Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2022- Ancient Human DNA and Human Evolution
Svante Paabo made pathbreaking discoveries on human evolution using ancient DNA of Neanderthals and Denisovans- and his work spawned the field of palaeogenomics.
This year, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Svante Paabo for leading pioneering studies of human evolution from pieces of DNA found in ancient fossils that are thousands of years old.
He led the sequencing of Neanderthal genome in 2010 and the discovery of a new group of hominins called Denisovans which led to the development of a new field that combined paleontology and genomics- called palaeogenomics.
By studying how genes flowed between modern humans, Neanderthals and Denisovans, researchers are able to understand what makes modern human a “human”, trace their migrations, origins of aspects of human physiology such as immune dysregulation and adaptation to high altitudes.
To understand the implications of this work on our daily life, our Head of Advanced Genomic Technologies Division- Dr. Harsh Sheth and the Head of Dept of Bioscience and Bioengineering, IIT Jodhpur- Dr. Mitali Mukerji gave a live interview with the anchor and Deputy Director of DD Girnar Mr. Utsav Parmar. You can watch the entire interview here in Gujarati.