We kindly invite you to the lecture by prof. Kristiina Tambets "Unveiling Human History through Genetics: From Ancient Origins to Modern Insights”.
Date: 12 p.m. on 7 November, 2023.
Venue: VU Faculty of Medicine Great Hall (Room 203).
The lecture will be held in English.
There is no registration for the event, admission is free.
ABOUT LECTURE
The information encoded in our DNA acts as a historical record, shedding light on various aspects of the human species' past. These narratives about ancient events now unveil with an unprecedented level of intricacy, which seemed far-fetched just a few decades ago.
How have natural selection and cultural influences shaped the diversity within our genes? What insights can our knowledge of evolution offer regarding the challenges our species confronts in the present day?
To address these questions from a genetics perspective, we now have a toolbox that combines state-of-the-art technological methods to isolate biomolecules from both modern and ancient organisms, bioinformatic tools to analyse these biomolecules and our capability to interpret the information hidden in large genomic datasets in a transdisciplinary framework. Notably, by extracting biomolecules from human remains, we can explore not only the genomes of both modern and ancient individuals but also investigate microorganisms that coexisted with humans. This microbial palette mirrors transformations in human lifestyles over time and the potential diseases they may have triggered.
The lecture will outline the evolution of archaeogenomics and illustrate it with examples from various geographical and historical contexts, ranging from nearby to distant periods in the human past. The prospects of joint work of natural sciences and humanities to better understand large migrations and admixture between human groups as well as the life trajectories of individuals will be discussed.
ABOUT PROFESSOR
Professor Kristiina Tambets is a recognized scientist whose work in the field of genetics is evidenced by international publications and projects combining genetics, history and archaeology, as well as leadership of the Institute of Genomics. Professor K. Tambets is also a board member of Tartu University's College of Interdisciplinary Studies in Archaeology, Genetics and Linguistics, and her many years of teaching experience is reflected in the courses she teaches: evolutionary biology, molecular evolution, nature and evolution, and archeology of ethnogenesis.