Harald Ringbauer
Population Geneticist | Ancient DNA
Research Group Leader at MPI-EVA Leipzig
www.hringbauer.com
- Reposted by Harald RingbauerWe hope this little guide and review of the recent literature on SVs will be useful for the community in #ecology #evolution #genomics #PopGen. Great lead by Kat!!
- New review! Theory & a practical guide to structural variants in popgen🧬 Many thanks to my co-authors: @rebekahoomen.bsky.social @annatigano.bsky.social @marenwellenreuther.bsky.social @janawold.bsky.social @dlfield.bsky.social @clairemerot.bsky.social onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
- (1/2) The preprint of our perspective on genetic estimates of relatedness in animal populations is out! Big Congratulations to Annika! doi.org/10.32942/X28... A systematic review of 2,861 articles shows that, even in 2025, 75% of such studies use microsatellites. And most use only a few! #PopGen
- (2/2) Using whole-genome sequencing (WGS) and STR data from a Rhesus macaque population, we show that low-coverage WGS data, even at 0.05x, have better accuracy than STR data for relatedness estimates. We therefore advocate for WGS data!
- Reposted by Harald Ringbauer
- Reposted by Harald RingbauerSciLifeLab has opened a call for #postdoc fellows in Data-Driven Life Science. We would be happy to host such fellows! Get in touch if you are interested in applying with a project on the evolution of humans and domestic animals using ancient and/or modern DNA 🧪🏺 www.scilifelab.se/data-driven/...
- Reposted by Harald Ringbauer#AI may indeed exacerbate our bad academic habits: #LLM science summaries were nearly five times more likely than human-authored science summaries to contain broad generalizations (95% CI [3.06, 7.70], p < 0.001). And newer models over-generalized more; not less! doi.org/10.1098/rsos... #philSci
- Reposted by Harald RingbauerThis smells distinctly like collider bias and/or selection bias and/or regression to the mean... You simply can't select teen prodigies, and world class athletes rom databases, and go run regressions without serious consideration of the selection process!
- "Most top achievers (Nobel laureates and world-class musicians, athletes, chess players) demonstrated lower performance than many peers during their early years. Across the highest adult performance, peak performance is negatively correlated with early performance" www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
- Reposted by Harald RingbauerHave you ever wondered: just how strong *is* the evidence for Muller's ratchet on mtDNA? Well, wonder no more! (Project led by Yu Mo, with @smishra677.bsky.social and @yadirapga.bsky.social) "No molecular evidence for Muller's ratchet in mitochondrial genomes" www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
- Reposted by Harald RingbauerHappy to share my work with my advisor Zachary Szpiech! Why are associations between ROH & complex traits inconsistent across studies? We use realistic simulations to show how demographic history and genetic architecture interact to shape the phenotypic impact of ROH. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
- Reposted by Harald Ringbauer
- Reposted by Harald RingbauerA new community-driven lab handbook for reducing conflict and creating more positive and equitable work environments gets strong support from a survey of 200 researchers. buff.ly/K7CGFLV
- Reposted by Harald RingbauerSKULL OF THOMAS AQUINAS: TAKE A LEFT NOW PRIEST: No, the GPS says we have to keep going— SKULL: I KNOW A SHORTCUT PRIEST: Do you remember the last ti— SKULL: FOR THOSE WITH FAITH, NO EVIDENCE IS NECESSARY; FOR THOSE WITHOUT IT, NO EVIDENCE WILL SUFFICE
- Reposted by Harald RingbauerWhat's that? 5 ancient doggy papers in 10 days is too many dogs? Can I interest you in some cats? Perhaps a complete retelling of cat domestication, dispersal, and replacement across Eurasia? As you wish! Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... Cell Genomics www.cell.com/cell-genomic...
- Reposted by Harald RingbauerI taught (and co-taught) a course on human population genetics from 2000-2024. Having retired, I'm now making all the course materials public: github.com/alanrogers/p... #popgen #evbio
- Reposted by Harald RingbauerAs I told the CNN, without details and data it is not possible to assess the claims. More importantly, the scientific value of this media campaign, balanced against the possible stigmatization of individuals with these real conditions today, is highly questionable. edition.cnn.com/2025/11/13/s...
- Reposted by Harald RingbauerPutting aside the deeper issues of why this analysis was done and how it has been promoted, the choice to broadcast a tv show before releasing a preprint should make people skeptical of the results. How can one be sure of their scientific claims?
- As I told the CNN, without details and data it is not possible to assess the claims. More importantly, the scientific value of this media campaign, balanced against the possible stigmatization of individuals with these real conditions today, is highly questionable. edition.cnn.com/2025/11/13/s...
- Reposted by Harald RingbauerExciting new study led by @ekerdoncuff.bsky.social and @meaghanmarohn.bsky.social on the evolution of Lactase Persistence in South Asia. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Reposted by Harald Ringbauerwww.nature.com/articles/s41... New paper led by Javier Maravall on a time transect from ancient Argentina.
- Reposted by Harald Ringbauer✨Thrilled to share that the first chapter of my Ph.D. thesis is NOW OUT in Science Advances! ✨🥳🎉 🧬. This couldn't have been possible without the support of everyone involved @genscapelab.bsky.social, @nirajrai.bsky.social, @cdelafc.bsky.social, @jaurban2204.bsky.social, @mootspoints.bsky.social
- 🦠💀🦠 Happy to share our (with @gunnar-u-neumann.bsky.social) new preprint on ancient Salmonella enterica genomes! We analysed 53 new genomes along with published ancient and modern datasets to learn about lineage replacements and host adaptation in prehistory: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Reposted by Harald RingbauerJasmin Rees PhD chapter as a paper just out at the AJHG @ajhgnews.bsky.social, with Sergi Castellano, who first envisioned the study. Jas investigated signatures of human local genetic adaptation in hundreds of micronutrient-associated genes.
- 📣New from @aidaandres.bsky.social & co 📄Global impact of micronutrients in modern human evolution
- Reposted by Harald RingbauerExcited to share that I’ve started as Associate Professor at the Technical University of Denmark! 🧑🎓 I also received an a NNF Emerging Investigator grant to use genomics + machine learning to study extinction. 👉 PhD & Postdoc positions coming soon — follow for updates! Reposts appreciated 🙏
- Reposted by Harald RingbauerAnglo-Saxons with West African roots: DNA analysis of 7th century burials reported in @antiquity.ac.uk today reveals long-distance connections reached across continents and cultures. Read about it @science.org:
- Reposted by Harald Ringbauer#Population history of the Southern #Caucasus: Archaeogenetic study generates #DNA transect spanning nearly 5,000 years. In @cellpress.bsky.social by Eirini Skourtanioti, Xiaowen Jia, @hringbauer.bsky.social & an intl. team. #PopulationGenetics More: tinyurl.com/8r39ywfu & doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...
- Our aDNA time transect centered on modern Georgia is out! 🧬 Genetic continuity over 5000 years, but some Bronze Age gene flow and urban outliers since Antiquity - including some with artificially deformed skulls 💀 linked by IBD segments to Asian nomads. #aDNA #PopGen www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
- Read more in the press release by @mpi-eva-leipzig.bsky.social. Big thanks to the international research team behind this work, crucially also from Georgia. 🇬🇪🙏 And big congratulations to Eirini Skourtanioti and Xiaowen Jia - the dynamic co-first author team! 👏 🎊 www.eva.mpg.de/press/news/a...
- Was Rapa Nui less isolated than thought? ⏬️ There is also genetic evidence of late inter-island contacts: When re-modelling the Ioannidis et al 2020 split dates with a corrected model we show that their genetic "settlement" dates actually reflect later movements www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- For years, researchers believed Rapa Nui (aka Easter Island) was isolated from the wider Polynesian world, developing independently following its initial colonisation. New radiocarbon dates of Pacific monuments cast doubt on this interpretation. A well-connected #AntiquityThread 1/13 🧵🏺
- Reposted by Harald Ringbauer#SMBE2025 Symposium 27: Population genetics through time session B 🔗 smbe2025.scimeeting.cn/en/web/program/25070
- Reposted by Harald RingbauerAt long last, scientists have a nearly complete cranium from hominins known as Denisovans. scim.ag/4e7QdT4
- Reposted by Harald RingbauerA 4-year postdoc position in population genomics is available in my group at the University of East Anglia, to work on a project sequencing a thousand fox genomes across rural and urban environments in the UK. vacancies.uea.ac.uk/vacancies/15...
- Reposted by Harald Ringbauer
- Reposted by Harald RingbauerWe have updated our preprint about 850,000 person UK-Danish haplotype sharing - sheding light on the rich history each person carries with them in their DNA and comparing this to historical records. Xiaolei Zhang postdoc in my group led this work. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Reposted by Harald RingbauerPlanning to apply for #research #funding from the ERC? From the next application rounds, expect changes to the: • proposal structure • evaluation process • extra funding you can request • eligibility for Starting & Consolidator #Grants (from 2027) More 👇 europa.eu/!RPHWvv
- Reposted by Harald RingbauerNow published in PNAS: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
- “The distribution of highly deleterious variants across human ancestry groups”. Preprint with Anastasia Stolyarova and @gcbias.bsky.social: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Reposted by Harald RingbauerScientists used to think diseases that jump from animals to people really took off when people started domesticating cattle, sheep and goats 11,000 years ago. A new look at ancient bacterial DNA in @science.org by @poojaswali.bsky.social and colleagues suggests the pivotal moment came much later.
- Reposted by Harald RingbauerDiscover our results of the largest ancient DNA study ever conducted on a single burial site: 400 skeletons from the Belgian city Sint-Truiden (8th–18th century). A unique glimpse into 1000 years of genetic history. (1/9) @kuleuvenuniversity.bsky.social
- Reposted by Harald RingbauerThis ancient Middle Eastern civilization that developed an early alphabet spread its culture far and wide — but not its DNA go.nature.com/3Rx0f63
- Reposted by Harald RingbauerPhoenician-Punic civilization: Their #culture spread across the #Mediterranean mainly by a dynamic process of cultural transmission & assimilation. New study by @hringbauer.bsky.social, Ilan Gronau, David Reich & colleagues in @nature.com. #aDNA tinyurl.com/32j6wrjk & www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Reposted by Harald RingbauerThe Phoenicians used mastery of the seas to spread their culture across the pre-Roman Mediterranean - but a new study of ancient DNA by @hringbauer.bsky.social & colleagues shows mass migration wasn't part of the package: www.science.org/content/arti... @science.org
- Check out our ancient DNA paper on the maritime Punic civilization! 🦴🧬🌊 We find that their Levantine Phoenician cultural ancestors contributed surprisingly little ancestry to Punic sites in the central and western Mediterranean! (1/4) doi.org/10.1038/s415... #aDNA #PopGen #Punic #Phoenician
- We could generate genome-wide data of >100 human remains from prominent Punic necropolis in Iberia, Tunisia, Sicily, and the islands of Ibiza and Sardinia. That includes important urban centers, such as the former Phoenician colony Carthage itself. (2/4)
- We find diverse ancestry in Punic sites 600-200 BCE - with a main component of Greek-Sicilian-like ancestry. Also North African ancestry was widespread across Punic sites on a narrow admixture cline - but remains a minority component (including in Carthage). (3/4)
- Thanks to a international interdisciplinary team behind this work! 🙏 A special shout-out to Ilan Gronau for his tireless work and the countless intriguing calls we had throughout. And of course to my Postdoc supervisor, David Reich and his lab, who enabled this fascinating aDNA work! (4/4)
- Reposted by Harald RingbauerSo excited to see this paper from @nadasalem.bsky.social, @hringbauer.bsky.social & team using our Twist aDNA panel: “Ancient DNA from the Green Sahara reveals ancestral North African lineage.” Congratulations to the authors! 🧬 @twistbioscience.com
- Reposted by Harald RingbauerColossal is back with their totally BS claims. They reverse engineered snps into 14 GENES and claim they changed a grey wolf into a dire wolf. 1/n time.com/7274542/colo...
- Reposted by Harald RingbauerFor 5,000 years, the Sahara was dotted with lakes and crisscrossed by rivers, populated by giraffes, hippos, elephants, fish – and people. A new study from @mpi-eva-leipzig.bsky.social geneticist @nadasalem.bsky.social and colleagues reveals where they came from. @science.org
- A great thread by the Green Sahara aDNA study's lead author @nadasalem.bsky.social ⬇️
- I'm beyond excited to share our new paper in Nature! We sequenced the first ancient human autosomal genomes from the Central Sahara, two ~7,000-year-old individuals from Takarkori in Libya, revealing a long-isolated North African lineage: www.nature.com/articles/s41... Here's a short thread: (1/n)
- Reposted by Harald RingbauerAlte #Genome aus der Grünen #Sahara entschlüsselt. Intl. Team um @nadasalem.bsky.social, @hringbauer.bsky.social & Johannes Krause enthüllt eine lange isolierte nordafrikanische Abstammungslinie aus der Zentralsahara während der African Humid Period vor über 7.000 Jahren. www.mpg.de/24410386/032...
- Reposted by Harald RingbauerAncient genomes from the Green #Sahara. Study led by @nadasalem.bsky.social, @hringbauer.bsky.social & Johannes Krause reveals a long-isolated North African human lineage in the Central Sahara during the African Humid Period over 7,000 years ago. tinyurl.com/43maxc7k & www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Our study analyzing the DNA of ~7ky-old Pastoralists from the "Green Sahara" is out! Who were these people, and how did herding spread into the region when the present-day desert was dotted with water bodies? 🧬🦴🏜️ (1/7) #PopGen #GreenSahara #aDNA www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Deep in the SW Libyan desert, the Takakori rock shelter preserved human remains and, despite the extreme climatic conditions, even small amounts of human DNA. Cutting-edge archaeogenetic methods let us squeeze out enough sequences from two individuals for various population genetic analyses. (2/7)
- Their ancestry resembles that of other ancient North Africans, including the 15ky-old Tafforalt group from Morocco. However, the Takakori individuals are much less admixed with Levantine-like ancestry. This appears to be a deep lineage, previously undescribed in that form. (3/7)
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View full threadA fantastic international team is behind this work, including from @mpi-eva-leipzig.bsky.social. Many thanks to everyone; in particular to the lead author @nadasalem.bsky.social who truly drove all this analysis and @arevsumer.bsky.social 's crucial contributions. 🙏 (7/7)
- Oh wow!👀 Calling IBD on SNP array data of 370,000 Danes - an impressive 6.2 (!!) percent of Denmark's present-day population 🇩🇰 Revealing fascinating population genetic fine-structure from recent centuries, all through the powerful lens of long shared haplotypes. 🧬
- New Preprint klaxon - and calling all Danes+Brits who are interested in genetics+history - a new preprint led by Xiaolei Zhang in my group with Soren Brunak's group about genetic exchange from 1100 to the present day between UK (Britain)+Denmark. Read on for details www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Reposted by Harald RingbauerNew aDNA preprint looking at 5th-7th century CE cemeteries from across present-day southern Germany. Generation-by-generation assimilation of people with diverse ancestries from across Western Eurasia as (presumably) formerly-Romanised populations move and mix. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Reposted by Harald RingbauerEurope as “a haven” for US researcher - The EU’s research funding bodies are thinking of ways to welcome US scientists and European ex-patriots who might be looking for a more sympathetic place to work now that Donald Trump is in the White House #AcademicSky 🧪 sciencebusiness.net/internationa...
- Reposted by Harald RingbauerI had a great visit to the MPI for evolutionary anthropology yesterday to give a talk on 'Evolution Evolving'. Thanks to my wonderful host Laurel Fogarty and everyone who met with me and attended my talk. Such interesting work going on there!
- Reposted by Harald RingbauerAn important new paper by @beademarch.bsky.social and her team challenges how we use ancient proteins to study the past. Analysis of 1,832 sequences from waterfowl (ducks & geese) reveals why palaeoproteomics isn't the simple solution we hoped for... 👇🧵 1/4 www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-5...
- Huge congratulations to the awesome Dr. Yilei Huang on his stellar PhD defense! 🌟👏🎉 Supervising one's first PhD student is truly special, and I got so incredibly lucky to have worked with Yilei (and the entire Archaeogenetics department @MPI-EVA Leipzig).
- Reposted by Harald RingbauerNew paper with Sarthak Mishra! Maybe it will bring you some joy given all this (waves arms around). "Estimating recombination using only the allele frequency spectrum" 1/2 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Big aDNA study led by the fantastic @iosiflazaridis.bsky.social that helps to resolve the spread of Indo-European languages. 🗣🧬🌍 Includes genomes of 211 Yamnaya (~3000 BCE) from the Steppes between Hungary and central Asia - revealing a dramatic demographic expansion and extreme mobility. #PopGen
- Our papers, out today in @nature.com, show how ancient DNA from the Eneolithic and Bronze Age steppe points to a North Pontic origin of the Indo-European language family and a Caucasus-Lower Volga (CLV) origin of Indo-Anatolian (inclusive of the now extinct Anatolian languages). 1/
- Reposted by Harald RingbauerOur papers, out today in @nature.com, show how ancient DNA from the Eneolithic and Bronze Age steppe points to a North Pontic origin of the Indo-European language family and a Caucasus-Lower Volga (CLV) origin of Indo-Anatolian (inclusive of the now extinct Anatolian languages). 1/
- Reposted by Harald RingbauerIf you need another break from current news, come with me 7000 years ago to search for the first speakers of Indo-European languages. 🧪 Gift link: nyti.ms/42ILio5
- Reposted by Harald RingbauerIndo-European languages are spoken by half the people in the world today. The search for their origins has obsessed scholars for centuries. New @nature.com papers by @iosiflazaridis.bsky.social and others use ancient DNA to pinpoint where Indo-European got its start, and how it may have spread.
- Reposted by Harald RingbauerIn other contexts, such as in the search for rare, deleterious variants, an emphasis on ancestry groups is unwarranted. In particular, while rare nucleotide variants are often described as “ancestry-specific”, they will in fact be found in large enough samples of any ancestry.
- Reposted by Harald Ringbauer😂
- Reposted by Harald RingbauerHow we hunt viruses in the museum: scilog.fwf.ac.at/en/magazine/...
- Reposted by Harald RingbauerMy bluesky debut! One week to the submission deadline for SMBE 2025, Beijing 20-24 July smbe2025.scimeeting.cn @anaignatieva.bsky.social and I are organising a symposium on popgen through time: using ARGs, aDNA, or otherwise to understand the evolutionary processes that shape genomes through time.
