Today, Stephanie Marciniak, presented a fascinating lecture entitled "The Promises and Challenges of Primate Paleogenomics: Insights from the Nuclear Genome of a Large Extinct Lemur Megaladapis edwardsi." Dr. Marciniak, who is a postdoctoral researcher at Penn State University, is using her analyses of DNA and ancient DNA to shed much light on puzzles about the the evolution of primates, such as the gorilla-sized Megaladapis edwardsi lemur, as well as clarify the evolutionary history of human adaptations. Besides this work, Dr. Marciniak has also studied evolutionary aspects of human pathogens, such as the malarial parasite Plasmodium falciparum.
