Erika Hagelberg

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Erika Hagelberg
Hagelberg Erika.png
Alma mater University of London
University of Cambridge
Occupation Professor
Known for Ancient DNA
Pacific genetics
Forensic identification
Scientific career
Institutions University of Oslo
University of Otago
John Radcliffe Hospital

Erika Hagelberg is a British Evolutionary geneticist and Professor of Biosciences at the University of Oslo. She is a world-leading expert on ancient DNA, pioneering a means to extract DNA from bones. Traditionally, DNA could only be found in soft tissues, but Hagelberg developed techniques to recover small quantities of DNA from bone. Once the DNA has been extracted, it is possible to use the polymerase chain reaction to determine the sequence of nucleotides. [1] Her research has significant impact in evolutionary biology and forensic science.

Contents

Education and early career

At the age of 13, Hagelberg's father escaped from Nazi Germany to the United Kingdom on the Kindertransport in 1939. [2] Hagelberg studied biochemistry at the University of London and earned her bachelor's degree in 1977. She completed a Master's in History and Philosophy of Science from University College London. [3] She moved to the University of Cambridge for her doctoral studies, and was awarded her PhD degree from the Department of Biochemistry in 1983. [4] Her thesis is entitled TheBiochemistry of Activation and Germination of Bacterial Spores. [5]

Research

Hagelberg works in the analysis of ancient DNA from archaeological bones. [6] She joined the University of Oxford in 1987, where she worked at the John Radcliffe Hospital alongside Bryan Sykes and Robert E. M. Hedges. [7] At Oxford, Hagelberg collaborated with Alec Jeffreys on the applications of bone DNA in forensic science. [4] Jeffreys once described her as being able to 'get DNA out of a stone, just about'. [8] Jeffreys and Hagelberg worked on single tandem repeat typing. Her early work included the analysis of bones from the Mary Rose. [9] Hagelberg identified pig DNA in a leg bone from the food stores in the Mary Rose. [1]

Jeffreys and Hagelberg demonstrated the DNA analysis could be used to identify the skeletal remains of a murder victim. [10] Unfortunately, the body had been in the ground for so long that it had disintegrated. [11] They could not use conventional DNA fingerprinting to analyse the DNA, and had to develop more sophisticated techniques. [11] In the 1990s she was one of the first people to use bone DNA analysis for forensic identification. [12]

Hagelberg's DNA extraction technique was used to identify bones found in Brazil that were believed to belong to Josef Mengele. [13] With Jeffreys, Hagelberg extracted DNA from a skeleton that had been buried for several years, and compared it with that of Mengele's family members. [11] Their discovery closed a case of war crime that had stayed open for half a century. [14] She also participated in the identification of remains of the Romanov family. This involved the analysis of nine skeletons, including those of the putative Tsarina and three of her daughters, and comparing their DNA to that of living descendants. [15] She has also used mitochondrial DNA to study the migration of human populations. [12]

"Bone DNA-typing allows the direct investigation of the genetic affinities of past populations". [16] Hagelberg also extracted DNA from mammoth bones. [17] She used a molecular clock based on cytochrome b on two Asian specimens, one from the Taymyr Peninsula, and the other from the region of the Allaikha River. [18] The analysis of these Siberian samples, which were provided through the Russian Academy of Sciences, has consequences for the taxonomy of Mammuthus . [19]

In 1998 Hagelberg left Cambridge and joined the University of Otago in New Zealand. There she continued her research on human migrations in the Pacific Islands, by examining mitochondrial DNA polymorphisms in Polynesian and Melanesian bones to resolve conflicting opinions on the migratory patterns. [20] [21] She also investigated the genetic origins of the people of the Andaman Islands. She found that the Andamanese are genetically more similar to Asian as opposed to African populations, predicting they are descendants of the paleolithic colonies in Southeast Asia. [22] Hagelberg has also written on the evolution of language, and how social complexity is related to brain size. [23] She is interested in how reliable mitochondrial DNA is in studies of human evolution and phylogenetics. [24] [25]

In 2002 Hagelberg joined the University of Oslo. [26] [27] Hagelberg investigates how definitions of biological race are used by evolutionary biologists. [28] Her work has been covered in The Guardian and The New York Times. [29] [30] She has written several articles for Nature, including 'DNA from Ancient Mammoth Bones' and 'DNA from Ancient Easter Islanders'. [31] [32]

She has written several books and edited both The Oxford Companion to Archaeology and Life and Death in Asia Minor in Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine Times: Studies in Archaeology and Bioarchaeology. [33] [34] She edited a themed issue of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society on Ancient DNA. [4]

Bibliography

Books

Journal articles and book chapters

Related Research Articles

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References

  1. 1 2 Browne, Malcolm W. (25 June 1991). "Scientists Study Ancient DNA for Glimpses of Past Worlds". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  2. ↑ "Is there such a thing as a Jewish genome? A lecture by Professor Erika Hagelberg | H-Announce | H-Net". networks.h-net.org. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  3. ↑ Hagelberg, Erika; Hofreiter, Michael; Keyser, Christine (19 January 2015). "Ancient DNA: the first three decades". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 370 (1660): 20130371. doi:10.1098/rstb.2013.0371. PMC   4275880 . PMID   25487324.
  4. 1 2 3 "Ancient DNA: the first three decades | Royal Society". royalsociety.org. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
  5. ↑ "https://idiscover.lib.cam.ac.uk/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=44CAM_ALMA21429674120003606&context=L&vid=44CAM_PROD&lang=en_US&search_scope=SCOP_CAM_ALL&adaptor=Local%20Search%20Engine&tab=cam_lib_coll&query=any,contains,Erika%20Hagelberg&offset=0". idiscover.lib.cam.ac.uk. Retrieved 1 February 2025.{{cite web}}: External link in |title= (help)
  6. ↑ Hagelberg, E.; Clegg, J. B. (22 April 1991). "Isolation and characterization of DNA from archaeological bone". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 244 (1309): 45–50. Bibcode:1991RSPSB.244...45H. doi:10.1098/rspb.1991.0049. ISSN   1471-2954. PMID   1677195. S2CID   23859039.
  7. ↑ Hagelberg, Erika; Sykes, Bryan; Hedges, Robert (1989). "Ancient bone DNA amplified". Nature. 342 (6249): 485. Bibcode:1989Natur.342..485H. doi: 10.1038/342485a0 . ISSN   1476-4687. PMID   2586623. S2CID   13434992.
  8. ↑ Zagorski, Nick (13 June 2006). "Profile of Alec J. Jeffreys". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 103 (24): 8918–8920. Bibcode:2006PNAS..103.8918Z. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0603953103 . ISSN   0027-8424. PMC   1482540 . PMID   16754883.
  9. ↑ "Erika Hagelberg - Analysis of ancient bone DNA from the wreck of Mary Rose, the flagship of Henry VIII - EMBL PhD Student Symposium". phdsymposium.embl.org. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  10. ↑ Jeffreys, Alec J.; Gray, Ian C.; Hagelberg, Erika (August 1991). "Identification of the skeletal remains of a murder victim by DNA analysis". Nature. 352 (6334): 427–429. Bibcode:1991Natur.352..427H. doi:10.1038/352427a0. ISSN   1476-4687. PMID   1861721. S2CID   4263579.
  11. 1 2 3 "Jeffreys, Alec John | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  12. 1 2 "Researchers". From racial typology to DNA sequencing. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  13. ↑ Jeffreys, A. J.; Allen, M. J.; Hagelberg, E.; Sonnberg, A. (1992). "Identification of the skeletal remains of Josef Mengele by DNA analysis". Forensic Science International. 56 (1): 65–76. doi:10.1016/0379-0738(92)90148-P. ISSN   0379-0738. PMID   1398379.
  14. ↑ Jobling, Mark A. (18 November 2013). "Curiosity in the genes: the DNA fingerprinting story". Investigative Genetics. 4 (1): 20. doi: 10.1186/2041-2223-4-20 . ISSN   2041-2223. PMC   3831598 . PMID   24245602.
  15. ↑ Sullivan, Kevin; Hagelberg, Erika; Evett, Ian; Tully, Gillian; Benson, Nicola; Piercy, Romelle; Kimpton, Colin; Ivanov, Pavel L.; Gill, Peter (February 1994). "Identification of the remains of the Romanov family by DNA analysis". Nature Genetics. 6 (2): 130–135. doi:10.1038/ng0294-130. ISSN   1546-1718. PMID   8162066. S2CID   33557869.
  16. ↑ Stefan, Vincent H.; Gill, George W. (7 January 2016). Skeletal Biology of the Ancient Rapanui (Easter Islanders). Cambridge University Press. p. 194. ISBN   978-1-107-02366-6.
  17. ↑ Lister, Adrian M.; Baryshnikov, Gennady F.; Andrei V. Sher; Cook, Charles E.; Thomas, Mark G.; Hagelberg, Erika (August 1994). "DNA from ancient mammoth bones". Nature. 370 (6488): 333–334. Bibcode:1994Natur.370R.333H. doi:10.1038/370333b0. ISSN   1476-4687. PMID   8047136. S2CID   8694387.
  18. ↑ Jones, Martin (2002). The Molecule Hunt: Archaeology and the Search for Ancient DNA. Arcade Publishing. p. 116. ISBN   978-1-55970-611-7.
  19. ↑ Ukraintseva, Valentina V. (8 August 2013). Mammoths and the Environment. Cambridge University Press. p. 30. ISBN   978-1-107-02716-9.
  20. ↑ Ben-Ari, Elia T. (1 February 1999). "Molecular biographies: Anthropological geneticists are using the genome to decode human history". BioScience. 49 (2): 98–103. doi: 10.2307/1313533 . ISSN   0006-3568. JSTOR   1313533.
  21. ↑ Philipkoski, Kristen (9 December 2002). "Genes Reveal Andamanese Origins". Wired. ISSN   1059-1028 . Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  22. ↑ Thangaraj, Kumarasamy; Singh, Lalji; Reddy, Alla G.; Rao, V.Raghavendra; Sehgal, Subhash C.; Underhill, Peter A.; Pierson, Melanie; Frame, Ian G.; Hagelberg, Erika (2003). "Genetic Affinities of the Andaman Islanders, a Vanishing Human Population". Current Biology. 13 (2): 86–93. Bibcode:2003CBio...13...86T. doi: 10.1016/s0960-9822(02)01336-2 . ISSN   0960-9822. PMID   12546781. S2CID   12155496.
  23. ↑ Hagelberg, Erika. "The evolution of language". la.202.21hag. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  24. ↑ Hagelberg, E.; Goldman, N.; Lió, P.; Whelan, S.; Schiefenhövel, W.; Clegg, J. B.; Bowden, D. K. (7 March 1999). "Evidence for mitochondrial DNA recombination in a human population of island Melanesia". Proceedings. Biological Sciences. 266 (1418): 485–492. doi:10.1098/rspb.1999.0663. ISSN   0962-8452. PMC   1689791 . PMID   10189712.
  25. ↑ Lalueza-Fox, Carles; Bertranpetit, Jaume; Alcover, Josep Antoni; Shailer, Neil; Hagelberg, Erika (2000). "Mitochondrial DNA from Myotragus balearicus, an extinct bovid from the Balearic Islands>". Journal of Experimental Zoology. 288 (1): 56–62. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1097-010X(20000415)288:1<56::AID-JEZ6>3.0.CO;2-X. ISSN   1097-010X. PMID   10750053.
  26. ↑ Phone, Besøksadresse Kristine Bonnevies husBlindernvn 31 0371 OSLO Norge Postadresse Postboks 1066 Blindern 0316 OSLO Norge; fax. "Erika Hagelberg - Institutt for biovitenskap". www.mn.uio.no (in Norwegian). Retrieved 11 April 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  27. ↑ Brandt, J. Rasmus; Hagelberg, Erika; Bjørnstad, Gro; Ahrens, Sven (31 December 2016). Life and Death in Asia Minor in Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine Times: Studies in Archaeology and Bioarchaeology. Oxbow Books. ISBN   9781785703607.
  28. ↑ "Project Overview". From racial typology to DNA sequencing. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  29. ↑ Wade, Nicholas (10 December 2002). "An Ancient Link to Africa Lives On in Bay of Bengal". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  30. ↑ Harding, Luke (12 May 2001). "DNA secret of Stone Age travels". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  31. ↑ Hagelberg, Erika; Thomas, Mark G.; Cook, Charles E.; Sher, Andrei V.; Baryshnikov, Gennady F.; Lister, Adrian M. (1994). "DNA from ancient mammoth bones". Nature. 370 (6488): 333–334. doi:10.1038/370333b0. ISSN   1476-4687. PMID   8047136.
  32. ↑ Hagelberg, Erika; Quevedo, Silvia; Turbon, Daniel; Clegg, J. B. (1994). "DNA from ancient Easter Islanders". Nature. 369 (6475): 25–26. doi:10.1038/369025a0. ISSN   1476-4687. PMID   8164735.
  33. ↑ Silberman, Neil Asher; Bauer, Alexander A.; Holtorf, Cornelius; García, Margarita Díaz-Andreu; Waterton, Emma (2012). The Oxford Companion to Archaeology. Oxford University Press. ISBN   9780195076189.
  34. ↑ "Life and Death in Asia Minor in Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine Times by J. Rasmus Brandt, Erika Hagelberg | Waterstones". www.waterstones.com. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
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