About GAW

More than a year before each Genetic Analysis Workshop, suggestions for topic and appropriate data sets are solicited from people on the GAW mailing list (which now includes more than 1500 individuals). Topics are chosen and a small group of organizers is selected by the GAW Advisory Committee. Data sets are assembled, and six or seven months before each GAW, a memo is sent to individuals on the GAW mailing list announcing the availability of the GAW data. Included with the memo is a short description of the data sets and a form for requesting data. The form contains a statement to be signed by any investigator requesting the data, acknowledging that the data are confidential and agreeing not to use them for any purpose other than the Genetic Analysis Workshop without written permission from the data provider(s). Data are distributed by the ftp or CD-ROM or, most recently, on the web, together with a more complete written description of the data sets.

 

Investigators who wish to participate in GAW submit written contributions approximately 6-8 weeks before the Workshop. The GAW Advisory Committee reviews contributions for relevance to the GAW topics. Contributions are assembled and distributed to all participants approximately two weeks before the Workshop. Participation in the GAWs is limited to investigators who (1) submit results of their analyses for presentation at the Workshop, or (2) are data providers, invited speakers or discussants, or Workshop organizers.

 

GAWs are held just before the meetings of the American Society of Human Genetics or the International Genetic Epidemiology Society, at a meeting site nearby. We choose a location that will encourage interaction among participants and permit an intense period of concentrated work.

 

The proceedings of each GAW are published. Proceedings from GAW16 were published in part by Genetic Epidemiology 33(Suppl 1), S1-S110 (2009) and in part by Biomed Central (BMC Proceedings, Volume 3, Supplement 7, 2009).