UGI Seminar

Speaker: Amy Goldberg (Duke University)

Title: Population-genetic perspectives on malaria

Abstract: Classically called one of the strongest selective pressures in human evolution, I will discuss the ongoing host and pathogen pressures shaping malaria disease. First, considering the added information that distributions of genetic ancestry provide, we infer rapid adaptation to P. vivax malaria in humans from the islands of Cabo Verde. Then, we consider the broader spectrum of malaria parasites across primates to begin to ask why some impact human evolution and disease burden more than others. To do this, we will first need new population-genetic methods to interpret patterns of variation in malaria parasites given their complex lifecycles.