Gülşah Merve Kılınç graduated from Hacettepe University, Department of Biology and received her PhD in Molecular Biology and Genetics from Bilkent University. She worked as postdoctoral researcher at CompEvo Lab in the Department of Biology at Middle East Technical University. She continued her postdoctoral studies at Stockholm University at the Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies. Her research focuses on analysing ancient human genome sequences from different time periods extending from Palaeolithic to present-day to better understand the human population genetic history. She uses ancient DNA from different parts of the world to infer the migrations and genetic structure of past human populations. Her research published in prestigious journals such as Science Advances, Current Biology and Plos Biology.
Abstract
Over the last two decades, ancient DNA has revealed a fascinating snapshot of the genetic variation and population dynamics of past human populations. In this talk, I will present human population dynamics in ancient northeast Asia, inferred from the ancient human genomes spanning a time period between approximately 17,000 and 550 years ago. We produced genome sequences of 40 ancient individuals from different parts of northeast Asia covering Yakutia and Lake Baikal and revealed previously unknown gene flow and admixture events during a time period between the Late Upper Palaeolithic and Iron Age. Our genetic data further provided the first direct genetic evidence for the ancestors of Palaeo-Inuits who spread eastwards from Siberia and launched the second wave of migration into the Americas. We also discover the presence of Yersinia pestis, plague-related bacterium, in ancient Northeast Asia. This talk will cover all these recent findings and show the dynamic population structure in ancient northeast Asia.
