Marianne Dehasque

During my PhD, I will use the woolly mammoth as a model species for genetic processes in declining populations. I will generate complete genome sequences from up to 100 woolly mammoth specimens spanning the last 25,000 years of the species’ existence. This time period encompasses the dramatic changes in climate at the end of the Pleistocene (15-11 kya) as well as the subsequent isolation of mammoths on Wrangel Island, where a very small population survived for 6,000 years until the species became extinct. Altogether, the aim of this project is to enhance our understanding of (i) adaptive changes in response to climate change and island isolation and (ii) the genome erosion leading up to the extinction of the woolly mammoth.

PhD Student

Research Description