Research
I’m passionate about using DNA to reconstruct the hidden stories of human and wildlife populations.
At FamilyTreeDNA I build the methods behind our ancestry, phylogenetics, and ancient DNA work. Alongside that I study the evolution and conservation of a threatened alpine toad in the Sierra Nevada. The two overlap more than you would expect: the corridor method behind Globetrekker’s migration maps came straight out of modelling how toads move between meadows.
Human phylogenetics at scale
The largest human family tree yet described, and the search methods that made a third of a million sequences tractable.
Ancestry inference
Turning a genotype into a map of where someone’s ancestors lived, and a defensible estimate of how they connect to everyone else.
Ancient DNA and history
Beethoven’s hair, two Holy Roman Emperors, a Viking Age cemetery. Same question each time: who was this person?
Population history and medical genetics
Where a rare disease mutation came from, how many priestly lineages there really are, and why one Greek peninsula never got replaced.
Evolution and conservation genomics
Fifteen years on a toad that breeds where the snow melts last, plus a Gila monster, a desert vole, and a Chinese conifer.
Almost none of this was done alone. Group photographs of the teams and cohorts I have worked with, at FamilyTreeDNA and at San Diego State, are on the Research Cohorts page.
Every paper, report, and white paper is listed on the Publications page.