Ancient DNA: applications in human evolutionary history

Professor Erika Hagelberg, University of Oslo, Norway

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Erika Hagelberg gained a PhD in biochemistry from Cambridge University, and a master in history and philosophy of science from University College London. From 1987 to 1992, she worked at the then Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, on the analysis of DNA from ancient bone. While in Oxford, she pioneered the earliest applications of bone DNA typing in forensic identification and human evolutionary history. After holding teaching positions at Cambridge University and at the University of Otago, New Zealand, in 2002 she was appointed professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Oslo, Norway. Her main research interests are in the fields of ancient DNA and the human settlement of the Pacific.

Professor Michael Hofreiter, University of York, UK

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Professor Michi Hofreiter studied biology in Munich, and completed his diploma with Svante Paabo on DNA from ground sloth feces to reconstruct vegetation changes during the Pleistocene. He then moved to the Max Plank Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, completing his PhD in 2002 on cave bear population genetics and ancient DNA damage, and a post doc in 2005 working on various aspects of ancient DNA including population analyses of Pleistocene species, DNA extraction methods, palaeogenomics. From 2005 he ran an independent research group at the MPI looking at mammoth and mastodon phylogenetics, functional ancient DNA analyses, and adapting Next Generation Sequencing for work with ancient DNA and multiple samples. Since April 2009 he has been Professor of Evolutionary Biology and Ecology at the University of York.

 

Professor Christine Keyser, Université de Strasbourg, France

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Biography

Christine Keyser currently is Full Professor at the University of Strasbourg (France). In 1996, she received her PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology and in 2007 her Habilitation in Genetics, both from the University of Strasbourg. She has taught as an Assistant Professor from 2003 to 2011. In 2001, she was appointed legal expert by the Court of Appeal of Colmar and in 2002 she was accredited to proceed to the genetic identification of persons. Until recently, she worked as forensic DNA expert for the French Ministry of Justice to identify living or deceased persons. She has both teaching and research duties, mainly in the fields of population genetics, forensic genetics, and molecular anthropology. Her research, conducted within the Institute of Legal Medicine of Strasbourg (AMIS laboratory), has been pioneer, in France, in the use of molecular techniques applied to forensic human identification for the study of ancient human remains.

Her research area covers many aspects of ancient DNA works such as the study of the kinship relations within a necropolis, the migration patterns of a population, the phenotypic traits and bio-geographic ancestry of ancient specimens or the disease of past human populations. At this time, her research projects are conducted mainly in four regions of the world: Central Asia, Siberia, Southern America, and Europe.