RIKEN ECL Research Team / RIKEN ECL Research Unit Mathematical Genomics RIKEN ECL Research Unit
ECL Research Unit Leader: Leo Speidel (Ph.D.)
Research Summary
Our lab focuses on the development and application of new mathematical and statistical techniques to reveal the evolutionary forces that have shaped our DNA, from key events in a nation’s recent past to the earliest days of our species. Our methods reconstruct past migrations and mixtures, introgression with Neanderthals and other extinct hominids, changes in the molecular machinery generating DNA differences, or map the genetic adaptation that enabled survival against changing environmental exposure. We achieve this by reconstructing “genetic family trees” using genetic data sequenced from thousands of modern-day people as well as genomes sequenced from ancient human bone.
Main Research Fields
- Biological Sciences
Related Research Fields
- Mathematical & Physical Sciences
- Evolutionary biology-related
- Statistical science-related
- Medical biochemistry-related
Keywords
- Genome evolution
- Human origins
- Mathematical Genomics
- Statistical Genetics
- Evolutionary Biology
Selected Publications
Papers with an asterisk(*) are based on research conducted outside of RIKEN.
- 1.
Leo Speidel, Marina Silva, Thomas Booth, Ben Raffield, Kyriaki Anastasiadou,
Christopher Barrington, Anders Götherström, Peter Heather, Pontus Skoglund.:
"High-resolution genomic history of early medieval Europe"
Nature 637, 118–126 (2025) - 2.
*Alber Aqil, Leo Speidel, Pavlos Pavlidis, Omer Gokcumen.:
"Balancing selection on genomic deletion polymorphisms in humans."
ELife 12, e79111 (2023) - 3.
*Anders Bergström, …, Leo Speidel, …, Pontus Skoglund.:
"Grey wolf genomic history reveals a dual ancestry of dogs."
Nature 607, 313–320 (2022) - 4.
*Anubha Mahajan, …, Leo Speidel*, ..., Mark I McCarthy, Andrew P Morris. (joint second author).:
"Multi-ancestry genetic study of type 2 diabetes highlights the power of diverse populations for discovery and translation."
Nature Genetics 54, 560–572. (2022) - 5.
*Leo Speidel, Lara Cassidy, Robert W. Davies, Garrett Hellenthal, Pontus Skoglund, Simon R. Myers.:
"Inferring population histories for ancient genomes using genome-wide genealogies."
Molecular Biology and Evolution 38, 3497–3511. (2021) - 6.
*Leo Speidel, Marie Forest, Sinan Shi, Simon R. Myers.:
"A method for genome-wide genealogy estimation for thousands of samples."
Nature Genetics 51, 1321-1329. (2019) - 7.
*Leo Speidel, Heather A. Harrington, S. Jonathan Chapman, Mason A. Porter.:
"Topological data analysis of continuum percolation with disks"
Physical Review E 98, 012318 (2018) - 8.
*Leo Speidel, Konstantin Klemm, Victor M. Eguiluz, Naoki Masuda.:
"Temporal interactions facilitate endemicity in the susceptible-infected-susceptible epidemic model."
New Journal of Physics 18, 073013 (2016)
Related Links
Lab Members
Principal investigator
- Leo Speidel
- ECL Research Unit Leader
Contact Information
2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama
351-0198 Japan
Email: leo.speidel@riken.jp