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Western Bioinformatics Research Seminar Series
Time and date: 11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. (Toronto ET), Friday, April 24, 2026
Location: via Zoom
Zoom link: Join the Zoom meeting
Presentation title: The Code of Survival: Machine Learning Deciphers How Life Thrives in Extreme Conditions
Speaker: Ailene MacPherson, PhD
Canada Research Chair, Assistant Professor
Department of Mathematics and Biological Sciences
Simon Fraser University
Learning objectives
- Describe macroevolutionary and epidemiological patterns of biodiversity using clade size.
- Derive theoretical expectations for clade size under birth–death and coalescent diversification models.
- Use clade size to explain parameter non-identifiability in birth–death models and to distinguish between density-dependent and time-dependent diversification.
- Formulate and interpret predictions for epidemiological cluster size in growing versus declining epidemics.
- Explain the relationship between clade size and the site-frequency spectrum.