ICBR: Establishment of an Ancient DNA and Paleoproteomics Laboratory at the American Museum of Natural History

An award is made to the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) to establish a dedicated laboratory for the isolation of ancient DNA and proteins preserved in biological tissues and environmental samples. Ancient, often poorly preserved, tissues provide a treasure trove of previously inaccessible molecular information on the history of life on Earth.

The new AMNH facility will be a national resource, providing the research community with an ultraclean lab in which students, early career scientists, and established scientists can undertake supervised extraction of degraded biological materials under best-practices conditions. In addition to the physical laboratory, this award will support activities to strengthen national expertise in ancient biomolecular research through the production of training materials and a symposium in which experts share their knowledge with novice and experienced practitioners.

This project will have broader educational impact through programs for students and teachers, including open-access teaching resources that increase awareness regarding the utility of ancient DNA and proteins in modern science.

Recent advances in DNA sequencing, proteomics, and bioinformatics have enabled extraordinary advances in understanding the history of life and its diversity on Earth. Yet the full impact of these tools has not been fully realized in historical biology and related disciplines, such as archaeology, paleontology, paleoecology, paleoclimatology, and physical anthropology.

This is partly because ancient biomolecules, recovered from macrofossils or sediments, require specialized treatment: they tend to be highly degraded and easily contaminated by modern biomolecules. Only a handful of labs in the USA are capable of meeting the highest standards of specimen preparation, and access to these facilities is currently limited.

This project will bring a uniform level of support to researchers from across the country who are interested in utilizing ancient biomolecular information in their investigations. The AMNH Ancient Biomolecules Facility is intended to make available to visitors a uniquely designed clean room and cutting-edge instrumentation for biomolecular extraction and quality assessment for genomic and proteomic applications.

On-site extraction and safe handling of ancient DNA and proteins will greatly simplify researchers’ investment in the time and effort needed for optimal data acquisition, circumvent lengthy permitting processes, and expedite the dissemination of results to the scientific community. Serving as a national center for ancient biomolecular extractions, the AMNH facility will also act as a clearing house for biomolecular studies, providing training to students and other practitioners, fostering collaborations, developing new techniques and standards, and promoting the value of ancient biomolecules as an investigatory tool.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.