Reconstructing the human past: using ancient and modern genomics

Overview

This conference will take place at EMBL Heidelberg, with the option to attend virtually.

Registration is not yet open for this event. If you are interested in receiving more information please register your interest.

Symposium overview

Combining genome-wide data from ancient and modern populations opens new windows into the past. Population-scale sequencing projects investigating past and present human diversity have already provided us with extraordinary insights into patterns of human variation and mobility through time and space. The available dataset of genome-wide data from modern humans has risen exponentially in size during the last five years, and the ability to carry out further large-scale studies on deeply sampled time transects makes it possible to now ask and answer questions that were simply impossible to address before, including questions about social organization of prehistoric human populations, high resolution kinship patterns, and polygenic risk scores for ancient populations. New wet-lab and computational methods are also presenting groundbreaking opportunities to conduct genome-scale studies in tropical environments that were previously considered non-conducive to ancient DNA research, which is contributing to the globalization of the field.

The integration of archaeological evidence and historical records with genomic data elucidates aspects of human history and the biocultural evolution of past societies. Additionally, genome-wide data from archaic human remains, such as Neandertals and Denisovans, enables us to investigate human evolution in action and provide direct insights into genetic changes that define our own lineage, a topic for which ancient DNA pioneer Svante Pääbo was awarded the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Equally promising is the potential of ancient DNA data to reconstruct ancient pathogen genomes and provide metagenomic insights into the oral and gut microbiomes, which provides us with molecular fossils to study microbial evolution through time. Finally, given public interest in the human past and the risk of genetic research being misinterpreted or misused, there is growing recognition of the need for community engagement and critical reflection on biases in the field.

The proposed symposium brings together geneticists, genomicists, bioinformaticians, computational biologists, molecular biologists, archaeologists, and paleoanthropologists on the same platform to discuss current and upcoming state-of-the-art research in human evolutionary genomics.

What past participants say about the Symposium

“The ancient DNA conference was a thought-provoking exploration of a broad range of topics. The organizers’ meticulous efforts to foster networking opportunities significantly enriched the overall experience.” – Ganyu Zhang, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China

“You’ll never see so many of the biggest names in a DNA research, all in one place together, presenting new data and new results. And to get the chance to present your own work and talk to them is an amazing opportunity!” – Adam Rohrlach, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Germany

“As a first time EMBL conference attendee, I found this community extremely welcoming and outstanding! The incredible research at this conference left me taking notes at each and every speaker. Hope to attend in the future!” – Lydia Sykora, University of Kansas, USA

Speakers

Keynote speakers

Johannes Krause

Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

Germany

Speakers

Constanza de la Fuente Castro

University of Chile

Chile

Helen Fewlass

University of Bristol

UK

Madeline Lancaster

University of Cambridge

UK

Fredrick Manthi

National Museums of Kenya

Kenya

Alicia Martin

Broad Institute

USA

Matthias Meyer

Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

Germany

Shigeki Nakagome

Trinity College Dublin

Ireland

Maria Nieves-Colón

University of Minnesota Twin Cities

USA

Pier Palamara

University of Oxford

UK

Laurits Skov

University of Copenhagen

Denmark

Maria Spyrou

University of Tübingen

Germany

Lucy van Dorp

University College London

UK

Scientific organisers

Mateja Hajdinjak

The Francis Crick Institute

UK

Choongwon Jeong

Seoul National University

South Korea

Maanasa Raghavan

University of Chicago

USA

Pontus Skoglund

The Francis Crick Institute

UK

Conference organiser

Adela Graf

EMBL Heidelberg

Germany

Sponsors

Sponsorship opportunities

We offer a variety of event sponsoring possibilities, with the flexibility to select a set sponsorship package or combine individual sponsorship options to suit your event budget. Discounts are available for companies sponsoring multiple events at EMBL Heidelberg. View other conferences, or contact sponsorship@embl.de for further information.

If you are interested in becoming a media partner of this event, please visit our media partnerships webpage.

About

EMBO | EMBL Symposia promote scientific communication and collaboration in the European research area. They provide scientists with a platform to discuss and exchange ideas on forward-looking topics and new developments in the life sciences.

Topics emphasise upcoming developments and the interdisciplinary nature of related fields. Jointly funded and organised by EMBO and EMBL – and complementary to their respective courses, workshops, and conference programmes – the symposia promote scientific communication and collaboration.

All symposia are held in the EMBL Advanced Training Centre (ATC) in Heidelberg, Germany, or virtually.