Dr Philipp Khaitovich
December 18, 2013
13.00 – 14.30
Beijing-1 Auditorium, China cluster (Skolkovo School of Management)
SEMINAR ABSTRACT:
As humans, we are always interested to know how exactly our species came to exist. Human evolution has resulted in a species that possesses an apparently unique set of phenotypic capabilities. Newly evolved human-specific features may also represent vulnerable points in otherwise well buffered functional networks, resulting in uniquely human disease susceptibilities.
In our laboratory, we search for molecular features specific to humans, through integrative analysis of genetic, transcriptomic and metabolomic data measured in modern and archaic humans, as well as closely related mammalian species: chimpanzees, macaques and mice. Following this approach, we have identified several molecular mechanisms that potentially underlie the evolution of the human phenotype. These mechanisms include: (a) human-specific delay in timing of neocortical synaptogenesis and synaptic pruning potentially responsible for uniquely human integrative cognitive performance, (b) human-specific changes in brain and muscle metabolism potentially reflecting the parallel evolution of cognitive and physical performances, and (c) changes in brain lipid catabolism specific to Europeans and potentially caused by adaptive genetic variants acquired from Neanderthals. Taken together, our results illustrate how modern biological approaches can help in formulating data-driven hypotheses of human evolution.
SPEAKER INTRODUCTION:
Philipp Khaitovich, born in Moscow, Russia in 1973. Philipp completed undergraduate studies in molecular biology at Moscow State University in 1995 and PhD in biochemistry at the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1999. From 2000 till 2006 Philipp worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology at the department of Evolutionary Genetics headed by Prof. Svante Pääbo. In September 2006, Philipp Khaitovich took a faculty position at the Institute for Computational Biology jointly established by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Max Planck Society in Shanghai China. In 2012 Philipp was promoted to an institute director position. During his work in China, Philipp received several awards, including the Friendship medal – the highest award given to foreigners in China.
