Kendra Sirak @KendraSirak Twitter profile | Pikagi

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Kendra Sirak

@KendraSirak

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Research associate connecting anthropology and ancient DNA at @harvardmed & @HarvardHEB . Avid runner, yoga-doer, beer aficionado, mediocre vegetarian.

Boston, MA

Joined August 2018

Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

4 months

🚨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).

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Medieval DNA from Soqotra points to Eurasian origins of an isolated population at the crossroads of...

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...

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

1 year

I'm grateful to have had the chance to explore more of #TamilNadu #India with the #ancientDNA team from MKU (and our archaeologist partners). #Adichanallur is simply awe-inspiring. Now, on to the DNA work to provide some additional perspective on these ancient people! 💀🧬🇮🇳

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

1 year

Excited to open new doors for #ancientDNA in #India alongside fantastic colleagues from Madurai Kamaraj University 💀🧬🇮🇳

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

3 years

Today we share the FIRST genome-wide #AncientDNA data from #Nubia ! We sequenced 66 individuals from 2 Christian Period cemeteries at Kulubnarti, increasing the number of ancient individuals with genome-level data from the Nile Valley from 3 to 69!!! .(1/11)

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Social stratification without genetic differentiation at the site of Kulubnarti in Christian Period...

Nubia has been a corridor for the movement of goods, culture, and people between sub-Saharan Africa, Egypt, and West Eurasia since prehistory, but little is known about the genetic landscape of the...

www.biorxiv.org

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

3 years

Our #ancientDNA study (co-led by @daniMfernandes and me) of genome-wide data from 263 individuals (174 newly published) from across the pre-contact #Caribbean is now published in @Nature ! .(1/n)

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A genetic history of the pre-contact Caribbean

Nature - Ancient DNA reveals genetic differences between stone-tool users and people associated with ceramic technology in the Caribbean and provides substantially lower estimates of population...

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

2 years

#ancientDNA data from >200 ancient African individuals (!!!) are now published. This research has already become an integral part of our understanding of African population history and will continue to shape our understanding of the African past. (1/4)

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

1 year

MEROË!!! An adventure that was nothing short of a dream come true. If you ever get the chance to visit #Sudan , please go. The beauty of nature and culture past and present is only compounded by the people, who have hearts of pure gold. 🇸🇩

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

4 years

Our study of genome-wide data from 184 individuals predating European contact from The Bahamas, Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Curaçao, and northwestern Venezuela is out on bioRxiv! (1/n)

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A genetic history of the pre-contact Caribbean

Humans settled the Caribbean ~6,000 years ago, with intensified agriculture and ceramic use marking a shift from the Archaic Age to the Ceramic Age ~2,500 years ago. To shed new light on the history...

www.biorxiv.org

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

3 years

Another step for #opendata in #ancientDNA research: a pre-publication release of shotgun sequencing data w/ an avg of ~5x coverage from 216 ancient individuals (50 sequenced to high cov) generated through international collaborative effort! Get access @

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

6 months

🚨🧬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. This is a seriously beautiful synthesis of arch + genetic data.

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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...

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

1 year

👋🏻 Meet the 3rd, 4th, and 5th people in Africa who are now fully trained in minimally invasive sampling for #ancientDNA ! It’s a privilege to exchange knowledge, share meals, tell stories, and plan for scientifically and socially impactful work with this Sudanese dream team 💀🧬🇸🇩

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

1 year

The #Madurai #ancientDNA dream team. We’ve had a strong week of work in their awesome ✨new clean room✨ and topped it off with a visit to #Konthagai (burial site of Keeladi) and lots of amazing Tamil food! 💀 🧬

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

4 years

An extremely exciting new #ancientDNA #preprint for your evening social distancing, led by @WangChuanchao ! It's a mammoth study of 191 ancient individuals spanning time (7,000 years) & space (Mongolia, China, Taiwan, Japan).

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The Genomic Formation of Human Populations in East Asia

The deep population history of East Asia remains poorly understood due to a lack of ancient DNA data and sparse sampling of present-day people. We report genome-wide data from 191 individuals from...

www.biorxiv.org

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

5 years

Newsflash! #Ossicles are tiny, #optimal repositories for #ancientDNA ! While being as rich in DNA as the cochlea (part of the petrous bone), they can also be sampled in a way that minimizes impact to skeletal collections- #win ! (1/n)

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

2 years

I’m jazzed to finally be working w/my amazing team on our @NatGeo project to increase the accessibility of #ancientDNA research in West Africa. We’re exchanging knowledge, sharing skills, improving the state of the collections, & preparing to gather an immense amount of new data.

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

4 years

I am fully speechless about the @NatureComms paper on female mentorship. I have gained more - professionally as well as personally - from my female mentors and mentees than I could ever count for. They've supported me, empowered me, believed in me and pushed me to my limits (1/n)

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

1 year

🚨🚨🚨Amazing new #ancientDNA results out today detailing the genomic history of ancient people from the #Swahili coast! 💀🧬🌍

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

2 years

“Social stratification without genetic differentiation at the site of Kulubnarti in Christian Period Nubia” is out in @NatureComms , increasing the number of number of ancient individuals with genome-level data from the Nile Valley FROM 3 TO 69!!!💀🧬 (1/15)

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

2 years

A MEGA effort by 44 authors from 19 countries provides new insight into Pleistocene Africa using #aDNA ! To sum it up: 6 foragers as old as 18ka are modeled as a mix of 3 divergent source pops, revealing extensive movement in the LSA followed by increased regionalization ~20ka.

@palaeobeth

Dr. Ebeth Sawchuk

2 years

New #OpenAccess paper out today in @Nature ! We present new #AncientDNA data on ancient African foragers (people who hunted, gathered, & fished), including what are now the oldest #aDNA sequences from sub-Saharan Africa! 1/21 🧵

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

2 years

🚨I've seen a lot of chatter about accessing #ancientDNA papers (esp. the Lazaridis et al. 2022 trio). *ALL* papers that come out of our lab are freely available at (and the genotype data are available at ) 💀🧬

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

9 months

A wonderful and thoughtful 🧵on an action that is currently horrifying the entire scientific community (rarely are we all so united in our perspective). "It's not enough to just explore" is poignant. The line between exploring and exploiting is thin, and has been crossed again.

@LeMoustier

Dr. Rebecca Wragg Sykes

9 months

#Naledi & #Sediba hominins in space... a short pondering🧵 Strong negative reaction from colleagues, so what are actual risks? - loss of fossils from flight failure - damage from radiation - perceived impact on professionalism of discipline

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

4 months

Most modern Arabians can be modeled as deriving all of their Levantine/Anatolian-related ancestry from a Neolithic farmer-related source; however, the medieval Soqotri had relatively more ancestry from ancient groups closer to Natufian hunter-gatherers (2/n).

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

1 year

We are finally just days away from #DNAirobi ! Looking forward to meeting with colleagues from all across Africa and around the world 🌍 💀 🧬 A huge thanks to our hosts @museumsofkenya and dedicated co-organizers @endiema @ManthiEbs @ogola_christine @palaeobeth @prendydigs 🇰🇪

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

4 months

The medieval Soqotri gene pool is best modeled as deriving ~86% ancestry from people from the Hadramawt, with the remaining ancestry well-proxied by an Iranian related source with up to 2% ancestry from the Indian sub-continent. (4/n)

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

10 months

Excellent multidisciplinary study of a seven-generation family from a non-elite burial context - the ability to reconstruct such extensive pedigrees gives us incredible new insights into the lives of prehistoric people💀🧬 News & Views summary here!

@MPI_EVA_Leipzig

MPI-EVA Leipzig

@MPI_EVA_Leipzig

10 months

Extensive family trees provide insight into the social organization of a #Neolithic community. New study in @Nature by Maïté Rivollat, @haak_wolfgang & an intl. research team. @MPI_EVA_Leipzig @univbordeaux @PACEA_Bordeaux See: &

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

2 years

🚨New #ancientDNA data from #Africa 🚨 and the first from the medieval #Swahili coast! Among the most amazing results are different participation from males/females in pop. mixtures (e.g. male Near Eastern & Persian ancestry mixing with female African ancestry).

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

1 year

And so it begins #DNAirobi 🧬💀🇰🇪 Karibuni Kenya to my colleagues who are here from Tanzania, Uganda, Senegal, South Africa, Ethiopia, UK, Spain, China, Australia, USA, Canada. We greatly miss those from Sudan🇸🇩 ASANTE SANA to the @museumsofkenya enough for hosting us!

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

3 years

After long pandemic delays, I'm so thrilled to be in Warsaw to start working with @PCMA_UW on our @NatGeo project that is sure to provide some amazing new insight into Medieval #Nubia using #aDNA 💀🧬. I'm equally as thrilled to eat pierogi on a daily basis!

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

5 years

While supra-regional papers have their own powerful place in ancient DNA research, it's really exciting to see the equally powerful micro-regional approach adopted by @AlMittnik et al. to explore mechanisms behind social inequality in ancient Germany:

Kinship-based social inequality in Bronze Age Europe

Ancient DNA of 104 individuals from Late Neolithic and Bronze Age Germany elucidates their complex social organization.

www.science.org

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

2 years

AMAZING day in #ancientDNA ! Data from 793 INDIVIDUALS (!!) shows prev-unknown migration into Britain (likely from France) during LBA resulted in increased EEF ancestry in southern (not northern) Britain & created vector for spread of early Celtic languages

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Large-scale migration into Britain during the Middle to Late Bronze Age

Nature - Genome-wide ancient DNA data from individuals from the Middle Bronze Age to Iron Age documents large-scale movement of people from the European continent between 1300 and 800 bc that was...

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

3 years

🧬💀🚨NEW PAPER ALERT🚨💀🧬 "Ethics of DNA research on human remains: five globally applicable guidelines" is out today in Nature (1/15)

Ethics of DNA research on human remains: five globally applicable guidelines

Nature - In this Perspective, a group representing a range of stakeholders makes the case for a set of five proposed globally applicable ethical guidelines for ancient human DNA research.

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

9 months

. @johnhawks and @Anthrofuentes - you quite often speak about the ethical treatment of human remains - I'd love to hear your perspective on how and why this happened.

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

2 years

🚨Update🚨 A PDF of our encyclopedia article reviewing the >200 published ancient genomes from #Africa is available to download on the Reich Lab website (as is every paper our group publishes!!) : 💀🧬🌍

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

4 months

A huge thank you to Nada Salem for translating our abstract into Arabic, which helped us share results with people on Soqotra (more of this to come!) (11/n)

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

5 years

Our new paper that details a standardized and replicable sandblasting technique for obtaining bone powder from the cochlear part of the #petrous pyramid for #ancientDNA analysis is here! @daniMfernandes

Isolating the human cochlea to generate bone powder for ancient DNA analysis

Nature Protocols - The human cochlea is a rich source of endogenous DNA. This protocol describes how to use a sandblaster to isolate the cochlea from ancient skeletal remains and prepare bone...

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

1 year

To this group of people who traveled to Nairobi for #DNAirobi , I am grateful for you and inspired by you.. We took a huge step toward building a future of ethical, engaged, and equitable scholarship and I could not be more proud. Onwards! 🧬💀🇰🇪 🌍

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

2 years

Study the human past, but do it with a view 😎! I’m so excited to continue our work on the pre-contact Caribbean and gain even more new insight on the first people who called this part of the world home 💀🧬

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

9 months

A well-written summary of the “WTF” that so many of us who respectfully work with and thoughtfully study human remains are feeling. This type of publicity stunt should be condemned by all of us in the scientific community.

@ArchaeologyGame

Dr. Fartley, Recently Dedunked

@ArchaeologyGame

9 months

very short🧵 1/ The ethical debate over the treatment of the remains of our ancestors is immensely complex and has genuinely been one of the greatest positive forces for good change in the disciplines of archaeology and paleoanthropology

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

4 months

We observe this same pattern in only one other group - present-day people from the Hadramawt region of present-day Yemen - which represents a likely source for the peopling of Soqotra. Genetic connections between these regions are extremely strong.(3/n)

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

5 years

I'm getting excited for our session #AncientDNAinServiceofArchaeology to be held at #SAA2019 . Looking forward to seeing many of our colleagues from both archaeology and genetics on Friday (4/12) from 1-5pm in 110 Galisteo (session 253) @JakobSedig

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

1 year

The #DNAirobi co-organizing committee has absolutely no fun, can you tell? 🌍🧬💀🇰🇪

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

4 years

How can you not be enthralled by a paper that talks about "god-kings" in its abstract? I continued to be totally amazed at the ways that ancient DNA brings the past to life in new and increasingly high-resolution ways.

@brad_dan

Dan Bradley

4 years

We didn't expect this in our Irish Neolithic genomes, the son of a union between first degree relatives interred in the ceremonial heart of UNESCO site, Newgrange passage tomb @_larsporsena @tcdgenmicro @tcddublin \

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

3 years

I mean...🤯. Another must-read paper that shapes the way we think about Neandertal/modern human interactions and the biological connections between modern humans that span tens of thousands of years. Congrats @MatejaHajdi on a phenomenal paper!

@MatejaHajdi

Mateja Hajdinjak

3 years

In our new paper, out today in @nature , we recovered genome-wide data from the oldest Upper Palaeolithic modern humans in Europe, who lived between 46,000 and 43,000 years ago in Bacho Kiro Cave, Bulgaria:

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

3 years

Came across this picture in an article about ancient DNA in the pop press. From what I can tell, this researcher is "doing ancient DNA" by inexplicably clasping the zygomatic with tweezers next to some empty test tubes. HAVE I BEEN SCIENCING WRONG THIS WHOLE TIME!?

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

2 years

MY BEST GAL @palaeobeth SLAYING IT ON THE NEWS: Taking it as my personal duty to spread this clip beyond Edmonton morning news because this lady is as accomplished and eloquent as it gets! 💀🧬🌍

Oldest human DNA ever found in Africa

A University of Alberta anthropologist has uncovered the oldest ever human DNA.

edmonton.ctvnews.ca

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

4 years

Human history in Africa is incredibly complex, and new #ancientDNA research is illuminating the deep African lineages that split and diversified early in our history-- including by identifying a previously unknown pop that contributed little DNA to present-day Africans.

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

2 years

I *highly* recommend this review for anyone who wants a comprehensive overview of the current state of ancient DNA research 🧬 💀 ⬇️

@LudovicLorlando

Ludovic Orlando

@LudovicLorlando

2 years

Following Svante's Nobel Prize, Nature Review Methods Primers has decided to make our review on 'Ancient DNA Analysis' free for download for the upcoming month. Thanks @MethodsPrimers ! Please RT! 1/2

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

1 year

@agenetics1 We're attempting a first set of ~30 from a number of different sites across Tamil Nadu. We're hopeful for some authentic results!

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

4 years

Genotypes for 184 individuals from the pre-contact Caribbean are now available @ ! This extraordinary dataset multiplies by 60x the amount of data from the Caribbean islands and includes the first Caribbean Archaic Age data!

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A genetic history of the pre-contact Caribbean

Humans settled the Caribbean ~6,000 years ago, with intensified agriculture and ceramic use marking a shift from the Archaic Age to the Ceramic Age ~2,500 years ago. To shed new light on the history...

www.biorxiv.org

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

8 months

As someone who often found trouble as a kid, I can definitely tell you that this is the kind of post-mistake "reflection" that would have gotten me sent back to my room to think about it for a bit longer... An important question: where is @NatGeo in all of this?

@LeeRberger

Lee R Berger

8 months

- Statement on fossils sent to space - I hear the concerns raised by the scientific community, which highlight the need for renewed engagement around the processes and permissions to use fossils and heritage artifacts for the public engagement in science. I strongly value the

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

3 years

I will *never* get tired of finding the stapes and excited about how much we can learn from such a small bone while also minimizing damage to collections of ancient individuals. (5 rubles for comparison!) #AncientDNA

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

4 months

🚨🇾🇪💀🧬Soqotra paper (and all papers from the Reich Lab!) available here:

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

1 year

I'm so excited to return to Sudan next week to co-lead the #BioarchaeologyAndBiomolecules practical workshop at NCAM! All of our Sudanese colleagues & students of archaeology are very welcome to attend.(1/2)

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

2 years

DATES is a super powerful method for providing accurate estimates of the timing of admixture and works w/limited samples and large amounts of missing data making it ideal for #ancientDNA - happy to see this pre-print up!

@moorjani_priya

Priya Moorjani

@moorjani_priya

2 years

Our paper “Reconstructing the spatiotemporal patterns of admixture during the European Holocene using a novel genomic dating method” led by @M_Chintalapati and Nick Patterson is on biorxiv!

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Kendra Sirak

1 year

@balajivenk10 data generation will take some months, and then careful analysis of the data after that can also take awhile. But -- we strongly believe in open data so we will make them available as soon as we can.

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

4 years

Teleost bone=brittle & porous, great at preserving DNA. Is a lack of bone remodeling (as in the human osseous inner ear) the key? Also cool that diff fish bones yield similar levels of aDNA- so different to humans! Shows us how much species-specific research remains to be done.

@LudovicLorlando

Ludovic Orlando

@LudovicLorlando

4 years

The preservation of ancient DNA in archaeological fish bone

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

5 years

It's that time again! @JakobSedig and I will be organizing another session at #SAA2020 about #ancientDNA and #archaeology ! We are looking for a few more speakers who are interested in the topic of increasing the accessibility of ancient DNA within archaeology- abstract attached!

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

1 month

Could this tremendous effort to pinpoint the ancestral and geographical origins of the Yamnaya be @iosif_lazaridis (et al.'s) magnum opus? Of note is the remarkable collaboration that made this science possible -- more powerful in these fraught times than ever before.

@iosif_lazaridis

Iosif Lazaridis

@iosif_lazaridis

1 month

Our decade-long search for the genetic traces of the earliest Indo-Europeans has culminated in the two preprints we are releasing today! With Nick Patterson, David Anthony, and 91 co-authors, on "The Genetic Origin of the Indo-Europeans"

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

1 year

"Our results provide the first rigorous basis for understanding how Neanderthal introgression modulates complex trait variation in present-day humans."💀🧬👏

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The lingering effects of Neanderthal introgression on human complex traits

Genetic variants introgressed into modern humans from Neanderthals tend to be depleted in their contribution to heritable trait variation relative to modern human variants consistent with the action...

elifesciences.org

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

4 years

Because you're surely engaging in #socialdistancing , you'll have time to check out @daniMfernandes and my (+ many others) new paper "Human auditory ossicles as an alternative optimal source of ancient DNA" now out in @genomeresearch ! Let's all #QuarantineAndChill w/ #ancientDNA

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

4 years

Discussions about the accessibility of ancient DNA in archaeology are now more important than ever, so let's have this conversation at the @SAAorg meeting in 2021-- @JakobSedig and I invite anyone interested in joining this conversation to submit an abstract for our session!

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

3 years

Research is most impactful when made accessible to broad audiences from varying educational backgrounds and of all ages. Check out the kids' version of our #Caribbean #ancientDNA paper w/ corresponding lesson plan! @SJforKids

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

4 years

Our understanding of the ancient #populationhistory of #EastAsia has grown substantially over the last 24 hours with new genetic data from >400 ancient individuals! See today's #ancientDNA #preprint on population dynamics on the Eastern Steppe:

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A dynamic 6,000-year genetic history of Eurasia’s Eastern Steppe

The Eastern Eurasian Steppe was home to historic empires of nomadic pastoralists, including the Xiongnu and the Mongols. However, little is known about the region’s population history. Here we reveal...

www.biorxiv.org

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

3 years

Is anyone else unable to fully relax at a conference until their own talk is over? #ISBA9 Future Fellows talk on #Nubia #ancientDNA in the books-- now it's time to re-watch all the amazing presentations by my colleagues & friends and prepare for the last day!

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

4 years

Interested in #DNA and #ancientDNA research in Africa? We're kicking off #DNAirobi with the #DNAirobiStaysHome virtual meeting, co-organized by me, @palaeobeth , @ogola_christine , @endiema , @ManthiEbs , @prendydigs , on Nov 11. For details and to register:

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Visit the post for more.

dnairobi.wordpress.com

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

3 years

Am I the only one who is totally charmed by the stapes? I mean, LOOK AT THIS LIL GUY! Even more amazing? He gives DNA!💀🧬

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

7 months

I'm excited to see the first paper stemming from discussions @ #DNAirobi ! It 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🇰🇪🧬💀

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A literature review of skeletal biology and human morphology research examining the prehistory of...

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

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

2 years

The paper is OPEN-ACCESS and available at (15/15)

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Social stratification without genetic differentiation at the site of Kulubnarti in Christian Period...

Nature Communications - Little is known about the genetic landscape of people living in the Nile region prior to the Islamic migrations of the late 1st millennium CE. Here, the authors report...

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

3 years

I'm so excited about the genetic data that will be generated after this trip 💀🧬🇷🇺! We worked w/local archs+anthros who are invested in learning about the past in this part of the world, and I am in awe of the new landscapes, cultures, & cuisines I experienced. Now, onwards! ✈️

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

2 years

What a day for #ancientDNA ! 💀🧬

@NobelPrize

The Nobel Prize

2 years

BREAKING NEWS: The 2022 #NobelPrize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to Svante Pääbo “for his discoveries concerning the genomes of extinct hominins and human evolution.”

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

4 months

To learn more about Soqotra and the efforts being made to document it’s incredible cultural heritage, check out @SoqotraHeritage ! Here’s to opening the door to Arabian ancient DNA alongside incredible colleagues!💀🧬🇾🇪(12/12)

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

6 years

weeeeeellll this is awkward.....

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

5 years

A reminder! #aDNA research cross-cuts disciplines, stakeholders & communities, & we need many voices to move this field forward. @palaeobeth @JakobSedig & I are organizing a forum for this dialogue & want you to participate! Deadline is 10/15; let us know if you want to join!

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

3 years

**IMPORTANT note to the #ancientDNA community! Don't ignore this if you use qpfstats w/ allsnps: YES, inbreed: NO, and individuals have pseudo-haploid data (typical for ancient DNA) - use this new version even if you just use qpfstats as a precursor for qpWave/Adm! #bugshappen

@iosif_lazaridis

Iosif Lazaridis

@iosif_lazaridis

3 years

Nick Patterson asked me to advertise that there is a new version of ADMIXTOOLS on github. This fixes a serious bug in which qpfstats produced erroneous answers if: (cont'd)

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

4 months

Despite being located off the Horn of Africa, medieval Soqotri have extremely little sub-Saharan African-related ancestry: models of genome-wide data can be fit without this ancestry, while we find evidence of only one L3 mtDNA haplogroup. (7/n)

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

5 years

In our latest paper (w/ @daniMfernandes ), we take an #interdisciplinary approach to explore 3 disarticulated/commingled skeletons that exhibit similarities in biological terms BUT exhibit 2 different types of ACD and diverse biogeographic ancestries:

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Cranial deformation and genetic diversity in three adolescent male individuals from the Great...

Three individuals dating to the Great Migration Period (5th century CE) were discovered in a pit at the Hermanov vinograd site in Osijek, Croatia. We were inspired to study these individuals based on...

journals.plos.org

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

3 years

I am beyond excited to be on another amazing adventure on the quest for #ancientDNA 💀🧬🇷🇺. Got questions about human history? We're (part of the (spectacular) team) on it.

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

3 years

Another exciting method for minimizing damage to skeletal material during the extraction of #ancientDNA is now officially published! I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to work with such conscientious people on development of less destructive methods for our research.

@EadaoinSays

Éadaoin Harney

3 years

I'm excited to announce that our manuscript describing a minimally destructive approach for sampling aDNA from ancient teeth is now published in @GenomeResearch , complete with new, more detailed pictures of teeth processed using this approach. 1/4

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

1 year

🚨a citable paper for our lab’s uniformly curated, version-controlled #ancientDNA repository! NOW WITH >10,000 ANCIENT INDIVIDUALS 🎉

@aDNA_papers

aDNA_papers

1 year

The Allen Ancient DNA Resource (AADR): A curated compendium of ancient human genomes

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

3 years

Let's bring that conversation about #DNA and #ancientDNA research in #Africa TO AFRICA, thanks to funding from @WennerGrenOrg @SSHRC_CRSH @templeton_fdn and the teamwork and dedication of @palaeobeth @prendydigs @ogola_christine @ManthiEbs @endiema ! See ya @ the @museumsofkenya !

@palaeobeth

Dr. Ebeth Sawchuk

3 years

When it rains it pours... GRANT FUNDED! Wrap it up pandemic, we have places to go & things to do!🤯🥳🎉🍾 #HappyFriday

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

6 years

#paleoproteomics is not only a thing...it might just be the coolest thing. This stuff is seriously pushing the boundaries of the deep-time phylogenetics. Even just writing "deep-time phylogenetics" feels cool.

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Early Pleistocene enamel proteome sequences from Dmanisi resolve Stephanorhinus phylogeny

Ancient DNA (aDNA) sequencing has enabled unprecedented reconstruction of speciation, migration, and admixture events for extinct taxa[1][1]. Outside the permafrost, however, irreversible aDNA...

www.biorxiv.org

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

3 years

Have kids? Here's a great way to teach archaeology AND genetics (all while learning about our Caribbean #ancientDNA research). Article and lesson coming in Spanish soon, stay tuned!!

@SJforKids

ScienceJournal4Kids

3 years

Looking for a fun and memorable way to #teach students about #archeology ? Well then, try our original #migration mapping #lesson based on #genetic and archeological evidence! You can find it here:

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

1 year

#BioarchaeologyAndBiomolecules 💀 🧬 workshop day 1 - a quick intro lecture before we get started with our practical work documenting and analyzing Meroitic Period remains. It’s a joy to work with this group and be learning as much as I am teaching!

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

3 years

My favorite part of this work was using ancient DNA to help confirm what many Caribbean people know from their oral traditions/family histories: people living in parts of the Caribbean have Indigenous ancestry that can be directly traced back to pre-contact times.(10/n)

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

5 years

What do a southwestern arch, bio anth, pop genecist, and Siberian arch have in common? We all want to use #AncientDNAinServiceOfArchaeology ! #SAA2019 #s253 @JakobSedig @vagheesh @amwkim

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

4 years

My first @InsideNatGeo project during my PhD was to study ancient DNA from the pre-contact peoples of the Sabana de Bogotá; 2 years later, this project has grown in ways I never anticipated...but my love affair with this city continues #Bogot á #ancientDNA #staytuned

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

4 years

#DNAirobiStaysHome is only half over, and I've never been more inspired! We have so much work to do toward transparent communication, capacity building, meaningful engagement in #Africa - and it's so wonderful to hear from such a diverse range of stakeholder voices.

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

4 months

A longstanding question in Soqotri archaeology asks if burial tafoni were segregated by sex? We show that 7/13 tafoni included individuals of both sexes & provide evidence of matrilineal & patrilineal relationships among people buried together. (9/n)

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

4 years

I'm moving continents with @InsideNatGeo to find out what we can learn about the origins, affinities, and interactions of the early peoples of the #Sahel using #ancientDNA ! Stay tuned for updates!

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

4 months

With ROH, we see a reduced rate of cousin marriages in medieval relative to present-day Soqotra. More research will show if there was a relatively recent shift in marriage practices btwn medieval times and today on Soqotra and perhaps in other parts of the Arab world. (8/n)

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

1 year

An amazing day 2 of #DNAirobi brought us incredible talks on pop history reconstructions and interdisciplinary approaches to African population histories given by @miguelgvilar @g_hellenthal @Diyendo @kusimbachapuruk @FredaNkirote1 @AWRgenes Alan Morris, and Wendy Black…

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

3 years

Want to get to know me? This is about as honest as it gets: "Kendra Sirak got into genetics almost by accident."

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

5 years

10 hours through the Sahara with #twitterlessIwona for @InsideNatGeo - not your normal Wednesday! Stay tuned for exciting project updates as we study #aDNA from #Meroitic Period Nubia!

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

3 years

Casual million-year-old #mammoth genome to get you through your Wednesday: #AncientDNA , once again, shatters a record and blows my mind. Side note: I'd like to endorse "crap DNA" as an official scientific term.

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Million-year-old mammoth genomes shatter record for oldest ancient DNA

Nature - Permafrost-preserved teeth, up to 1.6 million years old, identify a new kind of mammoth in Siberia.

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

2 years

@palaeobeth , @prendydigs , and I summarized the current state of #aDNA research in Africa and how it can grow and evolve in ethical and equitable ways:

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

2 years

Time to get off of the beach and share some #ancientDNA insights into Caribbean population history with my colleges at #IACA2022 💀🧬

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

2 years

BYE old cardboard trays/boxes, hellooo collection reorg! 🙌🏼 spending time/resources to improve the state of collections is so important. Even better? My colleagues are now (AFAIK) the first people living in Africa to be trained in less destructive sampling techniques for #aDNA !🧬

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

3 years

First, we find that all Kulubnarti Nubians were admixed between Nilotic-related ancestry & ancestry reflecting a West Eurasian-related gene pool likely introduced into Nubia via Egypt, but ultimately deriving from an ancestry pool like that found in the BA/IA Levant.(5/11)

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

5 years

A larger-than-life effort by my colleague and friend @vagheesh . If you read one ancient DNA paper this year, this should be it.

@vagheesh

Vagheesh Narasimhan

5 years

Our work reporting 523 new samples, the largest ancient DNA study to date, and the most widely accessed genomics preprint on bioRxiv, detailing the parallel genomic history of Europe and South Asia over the past 10000 years, is now out in @sciencemagazine .

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@KendraSirak

Kendra Sirak

5 years

As we move toward a unified archaeogenetic science, we need opportunities for engaged dialogue. The best part of my job is finding forums to have these discussions! @palaeobeth @JakobSedig and I are proposing a ROUNDTABLE for #WAC2020 - let us know if you want to join the convo!

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