Svante Pääbo

Dr. Svante Pääbo is Director of the Department of Evolutionary Genetics at the Mx Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Pääbo Is known as one of the founders of paleogenetics, a discipline that uses genetic methods to sequence ancient DNA in order to learn about the evolutionary relationships among primates and other groups of mammals. Pääbo devoted much of his effort to developing methods to obtain accurate DNA sequence from DNA samples that have been degraded over thousands of years. His lab has led the search to obtain DNA sequence from ancient humans and especially from our human relatives, including Neanderthals and other ancient hominins. These studies have shown that 1-4% of the genomes of people outside Africa come from Neanderthals and also that some genes such as FOXP2, which is associated with speech and language, were shared by present humans and their Neanderthal cousins. His lab made many other important contributions to understanding the genetics of human ancestors including the successful sequencing of Neanderthal mitochondrial DNA from a specimen found in the Feidhofer grotto in the Neander Valley in 1997 and assembling the first draft Neanderthal genome. The Pääbo lab has also elucidated the genetic history of Pleistocene mammals such as the mammoth and cave bear. Pääbo has received extensive recognition for his work, including an Order of Terra Mariana, Third Class, from the Republic of Estonia, the Swedish H.M. The King’s Medal, the Lomonosov Large Gold Medal, the Newcomb-Cleveland Prize of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Theodor Bücher Medal of the European Biochemical Society, and five honorary doctorates. He is a member of 11 honorary societies in addition to his American Academy of Arts and Sciences membership. Pääbo’s publications appear in Cell, Nature, Nature Genetics, and Science and his book Neanderthal Man: In Search of Lost Genomes has been well received by popular and scientific book critics.