Genes and Geography: Understanding Human Genetic Diversity

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 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. Dr. Novembre studied for his BA at The Colorado College and his PhD at the University of California-Berkeley. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Chicago and then faculty at UCLA for 5 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.

This program is presented in partnership with Pint Chicago.