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Unique Makers of our Evolutionary History

By September 25, 2014January 3rd, 2019No Comments

Connections forum highlights research on the natural history of human infectious disease

Pathogens and parasites have evolved in intimate relationships with their human hosts, and have often played central roles in human population history. Notably, human pathogens evolve with surprising rapidity, quickly exploiting novel niche introduced by shifts in human behavior or ecology.

Andrew Kitchen, PhD, assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Iowa, will speak about the natural history of human infectious disease, in a free presentation at Kirkwood Community College, on Monday, September 29, at 7 p.m. in Ballantyne Auditorium.

Dr. Kitchen will present recent work that investigates the connection between pathogen/parasite evolution and the history of their human host populations. He will also discuss how human parasites, such as lice, may colonize new niches introduced by shifts in human behavior, and in so doing, become unique markers of our evolutionary history.

Dr. Kitchen’s research involves the application of population genetic (i.e. coalescent) and phylogenetic analyses to human and pathogen genetic data, as well as substantial modeling and simulation. Though his work is primarily computational and analytical in nature, he is interested in exploring how complementary lines of evidence (e.g., geographic, climatic, epidemiological or archaeological data) may be best incorporated into molecular evolutionary studies.

This free event is sponsored by Linn County Connections. Connections is a consortium of natural science departments from Cornell College, Coe College, Mount Mercy University, Kirkwood Community College, Kennedy High School and the United Nations, plus a number of natural resource and environmental groups from Linn County.