Beth Shapiro

Last updated
Beth Shapiro
Beth Shapiro - PopTech 2010 - Camden, Maine (5103086839) (cropped).jpg
Shapiro in 2010
Born
Beth Alison Shapiro

(1976-01-14) January 14, 1976 (age 49)
Allentown, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Alma mater
Known for How to Clone a Mammoth [1]
Awards

Rhodes Scholarship

National Academy of Sciences
Scientific career
Fields
Institutions
Thesis Inferring evolutionary history and processes using ancient DNA  (2003)
Doctoral advisor Alan J. Cooper [4]
Website pgl.soe.ucsc.edu

Beth Alison Shapiro (born January 14, 1976 [5] ) is an American evolutionary molecular biologist, associate director for conservation genomics at the UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. [6] [7] She also teaches in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. [7] In March 2024, Shapiro began a three year sabbatical to become the chief scientific officer of Colossal Biosciences. [7] [8]

Contents

Shapiro's work has centered on the analysis of ancient DNA. [9] [3] She was awarded a Royal Society University Research Fellowship in 2006 [2] and a MacArthur Fellowship in 2009. [5] [10] She was elected a Member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2025. [11]

Early life and education

On January 14, 1976, Shapiro was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania. [12] [13] She grew up in Rome, Georgia, where she served as a local news presenter while attending Rome High School. [14]

In 1994, Shapiro graduated from Rome High School with a GPA of 4.0, and entered the University of Georgia. [15] She studied Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, English literature, and geology prior to choosing ecology as her major. [13]

In 1999, Shapiro graduated summa cum laude with BA and MA degrees in ecology. [13] [5] The same year, she was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship. [14]

In 2003, Shapiro completed a Ph.D. from the University of Oxford for research on inferring evolutionary history and processes using ancient DNA supervised by Alan J. Cooper. [4]

Career

In 2004, Shapiro was appointed a Wellcome Trust Research Fellow at the University of Oxford [16] and director of the Henry Wellcome Biomolecules Centre at Oxford, a position she held until 2007. In 2006, she was awarded a Royal Society University Research Fellowship. [2] While at the Biomolecules Centre, Shapiro carried out mitochondrial DNA analysis of the dodo. [17] [18]

Shapiro's research on ecology has been published in journals [3] including Molecular Biology and Evolution , [19] PLOS Biology , [20] Science , [17] [21] [22] and Nature . [23] [24] [25] In 2007, she was named by Smithsonian magazine as one of 37 young American innovators under the age of 36. [26]

In 2024, Shapiro was appointed as chief science officer of Colossal Biosciences to help the company meet its de-extinction and species preservation goals. [27] In the same year, Shapiro received backlash and become a target of fan activism and trolling from fans of the Jurassic Park media franchise for stating dinosaur de-extinction is impossible, or at least not possible in the way it is commonly depicted in science fiction. [28] [29]

In 2025, Colossal announced that they had created woolly mice as part of the process of bringing back mammoths. When this was dismissed by philosopher Craig Callender as "a stunt", Shapiro replied, "Some people argue that our whole company is a stunt ... Gene editing could be used to help species become resistant to disease, to restore missing genetic variation or to correct gene sequences that lead to genetic disease but have become fixed in that population." [30]

In 2025, Colossal claimed that it had resurrected the dire wolf which was disputed by the science community. [31] As part of the project, Colossal also said it cloned several red wolves, an American species of wolves considered to be one of the most endangered wolves in the world. [31] Shapiro said they hoped the rebirth of the dire wolves would bring attention and get people excited over the idea of using biotechnology to support conservation efforts. [31]

She is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences. [32]

Publications

Shapiro's peer reviewed publications in scientific journals [3] and books include:

Honors and awards

References

  1. 1 2 Shapiro, Beth (2015). How to Clone a Mammoth: The Science of De-Extinction . Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN   9780691157054.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Anon (2006). "Dr Beth Shapiro, Research Fellow". royalsociety.org. London: Royal Society. Archived from the original on 2017-03-01.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Beth Shapiro publications indexed by Google Scholar OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
  4. 1 2 Shapiro, Beth Alison (2003). Inferring evolutionary history and processes using ancient DNA. bodleian.ox.ac.uk (DPhil thesis). Oxford: University of Oxford. OCLC   56923402.[ permanent dead link ]
  5. 1 2 3 4 Anon (2011). "2009 MacArthur Fellows: Beth Shapiro". macfound.org. MacArthur Foundation. Archived from the original on 2016-03-07. Retrieved 19 March 2011.
  6. ↑ "Beth Shapiro, DPhil | Investigator Profile | 2018-Present". www.hhmi.org. Retrieved 2024-01-18.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 "Ancient DNA expert Beth Shapiro named CSO of Colossal". UC Santa Cruz.
  8. ↑ "Game of clones: Colossal's new wolves are cute, but are they dire?". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 2025-04-09.
  9. ↑ Ancient DNA -- What It Is and What It Could Be: Beth Shapiro at TEDxDeExtinction on YouTube TEDx talk
  10. ↑ Shapiro, Beth (2012). "Beth Shapiro Curriculum Vitae at Penn State University" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-14.
  11. ↑ "National Academy of Sciences Elects Members and International Members". www.nasonline.org. April 29, 2025. Retrieved May 7, 2025.
  12. ↑ Beattie-Moss, Melissa. "Evolution of a Scientist: An Interview with Beth Shapiro". Research Penn State. Archived from the original on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 19 March 2011.
  13. 1 2 3 Contemporary Biographies in Environment & Conservation. Salem Press. 2014. pp. 117–118. ISBN   978-1-61925-539-5.
  14. 1 2 Williams, Phil; Hannon, Sharron. "The Rhodes to Oxford: Ecology student, Foundation Fellow Beth Shapiro becomes UGA's third Rhodes Scholar in four years". University of Georgia. Retrieved 19 March 2011.
  15. ↑ Brice, Plott (21 December 1998). "Rhodes scholar from UGA awed by what awaits". The Atlanta Constitution. p. 23.
  16. ↑ "'Beth Shapiro page on the MacArthur Foundation website".
  17. 1 2 3 Shapiro, Beth; Sibthorpe, Dean; Rambaut, Andrew; Austin, Jeremy; Wragg, Graham M.; Bininda-Emonds, Olaf R.P.; Lee, Patricia L.M.; Cooper, Alan (2002). "Flight of the Dodo". Science. 295 (5560): 1683. doi:10.1126/science.295.5560.1683. PMID   11872833.(subscription required)
  18. ↑ Curry, Andrew. "How to Make a Dodo: Biologist Beth Shapiro has figured out a recipe for success in the field of ancient DNA research". Smithsonian Magazine. Archived from the original on 14 October 2009. Retrieved 19 March 2011.
  19. 1 2 Drummond, A. J.; Rambaut, A; Shapiro, B.; Pybus, O. G. (2005). "Bayesian Coalescent Inference of Past Population Dynamics from Molecular Sequences". Molecular Biology and Evolution. 22 (5): 1185–1192. doi: 10.1093/molbev/msi103 . ISSN   0737-4038. PMID   15703244.
  20. ↑ Penny, David; Bunce, Michael; Szulkin, Marta; Lerner, Heather R L; Barnes, Ian; Shapiro, Beth; Cooper, Alan; Holdaway, Richard N (2005). "Ancient DNA Provides New Insights into the Evolutionary History of New Zealand's Extinct Giant Eagle". PLOS Biology. 3 (1): e9. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.0030009 . ISSN   1545-7885. PMC   539324 . PMID   15660162. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  21. ↑ Poinar, H. N. (2006). "Metagenomics to Paleogenomics: Large-Scale Sequencing of Mammoth DNA". Science. 311 (5759): 392–394. Bibcode:2006Sci...311..392P. doi:10.1126/science.1123360. ISSN   0036-8075. PMID   16368896. S2CID   11238470.(subscription required)
  22. 1 2 Shapiro, B. (2004). "Rise and Fall of the Beringian Steppe Bison". Science. 306 (5701): 1561–1565. Bibcode:2004Sci...306.1561S. doi:10.1126/science.1101074. ISSN   0036-8075. PMID   15567864. S2CID   27134675.(subscription required)
  23. ↑ Lorenzen, Eline D.; Nogués-Bravo, David; Orlando, Ludovic; Weinstock, Jaco; Binladen, Jonas; Marske, Katharine A.; Ugan, Andrew; Borregaard, Michael K.; Gilbert, M. Thomas P.; Nielsen, Rasmus; Ho, Simon Y. W.; Goebel, Ted; Graf, Kelly E.; Byers, David; Stenderup, Jesper T.; Rasmussen, Morten; Campos, Paula F.; Leonard, Jennifer A.; Koepfli, Klaus-Peter; Froese, Duane; Zazula, Grant; Stafford, Thomas W.; Aaris-Sørensen, Kim; Batra, Persaram; Haywood, Alan M.; Singarayer, Joy S.; Valdes, Paul J.; Boeskorov, Gennady; Burns, James A.; Davydov, Sergey P.; Haile, James; Jenkins, Dennis L.; Kosintsev, Pavel; Kuznetsova, Tatyana; Lai, Xulong; Martin, Larry D.; McDonald, H. Gregory; Mol, Dick; Meldgaard, Morten; Munch, Kasper; Stephan, Elisabeth; Sablin, Mikhail; Sommer, Robert S.; Sipko, Taras; Scott, Eric; Suchard, Marc A.; Tikhonov, Alexei; Willerslev, Rane; Wayne, Robert K.; Cooper, Alan; Hofreiter, Michael; Sher, Andrei; Shapiro, Beth; Rahbek, Carsten; Willerslev, Eske (2011). "Species-specific responses of Late Quaternary megafauna to climate and humans". Nature. 479 (7373): 359–364. Bibcode:2011Natur.479..359L. doi:10.1038/nature10574. ISSN   0028-0836. PMC   4070744 . PMID   22048313.(subscription required)
  24. ↑ Orlando, Ludovic; Ginolhac, Aurélien; Zhang, Guojie; Froese, Duane; Albrechtsen, Anders; Stiller, Mathias; Schubert, Mikkel; Cappellini, Enrico; Petersen, Bent; Moltke, Ida; Johnson, Philip L. F.; Fumagalli, Matteo; Vilstrup, Julia T.; Raghavan, Maanasa; Korneliussen, Thorfinn; Malaspinas, Anna-Sapfo; Vogt, Josef; Szklarczyk, Damian; Kelstrup, Christian D.; Vinther, Jakob; Dolocan, Andrei; Stenderup, Jesper; Velazquez, Amhed M. V.; Cahill, James; Rasmussen, Morten; Wang, Xiaoli; Min, Jiumeng; Zazula, Grant D.; Seguin-Orlando, Andaine; Mortensen, Cecilie; Magnussen, Kim; Thompson, John F.; Weinstock, Jacobo; Gregersen, Kristian; Røed, Knut H.; Eisenmann, Véra; Rubin, Carl J.; Miller, Donald C.; Antczak, Douglas F.; Bertelsen, Mads F.; Brunak, Søren; Al-Rasheid, Khaled A. S.; Ryder, Oliver; Andersson, Leif; Mundy, John; Krogh, Anders; Gilbert, M. Thomas P.; Kjær, Kurt; Sicheritz-Ponten, Thomas; Jensen, Lars Juhl; Olsen, Jesper V.; Hofreiter, Michael; Nielsen, Rasmus; Shapiro, Beth; Wang, Jun; Willerslev, Eske (2013). "Recalibrating Equus evolution using the genome sequence of an early Middle Pleistocene horse". Nature. 499 (7456): 74–78. Bibcode:2013Natur.499...74O. doi:10.1038/nature12323. ISSN   0028-0836. PMID   23803765. S2CID   4318227.(subscription required)
  25. ↑ Higham, Tom; Compton, Tim; Stringer, Chris; Jacobi, Roger; Shapiro, Beth; Trinkaus, Erik; Chandler, Barry; Gröning, Flora; Collins, Chris; Hillson, Simon; O’Higgins, Paul; FitzGerald, Charles; Fagan, Michael (2011). "The earliest evidence for anatomically modern humans in northwestern Europe". Nature. 479 (7374): 521–524. Bibcode:2011Natur.479..521H. doi:10.1038/nature10484. ISSN   0028-0836. PMID   22048314. S2CID   4374023.(subscription required)
  26. ↑ "37 under 36: America's Young Innovators in the Arts and Sciences". smithsonianmag.com. Archived from the original on 2007-10-11.
  27. ↑ Laura Lorek (March 19, 2024). "Colossal Hires Ancient DNA Expert Beth Shapiro as Chief Science Officer". Silicon Hills News.
  28. ↑ Shuyi, Lee (2024-09-11). "Dinosaurs' return deemed impossible by scientist". Thaiger World. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  29. ↑ Me, the social media manager, when people get mad at Dr. Beth Shapiro in the comments . Retrieved 2024-09-26– via www.youtube.com.
  30. ↑ Popescu, Adam (4 March 2025). "Company Seeking to Resurrect the Woolly Mammoth Creates a 'Woolly Mouse'". Scientific American. Retrieved 2025-03-06.
  31. 1 2 3 "Game of clones: Colossal's new wolves are cute, but are they dire?". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 2025-04-09.
  32. ↑ "Acclaimed evolutionary biologist Beth Shapiro elected to National Academy of Sciences". 30 April 2025.
  33. ↑ Shapiro, Beth (2023). Life as We Made It: How 50,000 Years of Human Innovation Refined--and Redefined--Nature. Oneworld Publications. ISBN   9781541644182.
  34. ↑ Shapiro, Beth; Hofreiter, Michael, eds. (2012). Ancient DNA: Methods and Protocols. New York: Humana Press. ISBN   978-1-61779-515-2.
  35. ↑ Zazula, Grant D.; MacKay, Glen; Andrews, Thomas D.; Shapiro, Beth; Letts, Brandon; Broc, Fiona (2009). "A late Pleistocene steppe bison (Bison priscus) partial carcass from Tsiigehtchic, Northwest Territories, Canada" (PDF). Quaternary Science Reviews . 28 (25–26): 2734–2742. Bibcode:2009QSRv...28.2734Z. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2009.06.012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-14. Retrieved 2011-03-19.
  36. ↑ Kluger, Jeffrey (May 8, 2025). "TIME100 Health: Beth Shapiro". Time Magazine. Retrieved 15 May 2025.
  37. ↑ Stephens, Tim (19 April 2023). "Biologist Beth Shapiro elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences". University of California Santa Cruz.
  38. ↑ "Beth Shapiro selected as National Geographic Emerging Explorer". Penn State Live. Archived from the original on 27 May 2010. Retrieved 19 March 2011.
  39. ↑ "Beth A. Shapiro (BS '99, MS '99) receives Young Alumnus Award". Odom School of Ecology, The University of Georgia. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 19 March 2011.
  40. 1 2 "Shapiro Receives MacArthur Fellow Award". Penn State. September 21, 2009.
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