Population genetics is the discipline of tracing the evolutionary history of populations and species by analyzing their DNA sequences. This alternative to archaeology enables us to better understand the movements of past populations, their fluctuations in size, their interbreeding with other archaic populations and their adaptations to environmental change. In this way, we can make a biological reading of our ancestors' history to better understand who we are and where we come from.
Laure Ségurel is interested in the evolutionary processes that have shaped the genetic diversity of human populations. After a PhD in genetic anthropology in Paris, she completed her postdoctoral studies in evolutionary biology at the University of Chicago. Currently recruited by the CNRS at the LBBE (Lyon), she is seeking to understand how human populations have adapted to changes in diet. On the one hand, she is interested in the adaptations that took place during the Neolithic revolution, a major cultural transition marked by the beginnings of agriculture and animal husbandry. On the other, she studies how the most recent industrial revolution has affected gut microbiota.
