Languages

• English
• Spanish

Additional Information

My research combines field-based, experimental, and computational methods to: 1) reconstruct human demographic history; and 2) identify genomic variation associated with human traits. In particular, I am interested in the past migration and admixture of anatomically modern humans in the Arabian Peninsula (AP) and Africa. Furthermore, my research aims to identify variants that contribute to the development of human normal variable traits (e.g. lactase persistence and skin pigmentation variation, as well as related phenotypes) and complex disease (e.g. kidney and breast cancers). I also work with top-notch scientists to investigate the dynamics of the gut microbiome in urban and rural populations in the AP. Additionally, while software development is not a major focus of my laboratory, I have collaborated with outstanding colleagues at the Yale University School of Public Health to develop a computational method that detects genetic signatures of positive selection within coding sequences (called MASS-PRF). These genetic signals are adaptive nucleotide changes (presumably impacting gene function) that arose in the human lineage and are fixed in our species.