Investigating human evolution by excavating ancient genomes in present-day people

While helpful for inferring human evolution, DNA from ancient human remains (aDNA) are relatively sparse, particularly outside Europe. In contrast, through public databases and collaborators, we have access to numerous high-quality genomes from worldwide present-day people who descend from mixtures of these ancestral groups. This project will develop and apply new statistical models to extract genetic data from historical populations embedded in genomes of >100,000 present-day mixed ancestry people, including thousands of samples (some unpublished) from diverse populations in Africa and Asia that have been under-represented in genetic studies. The project will uncover major migratory and evolutionary events in human history, and pinpoint their precise timings. This will enable us to link genomic signatures, such as selection (adaptation), to historic environmental factors such as pathogen pressures and climate impact. 

Potential projects include elucidating the evolutionary impacts of the hunter-gatherer to agricultural transition in Japan, unearthing adaptation pressures faced by Bantu-speaking peoples during their rapid migration throughout Africa starting ~4500 years ago, and inferring the adaptive consequences of DNA inherited from archaics (e.g. Neanderthals, Denisovans) in modern humans. This work will achieve major new insights into human demography, signatures of adaptation, and temporal changes of essential biological processes such as recombination.