Speaker: Davide Pigoli (King's College London)

Title: Functional data analysis of biological growth processes

 Abstract: Functional data are examples of high-dimensional data when the observed variables have a natural ordering and are generated by an underlying smooth process. These additional properties allow us to develop methods that go beyond what would be possible with classical multivariate techniques. In this talk, I will demonstrate the potential of functional data analysis for biological growth processes in two different applications. The first one is in forensic entomology, where there is the need of estimating time-dependent growth curves from experiments where larvae have been exposed to a relatively small number of constant temperature profiles. The second one is in quantitative genetics, where the growth curve is a function-valued phenotypic trait from which the continuous genetic variation needs to be estimated.