UGI Seminar
Shigeki Nakagome 'Tracing genetic origins and legacy of Japanese populations: Insights from ancient genomics in insular East Asia'
UGI Seminar
26 Apr 2023, 15:00 – 16:00
Speaker: Shigeki Nakagome
Date: 26 April 2023 3pm-4pm; Medawar Watson LT.
Title: Tracing genetic origins and legacy of Japanese populations: Insights from ancient genomics in insular East Asia
Abstract:
The origin of modern Japanese populations and their genetic legacy can now be explored through ancient genomics. This interdisciplinary approach has provided a novel way to uncover insights about the human past. Despite humans having inhabited the Japanese archipelago for over 38,000 years, the most significant cultural transformations have occurred in the last 3,000 years. These changes include the rapid shift from foraging to widespread rice farming, as well as the development of a technologically advanced imperial state. However, the impact of these agricultural and sociocultural changes on the genetic makeup of Japanese populations remains uncertain. In this talk, I will discuss the formation process of Japanese, its regional variation, and the genetic legacy left in modern descendants.
Trinity College Dublin
Shigeki received his Ph.D. at The University of Tokyo in 2010 with the focus on the evolutionary pressures on alleles associated with Crohn's disease. As a postdoctoral researcher, He first joined The Institute of Statistical Mathematics from 2011 to 2014 where he was awarded a competitive Research Fellowship of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) for Young Scientists and developed a new statistical method, kernel Approximate Bayesian Computation. He obtained further postdoctoral training at University of Chicago from 2013 to 2016 as JSPS Overseas Research Fellow. During this training, he has acquired expertise in population and functional genomics to develop statistical approaches for understanding selective pressures on immunity genes and to connect genetic polymorphisms to their functional consequences in the immune system. Since 2016, he has worked as Ussher Assistant Professor in Genomic Medicine at School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin.