Dr Anne Stone-Leprosy, the Black Death, & the White Plague-What Ancient DNA tells us about Pathogens
Dr. Anne Stone is a Regents Professor in the School of
Human Evolution and Social Change at the Arizona State
University.
Her research focuses on the analysis of genetic data to
investigate population history and adaptation in humans,
other animals and pathogens. She is interested in
adaptation in the context of disease and diet which have
been particularly important over the course of human
evolution. Specifically, her research has had three main
foci: (a) Native American population history, (b) the
evolutionary biology of the Great Apes, and (c)
understanding the evolutionary history of pathogens
(specifically Mycobacterium tuberculosis and M. leprae, the
causative agents of tuberculosis and leprosy, respectively)
in humans and other animals. In order to address
questions about these topics, she analyzes DNA from
ancient and modern samples. Such analyses have allowed
us to evaluate demographic changes through time, assess
the impacts of geography and language on genetic
variation, estimate divergence times, and examine the
signatures and impacts of selection in genomes.