Anthropology Colloquium Series

Friday, Mar. 2
1:00pm - 3:00pm
North Classroom 1535

"Paleogenomics and the evolution of Neandertals and Denisovans"
John Hawks
Associate Professor of Anthropology
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Dr. Hawks' lab is currently working with genomes of archaic humans to uncover the relationships of these ancient people to recent human populations. Most living people trace a fraction of their ancestry to Neandertals, and a smaller proportion trace their ancestry to a mysterious population called the "Denisovans", represented by a genome from an ancient specimen from the Altai mountains. He is uncovering the interactions among these ancient groups -- when and where did they encounter modern humans and exchange genes with them? He is also investigating the function of those ancient genomes, and what new facts their genes can tell us about Neandertal biology. Dr. Hawks will talk about ongoing work related to pigmentation, immune system, muscle physiology and the brain

For more information contact Connie Turner at 303-556-3554.