When did humans leave Africa? How were the populations of today formed? How was the human genome shaped by evolutionary forces along the way?
Join the Premier’s 2024 Mid-Career Scientist of the Year, Professor Morten Allentoft (School of Molecular and Life Sciences) as he takes us on a journey through our evolution using insights gained from ancient DNA sequencing.
In this talk, he’ll present key research findings collected throughout his extraordinary career and discuss how we can utilise experiences from the ancient DNA field to study modern biodiversity – even right here in Western Australia.
If you can’t make it in person, you can join us online. Please note a link to stream the event will be sent to you via email closer to the date.
This event is part of Research Rumble 2024.
Event details
5.00pm – 5.30pm: Registration & light refreshments
5.30pm – 7.00pm: Formal proceedings
7.00pm – 7.30pm: Networking & light refreshments
Accessible parking information
View the access and Inclusion map [.pdf 2MB] to find out more information about wheelchair accessible routes, accessible parking, and other access features at Curtin Perth.
Professor Morten Allentoft
Professor Morten Allentoft is an evolutionary biologist specializing in population genomics and ancient DNA research. He obtained a PhD from Canterbury University in 2011 and then established himself as a group leader at University of Copenhagen.
While his research in the past decade has evolved mostly around ancient humans, he has a broad interest in natural history. His publication list spans a diverse range of topics like prevalence of prehistoric plague, horse domestication, snake venom evolution, millipede speciation, amphibian conservation, megafauna extinctions, and declines in Australian marsupials.
In 2020, he was appointed a Professor in Molecular Ecology at Curtin University to lead the Trace and Environmental DNA (TrEnD) Laboratory renowned for its environmental DNA (eDNA) research. The overriding scientific aim in TrEnD is to understand patterns of past and present biodiversity with a strong emphasis on conservation.
