Svante Pääbo has developed techniques that allow DNA sequences from archaeological and paleontological remains to be determined. This has allowed the genomes of extinct organisms and ancient humans, animals and pathogens to be studied. His research group has determined high-quality genome sequences from Neanderthals and discovered Denisovans, a previously unknown hominin group in Asian. He has shown that both Neanderthals and Denisovans contributed DNA to present-day humans and that these contributions have physiological and medical consequences today. Pääbo also works on the comparative and functional genomics of modern and archaic humans and apes, particularly the evolution of features that may underlie aspects of traits specific to humans.
He is a Director at the Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, and an Adjunct Professor at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, Japan.
