After completing my studies in Biology and receiving my Masters degree, I started working at the Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig (Germany), specifically in Svante Pääbo’s Ancient DNA group.

That was also when I met Dr. Hendrik Poinar with whom I worked on a variety of projects. After he was offered a position at the McMaster University and established the McMaster Ancient DNA Centre, I followed him to Canada in 2003.

During the last couple of years I have been involved in different projects dealing with the recovery and analysis of DNA from ancient fossils (e.g. coprolites) and modern samples. This has included the analysis of an 11,700-year-old rodent midden from the Atacama desert, as well as a genetic analysis of paleofeces from three Native Americans in which we determined their mitochondrial DNA haplotype and various components of their diets. I have also been involved in exploring the origins and evolution of HIV.

At present my focus is on measuring genetic change in time-series paleofaecal samples from a number of Holocene packrat middens. I am also involved in a Xenarthran-wide phylogenetic study using both modern and ancient sloth, armadillo, and anteater remains from across the planet.

I am trained as a biologist (B.Sc from Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2008 and M.Sc from Queen’s University, 2010) and completed my doctoral studies in evolutionary genetics with Mark Stoneking at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.

My interests are broadly encompassed by molecular evolution and population genetics, by the historical inferences we can make from genetic analyses. In the past, I have used phylogenies and phylogeography of modern human populations to infer ancient migrations and population interactions. My current research interests involve using ancient DNA studies to reconstruct the genome of historical pathogens to examine the evolution and epidemiology of disease in ancient human populations.

I completed my Master’s of Science, in molecular anthropology, at the University of Toronto. My research dealt with modern DNA analysis, involving human skin pigmentation.

I have always loved history and biology. As such I study evidence of specific pathogens in pre-Rome and ancient Rome. This work integrates ancient DNA analyses with bioarchaeology and paleopathology. There have only been a few instances where disease has been looked for and also found in Roman remains using aDNA analyses. I plan to complete a large-scale study of southern Italian remains.

I seek to contribute to a better understanding of disease profiles of individuals by age, sex and status in pre-Roman and Roman era Italy. Further, my research will combine paleopathological, archaeological and historical evidence in order to better understand how the Roman conquest may have affected disease in individuals in southern Italy. This includes questions involving how trade, warfare, and migration may have changed disease profiles within and between the pre-Roman and Roman era.

I completed my undergraduate degree at the University of Toronto in 2022 with a major in Genome Biology and double minors in Anthropology and Mediaeval Studies. My research interests primarily revolve around plague studies and include molecular paleopathology, evolutionary epidemiology, and the anthropology of infectious disease.

Over the course of my MA in Biological Anthropology at McMaster, I will extract plague DNA from individuals of the Later Roman period in an attempt to address questions surrounding the first plague pandemic. Above all, I hope to promote more interdisciplinary approaches to studies involving ancient DNA and help bridge the subjects of science and history.

I received two undergraduate degrees from the University of Manitoba, a B.A. (Hons) in Anthropology and a B.Sc. (Hons) in Genetics. As part of an honours thesis project, I studied cis expression quantitative trait loci (cis e-QTLs) in autism spectrum disorder.

Moving to Fredericton and the University of New Brunswick in the fall of 2020, I focused my research efforts on the possibilities of using DNA and DNA analysis to study experiences of stress in past populations, specifically focusing on the glucocorticoid receptor gene NR3C1. I received a Master's of Interdisciplinary Studies, combining the fields of bioarchaeology and genetics in my research.

My PhD research at McMaster is part of a collaboration with Harvard Medical Centre and will focus on characterizing the methylation profiles of several genes related to bone mineral density. I remain interested in measures of stress in past populations and am pursuing next steps from my master's research. 

I graduated from McMaster's Bachelor of Technology - Biotechnology program in 2015 before venturing out into industry for a couple years. Looking for a challenge, I returned to McMaster as a graduate student!

My collaborations with the lab have focused on bioinformatic methods for identifying and selecting probes for targeted DNA capture.

I’m a PhD student working with Prof. Eddie Holmes and his group at the University of Sydney, Australia. I find the evolution of viruses fascinating, and collaborating with the Poinar group, I am interested in studying the ancient DNA of viruses. In particular, I am interested in understanding the origin, evolution and host interactions of the variola virus (smallpox).
Understanding how pathogens emerge and evolve in the human host is critical for the prevention, control and potential eradication of emerging infectious disease. This requires understanding the factors that allow a pathogen to emerge in a new host, the evolutionary dynamics of emerging pathogens and the nature of host-pathogen adaptions (such as the evolution of pathogen virulence).
Smallpox, a highly contagious and deadly virus, was one of the most devastating diseases in history. By sequencing ancient smallpox genomes, I aim to further understand the origin and emergence of the virus, and elucidate its host interactions through detailed genomic comparisons with modern smallpox strains.

I am a recent graduate of the PhD programme in the department of Anthropology. My research interests primarily include skeletal pathology and infectious disease in past human populations.

In 2001 I received my BSc with distinction from the University of Guelph with a specialization in Honours Bio-Medical Science. Later that year I enrolled in a pre-Master’s program in Physical Anthropology at the University of Manitoba.

I began graduate studies at McMaster University in 2002, working under Dr. Shelley Saunders at the Master’s level. Through my research I had the privilege of working with Dr. Luca Bondioli at the Pigorini Museum of Palaeoanthropology in Rome, Italy. In 2005 I received a Master’s degree in skeletal biology with an emphasis in palaeopathology and demography.

Currently I am conducting molecular work with human skeletal and dental material from the East Smithfield Black Death Cemetery in London, England to isolate and study the strain of Yersinia pestis implicated in the Black Death. Advances in molecular capture techniques have permitted us to both confirm the authenticity of ancient Y. pestissequences from victims of the Black Death and to reconstruct 99% of the ancient pathogen’s genome.

Throughout my years as a graduate student I am grateful to have received government funding from two SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarships, one at the Master’s level and another at the PhD level.

At present, I have a SSHRC-funded postdoctoral fellowship and will be working at the École Pratique des Hautes Études, Laboratoire de Paléoanthropologie in Bordeaux, France. I’ll be working under Olivier Dutour in collaboration with Johannes Krause and Hendrik Poinar.

My academic background is in biological anthropology, with a focus on forensic anthropology during my undergraduate (H. B.Sc., University of Toronto at Mississauga) and Masters (M.A., Trent University). My research during this time related to the post-mortem modification of skeletal remains, culminating in a Masters thesis on the identification of saw marks on burned bone.

My current research employs a multi-faceted approach to the investigation of pathogens in Roman antiquity, particularly drawn from contexts where there are no known epidemics or plagues noted in the historical record. I am interested in the integration of ancient DNA alongside archaeological and ancient literary sources as a means to contextualize the relationship between humans, disease and the environment.

Disease is not solely a biological phenomenon; the interplay between social, cultural and ecological factors is significant to the evaluation of health in antiquity. It is critical to identify linkages between health and disease in the past through a framework that not only emphasizes the molecular identification of potential pathogens, but attempts to establish why particular disease patterns existed.

I have been part of the Ancient DNA Centre since 2006, focusing on methods-based research with a variety of applications. My major projects involve the use of DNA barcodes to investigate Beringian paleoecology, and enrichment strategies for aDNA in the era of next-generation sequencing.

I am particularly fascinated with the intersection of aDNA research and forensic science and hope to pursue that in the near future. Currently I am completing a MSc in biology and am a graduate of McMaster’s Honours BSc program in genetics (minor in Anthropology).

My educational background is in Biopharmaceutical Sciences (B.Sc., University of Ottawa). That degree lead to the opportunity to work as a Forensic DNA Analyst at the RCMP Forensic Laboratories in Ottawa, Canada. During my years there, I met Dr. Ron Fourney (Director of Research), who would in turn introduce me to Dr. Hendrik Poinar.

Forensic extracts and ancient DNA (aDNA) samples share many characteristics: namely, they have been degraded and damaged over time by biological, chemical and physical assaults. My research project is to take analytical techniques that were developed in the field of aDNA and to apply them to forensic samples, in hopes of getting better information than we do currently. These techniques involve repair and long-term stable storage of DNA.

Régis has been trained as an evolutionary biologist at the French universities of Paris VI and Paris XI until year 1999 when he met prof. Pascal Tassy from the French Museum of Natural History (MNHN, Paris). That’s a first key event in his studies since he turned to his supervisor in master’s degree and PhD thesis for more than four years.
Together they questioned the phylogenetic inter-relationships of the members of the family Elephantidae (Mammalia; Proboscidea) on molecular and morphological grounds. That was done in several intricate steps: for his master, they first worked on theoretical phylogenetics and molecular evidence about the position of the woolly mammoth among the family of the elephants. For his PhD, our purpose rather embraced the systematic status of the forest African elephants and the phylogenetic history of the family Elephantidae.

All those steps involved ancient DNA studies. For elephants, most of his accurate samples actually came from bones in museum collection. As for mammoths, Régis first spent much of my time trying to decipher the real molecular identity of the Lyakhov mammoth (the only complete skeleton specimen of a Siberian mammoth preserved out of Russian Republic and kept in the French Museum); he then turned to a more global survey of molecular diversity in mammoths thanks to a collaboration in the international team gathered by the Cerpolex/Mammuthus organization (led by Bernard Buigues, discoverer of the Jarkov mammoth).

The most recent key event is hismeeting with Prof. Hendrik Poinar at the Second ‘World of elephants’ international congress held at Hot Springs (SD) in September 2005 where they made up the decision to work together on mammoth ancient DNA.
Since May 2006, Régis have started a post-doc position at the McMaster Ancient DNA Center. So far, he has been involved in the DNA extraction and treatment of the greatest DNA collection of mammoths ever, in order to (i) build the phylogeographic history of the woolly mammoth in Siberia and Alaska and (ii) pursue the paleogenomic analysis of the whole nuclear genome of the woolly mammoth.

After graduating from University of Applied Sciences Ostfriesland in Emden/Germany in 1998 (chemical engineering/biotechnology) I worked at the Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig/Germany where I setup and ran a DNA sequencing service lab. I took the opportunity to join Hendrik Poinar’s McMaster Ancient DNA Centre in 2003, where I worked on various projects with a strong focus on methodological aspects of ancient DNA work. Among these projects were: Characterization and preservation of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA as well as isolation of putative RNA from permafrost preserved fossil remains, enzymatic in-vitro repair of ancient DNA, and improvements of DNA extraction procedures.