what makes us uniquely human?
We seek to find the underlying causal genes and mutations that make us uniquely human using genetics and genomics techniques. Our primary goal is to identify neural genes affecting cognition and behavior. One focus is on human gene duplication, an established mechanism contributing to phenotypic differences and speciation in other organisms, on human brain evolution.
Previously funded via an NIH Director’s New Innovator Award (DP2), this project is now supported through the NIH National Institute of Mental Health. We are currently recruiting postdocs and grad students!
Selected related papers
Diverse molecular mechanisms contribute to differential expression of human duplicated genes. Mol Bio Evo (2021)
The evolution and population diversity of human-specific segmental duplications. Nat Eco Evo (2017)
Human adaptation and evolution by segmental duplication. Curr Opin Genet Dev. (2016)
Evolution of human-specific neural SRGAP2 genes by incomplete segmental duplication. Cell (2012)
image courtesy of Philipp Kammerer/Alamy