Events
Upcoming events hosted by or involving Genetics Otago will be listed here. Please check back regularly for updates. A calendar of events that may be of interest to our members can be found at the bottom of this page and in the sidebar of other pages on this site, please note that this includes events hosted outside of Genetics Otago.
Logan Walker IPL
Preparing for the future of genetic health
Logan is a cancer geneticist and the current Associate Dean Research, at the University of Otago Christchurch. His research focuses on understanding the impact of genetic changes on health. After completing post-doctoral training in Australia, and returning to the University of Otago, his research programme was significantly strengthened by being awarded a Sir Charles Hercus Health Research Fellowship (Health Research Council) followed by a Rutherford Discovery Fellowship (Royal Society Te Apārangi).
He is an invited member of several international groups tasked with improving protocols for genetic testing around the world. This work includes developing RNA diagnostic guidelines for both the clinical and research setting, and providing expert advice about the implementation of these guidelines and the interpretation of genetic test results. In collaboration with multiple international consortia, he has also contributed to and led some of the largest genetic association studies to discover inherited DNA copy number changes that increase or decrease susceptibility to cancer.s.
Date: Tuessday, 11th March 2025
Time: 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm
Venue: Rolleston Lecture Theatre, Christchurch Campus (and via Zoom)
AlphaFold for Geneticists
The AlphaFold for Geneticists workshop will introduce participants to the AI tool AlphaFold. Attendees will learn how to run AlphaFold on their chosen variant and interpret outputted results. Led by experts Prof Peter Mace and Dr Adam Middleton, the session will provide insight into the strengths and limitations of AlphaFold. Further details will be provided to registrants.
Date: Monday, 24th March 2025
Time: 9:00 am – 12:00 pm
Venue: TBC, Dunedin Campus
This workshop is now full, please email go@otago.ac.nz if you would like to be added to the waitlist.
Calendar of Events
The below is a calendar of events hosted by GO as well as events hosted by others that may be of interest to our members. If you have an event you would like us to include please contact us here.
This week’s Botany Seminar is on Wednesday 12 March 2025, 12:00 noon and will feature Steffi Storz, PhD Candidate from the Department of Botany. Details in the poster attached.
This will be held in the Otago Business School, Seminar Room LG.05, or you can join via the Zoom link:
https://otago.zoom.us/j/94239463064?pwd=d051YWFwdVB1bi9FSzBjYzkwNWJBUT09 Password: 807740
Please attend in person if you can.
This online workshop is delivered by Genomics Aotearoa and NeSI, and will be taught on Wednesday 26th of March from 10:00am-4:00pm NZT. It is for New Zealand researchers interested in data visualisation with ggplot2.
Good visualisation is about more than just writing the correct code. Visualisation is communication, and good communication requires thinking about how we as the scientist/data analyst/creator convey our message to the reader. This one-day workshop will provide you with a toolbox of skills and code examples to help you create clear, visually interesting visualisations which accurately communicate a message.
We will cover:
The basic code template for ggplot
Visualisations for ourselves (exploratory analysis)
Examples of good data visualisation (with code)
Building a complex and visually appealing figure together
Visualising your own data (time permitting)
Who this workshop is for
Scientists who have learned at least some R (Base R or tidyverse) and want to improve their ability to visualise data. You do not need to have any experience with ggplot2 to take part in this workshop. This workshop is also suitable for someone who has made a few basic plots and wants to learn about new geoms and optional arguments for making a more appealing plot.
Setup
This is a fully online, hands-on workshop. This workshop material will be run on the NeSI OnDemand platform – there is no need to install any software for this workshop. Instructions on how to access the training platform will be sent out with the confirmation letter to registrants.
Participants must have their own laptops and plan to participate actively. You will require a working web browser.
If you have any questions about these workshops, including whether they are suitable for you, please contact tyler.mcinnes@otago.ac.nz.