Genes and Geography: Understanding Human Genetic Diversity

Chicago Council on Science and Technology and Pint Chicago Present a C2ST Speakeasy

Genes and Geography: Understanding Human Genetic Diversity

Learn about the history of you…and everyone around you. Find out what our DNA tells us about our past, and how that knowledge can help us in the future.

Every human carries a unique individual genome. The ways in which human genomes are similar or different to one another is just now being detailed at high resolution thanks to technological advances in DNA sequencing. These new observations reveal much about our origins as humans and the evolutionary processes that shape both human adaptation and disease. They also are crucial to understand for effectively carrying out global medical genetics and personalized medicine. In this talk, you will be introduced to a few major patterns of human genetic diversity, and tools for data visualization that make them apparent. A special focus will be on geographic structure in human genetic data.

John Novembre, Ph.D., is a Professor at the University of Chicago in the Departments of Human Genetics and Ecology & Evolution. His research develops computational methods to empower the study of natural genetic diversity, especially to gain insights about human ancestry and geography. He has been awarded as a MacArthur Fellow, Searle Scholar, and Sloan Research Fellow, and his research is further supported by the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health. Novembre studied for his BA at The Colorado College and his Ph.D. at the University of California-Berkeley. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Chicago, then faculty at UCLA for five years before returning to the University of Chicago in 2013. He serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of Ancestry.com and as an academic editor for the journal Genetics. and the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution. Outside of work, he enjoys outdoor sports and adventures.

DETAILS: Tuesday, January 16, 2018, 7:00 p.m. Pint Chicago, 1547 N. Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago IL, 60622. Pint Chicago has great food and drink available for purchase, and welcomes guests of all ages for C2ST programs. Walk-ins are welcome, but advance registration at Eventbrite requested. This program will be audio recorded; the recording with slides will be available post-program on our YouTube channel, C2ST TV.