Kendra Sirak
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ksirak.bsky.social
Kendra Sirak
@ksirak.bsky.social
🧬💀🧬Ancient DNA researcher @Harvard. Avid runner, beer aficionado, and plant lady in my other life.
A 2025(!) reminder to submit an abstract to Session 25 "The ancient DNA revolution in Africa: New data, broader applications, and evolving research practices” @ the upcoming SAfA meeting (w/ a virtual option). Deadline Jan 31. Write to me at kendra_sirak[at]fas.harvard.edu if you want more details!
January 6, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Do you love #ancientDNA, #Africa, and beautiful beaches?

Submit a talk to “The ancient DNA revolution in Africa: New data, broader applications, and evolving research practices” session that I'm co-chairing with at the 2025 SAfA meeting in Portugal!
December 6, 2024 at 4:08 PM
🏺New paper alert! We report #ancientDNA data from 39 people who lived on island of #Soqotra 650-1750CE and provide new evidence that there was not complete population replacement between the Pleistocene and Holocene throughout the Arabian Peninsula (1/n).

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Medieval DNA from Soqotra points to Eurasian origins of an isolated population at the crossroads of Africa and Arabia - Nature Ecology & Evolution
Ancient DNA from Soqotra, an island off the coast of Yemen, evidences a population history differing from other areas of the Arabian Peninsula and suggests there has not been complete population repla...
www.nature.com
February 13, 2024 at 6:15 PM
Reposted by Kendra Sirak
Researchers from the Crick, Durham University, MOLA and Headland Archaeology have discovered that a man whose 2,000-year-old remains were found in the Cambridgeshire countryside originally came from near the south of modern-day Russia 🌍🧪 @marinasdsilva.bsky.social

www.crick.ac.uk/news-and-rep...
Research reveals man born thousands of miles to the east travelled to Cambridgeshire 2,000 years ago
Scientists from the Francis Crick Institute, Durham University, and MOLA Headland Infrastructure have discovered that a man who lived between AD 126-228 during the Roman period did not originally come...
www.crick.ac.uk
December 19, 2023 at 4:25 PM
🏺New paper tracing genetic changes across the rise/fall of the Roman Empire, showing the genetic impact of people w/Anatolian-, Cent/North European- & Steppe-, and Slavic-related ancestry in the 1st millennium CE. This is a beautiful synthesis of arch + genetic data.

www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
A genetic history of the Balkans from Roman frontier to Slavic migrations
Genome-wide data from 146 ancient Balkan individuals dating to the 1st millennium CE, together with detailed archaeological information, reveals internal migratory patterns during the Roman Empire and...
www.cell.com
December 7, 2023 at 6:55 PM
🏺 I'm excited to see the first paper stemming from the vibrant discussions at #DNAirobi! This work reminds us about the skeletal biology research that forms the foundation for much of our genomic work today, but may not be on the radar of most geneticists 💀🧬🇰🇪

www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1...
A literature review of skeletal biology and human morphology research examining the prehistory of su...
Molecular genetics has taken the preeminent position in the search for the ancestors of modern humans in sub-Saharan Africa. The usefulness of DNA in identifying lineage and familial relatedness is...
www.tandfonline.com
November 6, 2023 at 8:57 PM
Reposted by Kendra Sirak
Reconstructing the human past: using ancient and modern genomics 17 - 20 Sep 2024

This conference will take place at EMBL Heidelberg, with the option to attend virtually.
Registration is not yet open for this event. If you are interested in receiving more information please register your interest.
Reconstructing the human past: using ancient and modern genomics
www.embl.org
October 18, 2023 at 6:11 PM
Preprint alert 🧬! We explore population history in the N Eurasian forest/forest-steppe zones spanning the Mesolithic/Neolithic/Bronze Age. Esp interesting is the correlation early Uralic speakers w/expansion of Seima-Turbino metallurgical traditions.

(PS: work led by bluesky-less colleagues!)
Postglacial genomes from foragers across Northern Eurasia reveal prehistoric mobility associated wit...
bioRxiv - the preprint server for biology, operated by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a research and educational institution
www.biorxiv.org
October 2, 2023 at 4:10 PM
The fact that this amazing resource is open access is nothing short of 👏🙌🤩. Not only a step forward in sharing knowledge, but one that increases equitable access to the resources that are necessary for our field. I'll be reading/sharing with everyone and you should too 🧬
I'm delighted to release the first half of my new textbook in human genetics:
web.stanford.edu/group/pritch...

"An Owner's Guide to the Human Genome: an introduction to human population genetics, variation and disease"
An Owner's Guide to the Human Genome
An Owner's Guide to the Human Genome
web.stanford.edu
October 2, 2023 at 3:00 PM
Reposted by Kendra Sirak
"Which community has been engaged in science awareness? Surely no South African or any African community has been engaged through this act?"
South African hominin fossils were sent into space and scientists are enraged
Experts insist there is no scientific reason for allowing these fossils to travel to space.
theconversation.com
September 25, 2023 at 6:58 PM
Reposted by Kendra Sirak
Statement from the Association of Southern African Professional Archaeologists regarding the transport of two hominin fossils aboard the recent 3rd Virgin Galactic commercial space flight.
September 19, 2023 at 8:43 PM
Reposted by Kendra Sirak
Hey folks, just trying to maximize the number of eyes on this job posting, for which I serve on the search committee. If you work on "genes, genomes, and evolution" writ large, and are on the job market, please apply! Please repost and share widely!

employment.unl.edu/postings/87675
September 20, 2023 at 12:56 AM
Well this explains a lot…I’m not finding Bluesky super intuitive to use, but better than the alternative?
September 20, 2023 at 8:25 AM
Absolutely worth a read 💀🧬
Over the last 15 years, ancient DNA research has transformed archaeology, revolutionizing what we know about everything from Neanderthals to global migration. As methods advance and computing power increases, there's lots more to come. My latest for National Geographic:
How ancient DNA—from Neanderthals to the Black Plague—has transformed archaeology
From identifying new human species to unraveling the evolution of diseases, the ability to reconstruct ancient genomes is a game-changer for researchers who can navigate the ethical perils.
www.nationalgeographic.com
September 13, 2023 at 11:04 AM
#ISBA10 feels like a good time to kick off some activity in this new blue place 💀🧬🦠

I’m excited to share and consume science in this space!
September 13, 2023 at 7:07 AM
Reposted by Kendra Sirak
Preprint with Raphaël Forien & Harald Ringbauer showing how spatially heterogeneous dispersal can be identified using long shared haplotypes. #popgen
#evolsky
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
August 31, 2023 at 11:33 PM