Ph. D. student
Institute of Ecology and Evolution
University of Bern
Phone: +41 31 631 30 28
My research interest lies in understanding the evolutionary history of our species, particularly with regard to the place of origin of all human beings, the Out of Africa migration event and the mode of interaction between archaic and anatomically modern humans, as well as the interaction between hunter-gatherers and agro-pastoralist populations. Since demographic processes leave particular signatures on species genomes, genetic data seem to be a very interesting tool to reconstruct our past. Current large collections of genetic data and important computational advances constitute a unique opportunity to dig deep into our past at an unprecedented resolution.
My PhD project aims at increasing our knowledge about the evolutionary history of human populations in Africa, which is thought to be the cradle of our species. I will simulate complex population scenarios integrated into an Approximate Bayesian Computation (ABC) approach, in order to infer the model best-fitting current patterns of population diversity, and the historical parameters underlying the history of African populations.
|2011||-||Ph.D. thesis in population genetics under supervision of Prof. Laurent Excoffier, CMPG, University of Bern, and Lounès Chikhi, PCG, Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Portugal.|
|2007||-||2009||Master of Science (MSc) in Biodiversity, Genetics and Evolution, University of Porto, Portugal|
|2003||-||2007||Undergraduate studies in Biology, University of Porto, Portugal|