Population and Evolutionary Genetics

This research area is focused on understanding how genetic variation in humans is shaped by evolutionary forces such as natural selection, genetic drift, mutation, and migration, and to link human genome evolution to human biology and disease. HGS faculty in this area use large-scale genomic datasets, statistical modeling, and computational tools to investigate topics such as archaic human populations, ancient human migrations, recent patterns of selection in modern populations, and the origins of disease susceptibility.