Constructing the world’s largest collection of ancient genomes.
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
Professor, ScD, DSc, Director Lundbeck Foundation GeoGenetics Centre
Prince Philip Professor, University of Cambridge
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 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fernandez Guerra, Antonio | Assistant Professor - Tenure Track | +4535332597 | |
| Moreno Mayar, J. Víctor | Assistant Professor | +4535337807 | |
| Olsen, Line | Research Consultant | +4535334652 | |
| Pinotti, Thomaz | Postdoc | +4535337880 | |
| Razeto Richter, Anna | Research Consultant | +4535321348 |
| Name | Title | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Zhe Xue | Post Doc | ||
| Angeliki Kanouta | Guest Researcher | ||
| William Barrie | PhD Cambridge | ||
| Devlin A. Gandy | PhD Cambridge | ||
| Yucheng Wang | Post Doc Cambridge | ||
| Alice Pearson | PhD Cambridge | ||
| Bianca de Sanctis | PhD Cambridge | ||
| Alison Sutherland | PhD Cambridge | ||
| Aramish Fatima | PhD Cambridge |