35124 - Human Population Biology

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, students will acquire knowledge on the most up-to-date methods to study human biodemography and population genomics. In particular, students will be trained on the use of population genomics data to infer the main micro-evolutionary processes that have shaped the genetic and phenotypic variation of present-day human populations.

Course contents

The course will provide theoretical and especially methodological (i.e. data analyses) knowledge useful to study patterns of genomic and phenotypic variation of human populations. The most up-to-date experimental approaches to generate genomic data, as well as the related inferential methods aimed at using these data to reconstruct the demographic and adaptive history of human populations will be described.   

The course contents will be organized according to the following arguments:

1. Processes shaping neutral genetic variation of human populations

3. Interpreting genomic data to infer the demographic history of human populations

4. The footprints of natural selection on the human genome

5. Interpreting genomic data to infer the adaptive history of human populations

6. Biomedical implications related to the evolutionary history of human populations

 

Readings/Bibliography

Jobling, Hollox, Hurles, Kivisild, Tyler-Smith. 2014. Human Evolutionary Genetics (II edition). Garland Science, Taylor & Francis Group

Teaching methods

Both lectures and exercises on the main methods for data analyses presented during the course are scheduled

Assessment methods

Written examination (9 multiple-choice questions + 1 open question)

Teaching tools

Slides will be shared with the students at the end of each lesson

Office hours

See the website of Marco Sazzini