Past human populations, pathogens, and environmental DNA in the Willerslev Group
The Willerslev group aims to understand the histories of past human populations, their diseases, and changes of biological communities across space and time.
The Willerslev group takes an interdisciplinary approach to science and their research involves fields like archaeology, geology, medicine, ecology, and linguistics. However, their primary tool is molecular biology.
“If we want to know why different people in the world are susceptible to different diseases, for example, we need to understand their past population histories, and we do this through the study of ancient –and sometimes contemporary- genomics”, says Eske Willerslev, Director of the Lundbeck Foundation GeoGenetics Centre. “The only way we can understand the present and make reliable predictions of the future is by looking into the past”, he adds.
- Cappellini et al. 2019. Early Pleistoceneenamel proteome from Dmanisi resolves Stephanorhinus phylogeny. Nature.
- Sikora et al. 2019. The population history of northeastern Siberia since the Pleistocene. Nature.
- Mühlemann et al. 2018. Ancient Hepatitis B viruses from the Bronze Age to the Medieval. Nature.
Lundbeck Foundation
Carlsberg Foundation
Novo Nordisk Foundation
Mærsk Foundation
Wellcome Trust
Leverhulme trust
Group Leader
Eske Willerslev, ScD, DSc
Professor, Section for GeoGenetics, Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen
Director, Centre for Ancient Environmental Genomics (CAEG)
Director, Ancient Environmental Genomics Initiative for Sustainability (AEGIS)
Professor, Department of Genetics, Cambridge University
Excellence Professor University of Bremen
Projects
The Rice Project
Combating rice resilience to environmental stressors
The Permafrost Project
The evolutionary history of Arctic ecosystems during the last 50,000 years.
Engaging and sharing
Thoughts on people and their ancestors
Group members
| Name | Title | Phone | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Czech, Lucas | Postdoc | +4535329761 | |
| Klemm, Signe | PhD Fellow | +4535335128 | |
| McColl, Hugh | Assistant Professor | +4535334828 | |
| Meier-Jensen, Henriette Maria | Special Consultant | +4535327561 | |
| Moreno Mayar, J. Víctor | Assistant Professor | +4535337807 | |
| Olsen, Line | Senior Consultant with personnel management | +4535334652 | |
| Pinotti, Thomaz | Postdoc | +4535337880 | |
| Razeto Richter, Anna | Research Consultant | +4535321348 | |
| Øksnebjerg, Daniel Bilyeli | Research Consultant | +4535334823 |
| Name | Title | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Yucheng Wang | Post Doc Cambridge | ||
| Lucas Braga | Post Doc Cambridge |