Lecture

JRGL Candidate Lecture at CEITEC MU: Ancient DNA as a Time Machine: Tracing Our Biological Past Through the Ages

About event

The biological past of humans and other species reflects the dynamic interplay between genetic variation, which can arise through diverse trajectories, social structures, and even cultural processes. Recent advances allow the generation of large-scale archaeogenomic datasets, integrated with archaeological, historical, and environmental evidence, to uncover fine-scale patterns of population structure, migration, and relatedness. Methodological innovations, including pedigree reconstruction, identity-by-descent network analysis, and integrative statistical frameworks, allow improved inference of demographic events and social interactions. These approaches also extend to ancient pathogens and non-human species, linking molecular data to ecological and evolutionary processes. Altogether, this allows us to view our past as a resource, providing natural experiments to understand resilience and adaptation over millennia.

Date

18. 9. 2025, 10:00 - 11:00
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Speaker

Zuzana Hofmanová

Venue

CEITEC MU, University Campus, Building E35, Atrium