Mendelian Randomization Boot Camp: A Practical Guide to Study Design and Implementation

The Mendelian Randomization Boot Camp is a two-day intensive combination of seminars and hands-on analytical sessions to provide an overview of the concepts, techniques, packages, data sources, and data analysis methods needed to conduct Mendelian Randomization studies.

This two-day intensive boot camp integrates motivation for Mendelian randomization studies, statistical concepts, genetic considerations, and practical examples to design, implement and interpret a Mendelian randomization analysis. Led by Dr. Mary Schooling, a scientist with several award winning papers on Mendelian randomization combined with extensive expertise in epidemiology, the workshop will integrate seminar lectures with hands-on computer sessions to put concepts into practice.

Emphasis will be given to leveraging existing publicly available resources (data, tools and packages) as well as indicating the scope for new studies. The afternoon lab sessions will provide an opportunity to work hands-on with real data. Participants will learn and practice all the steps required for a successful Mendelian randomization analysis using publicly available data, including identifying suitable data sources, data extraction, data alignment, assumption checking and sensitivity analysis.

There is a limited capacity for the Boot Camp. Investigators at all career stages are welcome to attend, and we particularly encourage trainees and early-stage investigators to participate.

Prerequisites/Requirements:

• Each participant is required to bring a personal laptop as all lab sessions will be done on your personal laptop. Your laptop must have the capability of reading a 900Mb file into R.
• The Boot Camp will use data sets in R, therefore it is required that each participant has previous experience using R.
• Each participant must have the latest version of R and R studio downloaded and installed prior to attending the Boot Camp. Instructions can be found on the course website.

More Information:

• Paid registration required through RegFox: https://columbia-workshops.regfox.com/2019-mendelian-randomization
• More information about training details, registration deadlines, fees, and logistics can be found on our website at https://www.mailman.columbia.edu/mendelianrandomization
• Email us at Columbia.SPH.MR@gmail.com