Department of Statistics Seminar
North Carolina State University

presents

Drs. Jimmy Doi and Jared Lunceford

California Polytechnic State University (CalPoly) and
Merck Research Laboratories

A Sampler of NCSU Alumni

• Dr. Jimmy Doi jdoi@calpoly.edu (download the slides)
  Title: Exact Unconditional Methods for the Difference of Proportions
  Abstract: Exact tests based upon the difference of two independent binomial proportions are popularly used and are especially suited for studies with small to moderate sample sizes. In the context of testing for superiority, we apply the confidence region p-value method (Berger and Boos, 1994) in proposing an exact test which has been found to perform better than the standard exact test in many situations. In both cases, the tests use unconditional distributions and the variances of the test statistics are determined via a restricted maximum likelihood method (Farrington and Manning, 1990). Inverting the tests, we derive corresponding confidence intervals and we provide coverage probability and expected length comparisons.

• Dr. Jared Lunceford jared_lunceford@merck.com (download the slides)
  Title: Pharmacogenetic Analysis with Haplotype Data
  Abstract: Pharmacogenetics is the science of linking DNA sequence variation to pharmacotherapy response variation. Candidate genes, relevant to a metabolic pathway of interest and potentially influencing drug response, may be investigated by genotyping a number of polymorphisms within each gene for patients participating in clinical trials. Such investigations are highly exploratory with the statistician playing a principal role in designing a defensible strategy for detecting potential associations between multiple clinical endpoints and genotypes at multiple sites within a set of candidate genes. Recent high resolution investigations of human DNA sequence variation over large chromosomal regions have shown polymorphic sites group into blocks of highly correlated polymorphisms. This correlation between polymorphisms is referred to as linkage disequilibrium (LD), and characterizing the patterns of LD within genes and using these patterns to guide the definition of patient haplotypes is an important aspect of pharmacogenetic analyses. This talk will introduce issues and strategies related to using haplotypes in the context of pharmacogenetic substudies of standard phase II or phase III clinical trials.

Friday, November 5, 2004

3:35 - 4:35 pm

206 Cox Hall

Refreshments will be served on the second floor of Dabney Hall (left of Room 222) at 3:00 pm.