variation in recombination.
Representative Publications:
Broman KW, Kim S, Sen Ś, Ané C, Payseur BA. Mapping quantitative trait loci onto a phylogenetic tree. Genetics, to appear
Broman KW (2012) Genotype probabilities at intermediate generations in the construction of recombinant inbred lines. Genetics 190:403-412
Broman KW (2012) Haplotype probabilities in advanced intercross populations. G3 2:199-202
Broman KW, Sen Ś (2009) A Guide to QTL Mapping with R/qtl. Springer, New York (ISBN: 978-0-387-92124-2)
Manichaikul A, Moon JY, Sen Ś, Yandell BS, Broman KW (2009) A model selection approach for the identification of quantitative trait loci in experimental crosses, allowing epistasis. Genetics 181:1077-1086
Professor Biostatistics and Medical Informatics
Ph.D., University of California at Berkeley, 1997
Postdoctoral Research: Marshfield Medical Research Foundation, Marshfield, Wisconsin
Address: 4710 Medical Sciences Center
Telephone: 262-4633
E-mail: kbroman@biostat.wisc.edu
Research Interests:
Statistical problems in genetics, genomics, and molecular biology, particularly the characterization of meiotic recombination and the development of improved methods for detecting and identifying genes contributing to variation in complex traits in experimental organisms.
Research Fields:
Population - Evolution
Mouse
My research is entirely computational, though it is driven by close collaborations with numerous laboratory scientists, at UW-Madison and elsewhere. My work has three parts: data analysis, methods development, and software development. Data analysis is my passion; I love nothing more than a new set of data, with new questions and new puzzles. Few real problems can be addressed cleanly with old methods, and so new methods must be developed. My efforts in methods development are almost entirely persuaded by the problems and data that I have at hand, and my focus is always on the problem and the data; I have retained little interest in methods for the sake of methods. Finally, I expend a great deal of effort on software development. I enjoy computer programming, but this is again something that I do not for its own sake, but in order to properly analyze data. New data lead to new methods, and new methods require new computer programs.
The primary focus of my research is on the genetic analysis of complex traits. While I have worked on problems in human linkage analysis, the bulk of my efforts concern quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping in experimental crosses (that is, mapping the genetic loci contributing to variation in quantitative traits). I have been involved in a variety of applications, largely in the mouse but also in other organisms. My methodological work has focused on the development of methods to identify multiple, interacting QTL, to tease apart the system of interacting loci that underly a complex trait.
My second major focus has been the analysis of recombination at meiosis. Without recombination, genetic mapping, whether by linkage or association, would not be possible, and so even if the analysis of recombination were not useful, the process would still deserve careful study. I have constructed genetic linkage maps in a variety of organisms, but my main interest is in characterizing crossover interference and individual and sex-specific variation in recombination.
Broman KW, Kim S, Sen Ś, Ané C, Payseur BA. Mapping quantitative trait loci onto a phylogenetic tree. Genetics, to appear
Broman KW (2012) Genotype probabilities at intermediate generations in the construction of recombinant inbred lines. Genetics 190:403-412
Broman KW (2012) Haplotype probabilities in advanced intercross populations. G3 2:199-202
Broman KW, Sen Ś (2009) A Guide to QTL Mapping with R/qtl. Springer, New York (ISBN: 978-0-387-92124-2)
Manichaikul A, Moon JY, Sen Ś, Yandell BS, Broman KW (2009) A model selection approach for the identification of quantitative trait loci in experimental crosses, allowing epistasis. Genetics 181:1077-1086
