Genomes Through Time: Introducing the ADNA Group

In this Welcome Seminar, I will provide an overview of my scientific trajectory and the research vision for the newly established Ancient DNA and Population Genomics (ADNA) group at Biopolis/CIBIO. My work integrates population genetics and ancient DNA to investigate how past populations and ecosystems responded to long-term environmental and demographic changes. I have developed approaches that combine genomic data from ancient and modern populations with archaeological and palaeoenvironmental evidence to reconstruct key evolutionary processes, including the deep human past, the role of natural selection in shaping the evolution of natural populations, or the importance (or lack thereof) of genetic diversity in conservation. I will also present the research program of the ADNA group, which will integrate evolutionary theory, empirical data analysis and interdisciplinary collaboration to study human population history, reconstruct ancient ecosystems, investigate domestication and human–faunal interactions, and leverage temporal data to inform conservation genomics.

I am a population geneticist interested in the mechanistic processes of evolution and in building cross-disciplinary dialogues to understand the past. I work across a wide range of topics at the forefront of evolutionary genetics, including demographic inference, comparative genomics, conservation genetics and natural selection, using both modern and ancient DNA. I am particularly interested in the power of genetic data to reveal hidden chapters of human evolution, illuminate the dynamics of domestication and reconstruct ancient ecosystems. I am strongly committed to interdisciplinary research, integrating genetics with insights from archaeology, anthropology, ecology and other fields to establish new research paradigms and develop holistic perspectives on Evolution.