The Study of Ancient DNA: Knowledge from Unexpected Sources

August 20, 2020
4:00 pm – 4:45 pm

C2ST Facebook Live & C2ST TV Youtube Live

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Program Series:
Life Science

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Learn how ancient DNA is currently being used to inform studies of human ancestry,  our prehistoric interactions with animals, and our ancestors’ diets!

The field of ancient DNA began almost forty years ago with advances in biotechnology. Early ancient DNA studies held the promise to answer some of life’s most enduring questions but many of these studies came up short. With hard lessons learned, the practitioners of the young field were on track, identifying genetic compositions of extinct species and contributing to forensic science. In the last decade, advances in biotechnology catapulted the study of ancient DNA into a new and exciting era.

Here, Dr. Ripan Malhi and Dr. Kelsey Witt Dillon will highlight a few of their recent projects that were inconceivable just a few years ago. First, they’ll discuss how they identified recovered DNA from a historic pipe used by an enslaved African on a Maryland plantation, and used it to examine the African ancestry of the pipe’s owner, as well as their living descendants. Second, they’ll show how dog coprolites (fossilized poop) from over 1,000 years ago revealed a surprising amount of detail about the diet and health of ancient dogs and Indigenous peoples who lived in present-day St. Louis. 

 

Event Details

Thursday, August 20th, 2020, 4:00-4:45 pm CT, C2ST Facebook Live & C2ST TV Youtube Live.

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Featured Guests

Ripan S. Malhi, PhD

Ripan S. Malhi is Richard and Margaret Romano Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with affiliations in Anthropology, School of Integrative Biology, American Indian Studies and the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology. His research areas include using DNA as a tool to learn about evolutionary history in the Americas. Along with his research, Dr. Malhi uses his time to help make scientific research more inclusive. He is Co-Director for both the Summer internship for INdigenous peoples in Genomics (SING) USA program and the Increasing Diversity in Evolutionary Anthropological Studies (IDEAS) program. Dr. Malhi is also Editor of the journal Human Biology and was Associate Editor of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology. Prior to his position at University of Illinois, he co-founded and served as the CEO of Trace Genetics, Inc., a biotechnology company located in the greater San Francisco area. Dr. Malhi received his Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of California at Davis.

Kelsey Witt Dillon, PhD

Kelsey got her PhD in Evolutionary Biology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Currently, she is a postdoctoral researcher at Brown University. She uses ancient DNA and computational methods to explore the history of past populations, and is especially interested in domesticated species, examining how the study of ancient domesticated populations can also reveal insights about the ancient human populations they lived alongside.