Population Genetics

Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA) Members

Konstantina CHESHMEDZHIEVA

I am currently a PhD student in the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Vienna. I hold a Bachelor's degree in Biotechnology Engineering from the University of Food Technologies in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Driven by my interests in anthropology and genetics, I earned my MSc in Molecular Biology (Bioinformatics track) from the University of Padua in 2023. My master’s thesis centered on developing a novel method for estimating and detecting statistically significant levels of genetic assortative mating in contemporary European populations, utilizing large-scale data from the UK and Estonian biobanks.   Under the supervision of Katerina Douka and Martin Kuhlwilm, my current research focuses on identifying Denisovan presence in Island Southeast Asia and Oceania, generating ancient DNA data from the region and conducting bioinformatic analyses.

Research Areas: , ,
Read More
Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA) Members Allgemein

Arne BIELKE

After I started studying biology at Leibniz University Hannover, I developed an interest in population genetics, conservation genetics, and ecology. Driven this passion, I pursued my education in evolutionary systems biology at the University of Vienna. For my master's thesis, I focused on recurrent ecotype formation of an alpine plant. I conducted a comprehensive analysis of smRNA profiles from reciprocally transplanted individuals and those grown in a common garden. Currently, for my PhD, my research focuses on New Zealand feral horses. Through bioinformatic and comparative population genomics, my goal is to provide science- based insights for future conservation management plans. This endeavor aims to preserve the historical and cultural heritage of New Zealand's European settlers through studying their horses, as human history has always shaped and been shaped by the history of our livestock’s.

Research Areas: , , ,
Read More
Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA) Members

Sojung HAN

I am a postdoctoral researcher in the Computational Admixture Genomics group. My primary interests are understanding the evolutionary history and the genetic background of species-specific traits of primates, in particular of chimpanzees and bonobos, the closest extant species of humans. I am using bioinformatics approaches, and am trying to investigate not only the host genomic materials but also pathogens and environmental context in this endeavor.

Research Areas: , , ,
Read More
Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA) Members

Xin HUANG

I am an evolutionary biologist and has been working on method development for solving different problems with population genomic data, including detecting positive selection, estimating strength of natural selection, quantifying time-varying selective pressures, inferring the distribution of fitness effects, and detecting archaic admixture. I will continue to investigate many other interesting topics in the future.

Research Areas: ,
Personal Website
Publications
Read More
Department of Evolutionary Anthropology (DEA) Members

Tobias GÖLLNER

Tobias Göllner investigates the peopling of Asia via genetic ancestry, population structure, demography and selection. Currently he works together with the Maniq, a primary hunter-gatherer community of Southeast Asia to uncover their genetic history, admixture, and archaic introgression. Further topics of investigation will be selection and adaptation to a hunter-gatherer lifestyle in the rainforest. (PhD Supervisors: Martin Fieder and Helmut Schaschl)

Research Areas: , ,
Read More