Dr Hendrik Poinar

I am a molecular evolutionary geneticist and molecular biologist by training, and rely heavily on interdisciplinary research. I use both chemical and molecular techniques to elucidate the state of preservation within forensic, archeological and paleontological remains. This information is subsequently used to devise novel techniques to extract the molecular information (DNA, RNA and/or protein sequences) and use it to address questions about the past, such as the emergence and evolutionary dynamics of infectious diseases (Yersinia pestis and Vibrio cholerae) and the population dynamics of Pleistocene fauna (Mammoths, mastodons and sloths).

I completed my PhD at the University of Munich, was an EMBO fellow at Cancer Research UK, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Oregon and a Junior Group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, before becoming a Canada Research Chair in Paleogenetics at McMaster University in 2003.