Postdoctoral Fellowship: PRFB: Inferring genetic admixture histories via mechanistic modeling in structured ancestral populations

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2024, Broadening Participation of Groups Underrepresented in Biology. The Fellowship supports a research and training plan for the Fellow that will increase the participation of groups underrepresented in biology. The fellow’s research will address a fundamental process in biology important to the formation of diverse populations and will develop a method for understanding the genealogical history of individuals from such populations.

This method will specifically be used to provide details on the genetic and genealogical ancestors of human populations, with a focus on African-Americans. In doing so, the project aspires to directly address underrepresentation of genetically admixed populations in population genetics research, while also providing a general method to explore the genealogical and genetic ancestries of diverse human and non-human populations.

Genetic admixture is increasingly recognized as a fundamental process in evolutionary biology. Genetically admixed populations result from the interbreeding of two or more previously isolated populations. Admixture shapes genetic diversity across many forms of life, serving as an important vehicle for the introduction of genetic variation into populations.

Typically, genetic admixture is characterized by assessing the proportion of genetic ancestry that admixed populations share with known source populations. Here, the fellow advances a new perspective, devising a method for exploring complex admixture histories using a set of equations derived from properties of mechanistic admixture processes for diploid populations.

This method will then be specifically used to estimate features of the formation of the African-American population from distinct regions of Africa. The fellow will compile this method into software that will assist in exploring the diverse African ancestry of African-Americans. This research will provide training for the fellow in mathematical modeling and population-genetic methods development, while expanding the fellow’s research focus to include the field of human population genetics.

To broaden participation of groups underrepresented in biology, the fellow will communicate the research to broad communities, and will participate in mentoring and community outreach efforts that foster inclusive environments in STEM.

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.