Svante Pääbo Wins 2022 Nobel Prize for Sequencing Extinct Hominin Genomes
The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet awarded Svante Pääbo the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discoveries concerning the genomes of extinct hominins and human evolution. Pääbo sequenced the Neanderthal genome, an achievement once thought impossible. He also identified Denisova, a previously unknown extinct hominin species. His research found that gene transfer occurred from these extinct hominins to Homo sapiens after the migration out of Africa around 70,000 years ago, leaving genetic traits that still shape how the modern human immune system responds to infections.
Ancient gene transfer from extinct hominins to Homo sapiens still shapes how the modern human immune system reacts to infections.
Source: Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2022 (nobelprize.org).
Written by the Genomes desk from the primary source linked above and checked against it. Research use only; not medical advice. Corrections: [email protected].