Professor Eske Willerslev

Eske Willerslev's research aims to understand the evolutionary history of humans and ecosystems through the study of ancient DNA. His research reconstructs past populations and ecosystems to investigate how migration, adaptation, and environmental change have shaped life across time and space. 

Current research focuses on:

1. Environmental DNA: reconstruction of past ecosystems and genomic responses to climate and environmental change 
2. Ancient human population history and migration 
3. Ancient pathogens and infectious disease evolution

Willerslev and his team have pioneered the field of ancient DNA, developing methods to recover and analyse highly degraded genetic material from ancient human remains, Ice Age megafauna and environmental archives. He pioneered the field of environmental DNA (eDNA) by his 2003 Science publication demonstrating that DNA from plants and animals can be recovered directly from environmental samples, modern as well as ancient. He also led the team sequencing the first ancient human genome. Additionally, his team were the first to uncover prehistoric plaque and other infectious diseases in ancient human remains. 

Willerslev integrates ancient genomics, ancient environmental DNA and ancient pathogen genomics with archaeology, geology, ecology, linguistics and computational biology to investigate how populations, ecosystems and infectious diseases have changed through time. His work has reconstructed ecosystems from 2-million-year-old environmental DNA, revealed patterns of human migration and adaptation, and traced the evolution and spread of ancient pathogens. Current research includes applying ancient environmental genomics to understand how species and ecosystems have responded to past environmental change, with the aim of informing biodiversity conservation and the development of climate-resilient crops and sustainable agricultural systems.