Human Biology

Dr. François Balloux, Imperial College Faculty of Medicine, London, United Kingdom

Discipline: population genetics

Research interests: the genetic make-up of human populations and their pathogens; the development of a coherent and flexible framework for “eco-geographic” analyses of epidemiological and genetic data in space and time

Keywords: spatial genetic models, epidemiology, human settlement history, origin of infection diseases, Host-pathogen co-evolution

Prof. Carlos Bustamante, Stanford School of Medicine, USA

Discipline: population genetics and genomics of humans and domesticated plants and animals

Research interests: analyzing genome wide patterns of variation within and between species to address fundamental questions in biology, anthropology, and medicine; human population genomics and global health including developing statistical, computational, and genomic resources for enabling trans- and multi-ethnic genome-wide association; medical sequencing studies of complex biomedical phenotypes; works on a variety of organisms and model systems ranging from humans and other primates to domesticated plants and animals

Keywords: population genetics, genomics, evolutionary genomic, domestication

Dr. Graciela Cabana, The University of Tennessee-Knoxville, USA

Discipline: biological anthropology, bioarchaeology, molecular anthropology

Research interests: integration of theory and data from biological, archaeological, and cultural sources and their application to the interpretation of human behavior, past and present; migration theory in anthropology; relationship between genotype and phenotype (morphology); demographic inference through simulation modeling; socio-cultural impact of genetic research, particularly on identity formation; developing interest in forensic genetics

Keywords: ancient DNA, bioarchaeology, migration theory, computer simulation, South America, Argentina

Dr. Francesc Calafell, Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (CSIC-UPF), Spain

Discipline: human population genetics

Research interests: human genetic diversity in several directions; extracting information of genetic data on populations to learn about their history, demography, and adaptations to the climate; exploring the connection between genotype and phenotype in populations labeled by their disease status; genetics of individuality, particularly in the numerical aspects of forensic genetics; the genetic analysis of the human-microbe interaction in health and disease

Keywords: human population genetics, mtDNA, Y chromosome, microbiome, metagenomics, genetic epidemiology, forensic genetics

Dr. Murray P. Cox, Massey University, New Zealand

Discipline: population genomics

Research interests: research addresses fundamental questions in contemporary human population genomics; particular interest in modeling genome dynamics; establishing how genetic variation is distributed within and between individual genomes and determining how this diversity changes over evolutionary time; coalescent theory; demographic inference and systems biology; projects centered around demographic inference from genome-scale data, gene-culture co-evolution, applications of second-generation sequencing technologies, and reconstructing Indo-Pacific prehistory; statistics and computer science with a solid foundation in genetics and anthropology

Keywords: population genetics, demographic modeling, coalescent theory, statistical inference

Prof. Michael Cysouw, Ludwig Maximilians University Munich, Germany

Research interests: explain the worldwide distribution of linguistic diversity; interplay of linguistic and cognitive universals combined with historical and geographical factors in the development of this diversity

Keywords: linguistic diversity language reconstruction, quantitative methods, grammatical structure, lexical structure

Pierre Darlu, National Museum of Natural History, France

Discipline: biological anthropology, evolution

Research interests: human population evolution in time and space, particularly using surnames as a proxy for genes; the phylogeny as a tool in genetic epidemiology, pharmacogenetics, linguistics, and cultural evolution

Keywords: anthropological genetics, phylogeny, linguistics, surname

Dr. Darío Alfredo Demarchi, CONICET, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina

Discipline: biological anthropology, population genetics

Research interests: the ancient peopling and colonization of the central region of Argentina using molecular, morphological, and archaeological evidences; the genetic structure of the Gran Chaco native populations

Keywords: Native Americans, Sierras Centrales of Argentina, aDNA, mtDNA, Y chromosome

Prof. Giovanni Destro-Bisol, University La Sapienza, Rome, Italy

Discipline: genetic anthropology

Research interests: peopling and genetic history of sub-Saharan Africa through unilinear and autosomal polymorphisms; genetic structure of linguistically and geographically isolated populations in Italy and Europe; gene-culture co-evolution; data sharing in human genetic variation studies

Keywords: mtDNA, Y-chromosome, SNPs, microsatellites, human population genetics, interdisciplinary studies

Prof. Anna Di Rienzo, University of Chicago, USA

Discipline: human evolutionary genetics

Research interests: characterization of the amount and patterns of genetic variation in human populations and to elucidate the forces that shape and maintain this variation; dissecting the genetic bases of common diseases; impact of natural selection on common traits and diseases as well as molecular phenotypes, such as gene expression variation

Keywords: genetic adaptations, human demography, evolution of common diseases, health disparities

Dr. Michael Dunn, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, The Netherlands

Discipline: evolutionary linguistics

Research interests: using phylogenetic methods to investigate language history, processes of language change, and evolutionary interactions within linguistic structure; Indo-European, Austronesian and Aslian (Austroasiatic) language families, as well as the (non-genealogical) Papuan group

Keywords: phylogenetic comparative methods, historical linguistics, linguistic typology, language change

Prof. Alan Goodman, Hampshire College, USA

Discipline: biological anthropology

Research interests: impact of large-scale political economic processes, such as inequality, poverty, and racism, on human nutrition and health; enamel development and chemistry as indicators of child health and nutrition in past and contemporary populations

Keywords: dental anthropology, human variation, nutritional anthropology, paleoepidemiology, medical anthropology

Prof. Michael F. Hammer, University of Arizona, United States

Discipline: ecology and evolutionary biology, anthropology

Research interests: genomic and evolutionary factors shaping patterns of human variation; testing models of human origins; evolutionary relationships of archaic human groups to modern humans; human population growth

Keywords: population genetics, human evolution, anthropology

Prof. Michael Hofreiter, University of York, United Kingdom

Discipline: evolutionary genetics

Research interests: evolutionary genetics with an emphasis on ancient DNA research; using ancient DNA to reconstruct the phylogeny of extinct and extant mammalian species; understand the population dynamics of animal species during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene and decipher the genetic basis of phenotypic and physiological differences between living and extinct species

Keywords: ancient DNA, evolutionary genetics, next generation sequencing, Pleistocene, population dynamics

Prof. Richard L. Jantz, University of Tennessee, USA

Discipline: biological anthropology

Research interests: analysis of historical data sets, such as Boas’ Native American and immigrant data; analysis of skeletal changes occurring in recent Americans; cranial morphometrics of early American and implications for colonization of America

Keywords: population structure, New World, morphometrics, dermatoglyphics, secular change

Prof. Mark A. Jobling, University of Leicester, United Kingdom

Discipline: human evolutionary genetics

Research interests: the Y chromosome and the histories and structures of human populations, in particular those of Western Europe; haploid mutation processes, including ectopic recombination and gene conversion; natural selection on the Y; Y-chromosomal genes and male infertility; genealogical and forensic applications of Y markers; characteristics of autosomal and X-chromosomal haplotypes and application to human population studies

Keywords: human genetics, evolution, Y chromosome, populations

Prof. Richard G. Klein, Stanford University, USA

Research interest: human origins

Prof. William R. Leonard, Northwestern University, United States

Discipline: biological anthropology/human biology

Research interests: human adaptation to environmental and social stressors; the development of ecological models for understanding major trends in human evolution; ongoing field research projects are exploring the biology and health of indigenous populations of lowland Bolivia and Siberia

Keywords: adaptation, nutrition, metabolism, energetics, growth and development

Prof. Michael A. Little, Binghamton University of the State University of New York, USA

Discipline: biological anthropology

Research interests: the history of biological anthropology in the 19th and 20th centuries; environmental physiology and cold stress; adaptation to the environment; human ecology; child growth; reproduction

Keywords: adaptation, ecology, growth, reproduction, biohistory

Prof. Roberto Macchiarelli, Université de Poitiers and National Museum of Natural History, France

Discipline: paleoanthropology

Research interests: odontoskeletal biology; paleoanthropology; tooth and bone structural microanatomy; functional morphology; biomechanics; early human peopling; advanced investigative methods in paleobiology

Keywords: bone, teeth, functional variation, structural adaptation, evolutionary changes

Dr. Pablo Mateos (Personal Site), University College London, United Kingdom

Discipline: human geography

Research interests: population and urban geography and investigating new research methods to study migration, ethnicity/identity and socio-spatial inequalities in contemporary cities, with a view to informing public policy; residential segregation, categorizations of ethnicity, multiple citizenship, the geography of names, and the spatial analysis of populations and neighborhoods in the UK, Spain, US, and Mexico

Keywords: population geography, migration, ethnicity, residential segregation, names, research methods

Prof. Connie Mulligan, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA

Discipline: biological anthropology

Research interests: Peopling of the Americas; human dispersals throughout Horn of Africa / Arabian Peninsula; genetic , epigenetic, and sociocultural contributors to complex disease (hypertension in African-Americans Tallahassee and impact of maternal stress on infant health in the Democratic Republic of Congo)

Keywords: human evolution and population history, complex disease, health disparities

Dr. Samuel Pavard, National Museum of Natural History, France

Discipline: biodemography and evolution

Research interests: cultural and biological evolutionary forces that shape the age trajectories of survival and fertility in humans; incorporating epidemiologic, demographic, and genetic data within a coherent evolutionary framework to understand the genetic architecture of old age mortality; human life-history's coevolution with sociality

Keywords: demography, life-history, old-age mortality, kin-selection, parental and grand parental investment, aging theory, population dynamics

Prof. John H. Relethford, State University of New York College at Oneonta, USA

Discipline: biological anthropology

Research interests: human population genetics; human biological variation; human evolution

Keywords: population genetics, quantitative traits, population history, Ireland, modern human origins

Associate Prof. Jorge M. Rocha, Institute of Molecular Pathology and Immunology of the University of Porto (IPATIMUP), Portugal

Discipline: human genetics

Research interests: the study of evolutionary forces that shape the current patterns of genetic diversity in human populations; the study of specific populations (mainly from Africa); the analysis of the evolutionary history of particular genes that may be involved in human adaptation

Keywords: African populations, genetic variation, human adaptation, natural selection, human migration

Prof. Noah A. Rosenberg, University of Michigan, USA

Discipline: population genetics

Research interests: human evolutionary genetics; mathematical modeling and statistical methods in population genetics

Keywords: admixture, coalescent theory, linkage disequilibrium, population structure, spatial variation, theoretical population genetics

Prof. Naruya Saitou, National Institute of Genetics, Japan

Discipline: evolutionary genomics

Research interests: divergence of modern humans specially in Asia; genetic features of human uniqueness; ancient DNA study

Keywords: evolution, genomics, population, aDNA, humanness

Prof. Joseph Salmons, University of Wisconsin–Madison, USA

Discipline: linguistics

Research interests: language change and linguistic reconstruction, especially sound change, in settings from prehistory to the present; how structural aspects of language are intertwined with social aspects, including migration, language, and dialect contact along with geographical and social variation

Keywords: historical linguistics, comparative linguistics, language variation, dialectology, language contact

Prof. Alicia Sanchez-Mazas, University of Geneva, Switzerland

Discipline: population genetics

Research interests: the genetic study of human populations and its application to human peopling history since the emergence of modern humans; the molecular analysis of the HLA polyphormism (human MHC) in worldwide human populations, the statistical analysis of population genetics data; the comparison of genetics with archaeology, palaeontology, and historical linguistics; the study of HLA molecular evolution

Keywords: population genetics, evolution, anthropology, human peopling history, HLA polymorphism

Prof. Monica Sans, Universidad de la Républica, Montevideo, Uruguay

Discipline: biological anthropology

Research interests: to understand the processes that led to the formation of the present populations in Uruguay and other Latin American countries; population genetics of present and past populations and their correlation with historical and demographic data together with national identity conceptions

Keywords: population genetics, molecular data, national identity, Uruguay, Latin America

Prof. Montgomery Slatkin, University of California, Berkeley, USA

Discipline: population genetics

Research interests: population genetic models with emphasis on the demographic history of humans and their close relatives

Keywords: population genetics, population genomics, natural selection, gene flow

Prof. James Steele, University College London, United Kingdom

Discipline: archaeology

Research interests: prehistoric archaeology; evolutionary anatomy of speech and language; mathematical modeling

Keywords: evolution of language, prehistoric human dispersals, cultural transmission dynamics

Dr. Kumarasamy Thangaraj, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, India

Discipline: evolutionary and medical genetics

Research interests: origin of modern humans; genetic causes of male infertility; molecular basis of sex determination; molecular basis of mitochondrial disorders; genetics of cardiovascular disease

Keywords: human origin, male infertility, sex determination, mitochondrial disorders

Prof. Marc Tremblay, University of Quebec, Chicoutimi, Canada

Discipline: demography

Research interests: intergenerational analysis of demographic behavior using genealogical data and familial reconstitutions; comparative analysis of the structure and evolution of the regional gene pools of Quebec; study of complex genetic models and the population structure of Quebec; intraregional differentiation of the Saguenay-Lac-St.Jean gene pool

Keywords: historical demography, demogenetics, population structure, genealogies

Prof. Hui Zhou, Jilin University, China

Discipline: molecular biology

Research interests: history of human migration, cultural development, and communication

Keywords: mitochondrial, Y-chromosome haplogroups, ancient human DNA, domestication of animals and crops