Hugo Zeberg | |
---|---|
Nationality | Swedish |
Occupation(s) | Physician and academic |
Awards | Daiwa Adrian Prize Award, Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation Sven and Ebba-Christina Hagberg Prize |
Academic background | |
Education | M.D. Ph.D. |
Alma mater | Karolinska Institutet |
Thesis | Conductance-based principles of neuronal firing and excitability |
Academic work | |
Institutions | Karolinska Institutet Karolinska University Hospital |
Hugo Zeberg is a Swedish physician and academic. He is an assistant professor in the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology at Karolinska Institutet. [1]
Zeberg is most known for his research on evolutionary genetics,focusing on gene flow from Neandertals and Denisovans into modern humans. He has also conducted research studies on genetic variability and its functional impact,especially on membrane-bound proteins like receptors and ion channels. [2] In 2020,he identified Neanderthal genes that can influence how ill different people become after contracting the COVID-19 virus while working with Svante Pääbo. [3] He is the recipient of the 2022 Sven and Ebba-Christina Hagberg Prize. [4]
Since 2014,Zeberg has been serving as the president of the Swedish Society for Anatomy and a consulting editor for anatomy textbooks and atlases at Georg Thieme Verlag. [5]
Zeberg obtained his Doctor of Medicine degree from Karolinska Institutet with research training in 2013. He also received his Ph.D. in electrophysiology and computational neuroscience from the same institute. [6]
Zeberg started his academic career in 2015 as a lecturer at Karolinska Institutet. [7] He was appointed as a Registered Medical Practitioner in 2016. From 2017 until 2019 he served as a postdoctoral researcher at the Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig. Since 2019,he has been holding an appointment as an assistant professor at Karolinska Institutet. [8]
Zeberg's primary research focus lies in evolutionary genetics and biology,particularly in the areas of gene flow from Neandertals and Denisovans into modern humans,and its impact on health and disease. Additionally,through the application of both bioinformatics and functional studies,his research has also focused on areas such as pharmacogenetics and genetic predisposition to infectious diseases,including COVID-19. [2]
Zeberg and Svante Pääbo discovered a gene inherited from Neanderthals that is linked to an increased risk of severe COVID-19;this work has been featured in news outlets,such as The New York Times , [9] BBC Science Focus , [10] Bloomberg , [11] ScienceDaily , [12] and Medical News Today . [13] His solo subsequent work on the COVID-19 risk variant,which was found to reduce a person's risk of contracting HIV by 27%,has been covered by Contagion Live, [14] and EurekAlert. [15]
Zeberg has conducted research studies on how gene variants inherited from Neanderthals influence occurrence of severe complications from Covid-19. He has also worked with Svante Pääbo for years and published a collaborative study in the journal Nature in 2020,providing evidence suggesting a role for genetics in the severity of COVID-19. He identified a 50-kilobase genomic region inherited from Neanderthals on chromosome 3 as the primary genetic risk factor for severe SARS-CoV-2 symptoms. It was further established that the variant is associated with a 60% increased likelihood of hospitalization and impacts approximately 50% of individuals in South Asia and around 16% in Europe. [16] After identifying this genetic risk factor,he,in collaboration with Pääbo,observed a notable increase in its frequency since the last ice age during spring 2021. This unexpected commonality led them to suggest that it might have conferred a positive effect on carriers in earlier times. He conducted research on whether this genetic factor might even provide protection against other infectious diseases and revealed in the subsequent solo study published in PNAS that risk variant offers protection against getting infected with HIV. [17]
Under the COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative,Zeberg investigated the role of human genetics in SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 severity. [18] He also expanded upon genetic factors linked to severe COVID-19,unveiling a novel Neandertal haplotype on chromosome 12 with protective effects against the virus,in contrast to a previously identified Neandertal haplotype associated with increased disease risk. [19] Additionally,his joint work identified a Neanderthal isoform of OAS1 that protects individuals of European ancestry against COVID-19 susceptibility and severity. [20]
Within the context of pharmacogenomics,Zeberg discovered a Neanderthal-inherited DNA region containing two cytochrome P450 enzymes in a joint study,revealing that this haplotype encodes proteins crucial for RNA virus infection responses. The research also established that these enzymes are involved in the metabolism of widely used medications like warfarin and phenytoin. [21]
Zeberg conducted research in the field of Neural Science to explore the mechanisms and dynamics of neural activity and their impact on cognitive processes. He has contributed to the understanding of normal as well as pathological brain function and studied the inherent dynamics of different neuron types and their interplay with network activity to examine the complex processes. [22] To investigate the stability of patterns of gamma oscillation in the cortex,he and his collaborators injected artificial synaptic conductances into FS cells and measured the phase resetting produced by synaptic inputs. [23]
Svante Pääbo is a Swedish geneticist and Nobel Laureate who specialises in the field of evolutionary genetics. As one of the founders of paleogenetics,he has worked extensively on the Neanderthal genome. In 1997,he became founding director of the Department of Genetics at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig,Germany. Since 1999,he has been an honorary professor at Leipzig University;he currently teaches molecular evolutionary biology at the university. He is also an adjunct professor at Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology,Japan.
The Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology is a research institute based in Leipzig,Germany,that was founded in 1997. It is part of the Max Planck Society network.
Many causes of autism,including environmental and genetic factors,have been recognized or proposed,but understanding of the theory of causation of autism is incomplete. Attempts have been made to incorporate the known genetic and environmental causes into a comprehensive causative framework. ASD is a neurodevelopmental disorder marked by impairments in communicative ability and social interaction,as well as restricted and repetitive behaviors,interests,or activities not suitable for the individual's developmental stage. The severity of symptoms and functional impairment vary between individuals.
The Neanderthal genome project is an effort of a group of scientists to sequence the Neanderthal genome,founded in July 2006.
Transketolase-like-1 (TKTL1) is a gene closely related to the transketolase gene (TKT). It emerged in mammals during the course of evolution and,according to the latest research findings,is considered one of the key genes that distinguishes modern humans from Neanderthals. However,some modern humans also exhibit the "archaic" transketolase-like-1 allele attributed to Neanderthals,with no known effects.
The Sidrón Cave is a non-carboniferous limestone karst cave system located in the Piloña municipality of Asturias,northwestern Spain,where Paleolithic rock art and the fossils of more than a dozen Neanderthals were found. Declared a "Partial Natural Reserve" in 1995,the site also serves as a retreat for five species of bats and is the place of discovery of two species of Coleoptera (beetles).
Vindija Cave is an archaeological site associated with Neanderthals and modern humans,located in the municipality of Donja Voća,northern Croatia. Remains of three Neanderthals were selected as the primary sources for the first draft sequence of the Neanderthal genome project in 2010. Additional research was done on the samples and published in 2017.
The multiregional hypothesis,multiregional evolution (MRE),or polycentric hypothesis,is a scientific model that provides an alternative explanation to the more widely accepted "Out of Africa" model of monogenesis for the pattern of human evolution.
Neanderthals are an extinct group of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ago. The type specimen,Neanderthal 1,was found in 1856 in the Neander Valley in present-day Germany.
Interbreeding between archaic and modern humans occurred during the Middle Paleolithic and early Upper Paleolithic. The interbreeding happened in several independent events that included Neanderthals and Denisovans,as well as several unidentified hominins.
Johannes Krause is a German biochemist with a research focus on historical infectious diseases and human evolution. Since 2010,he has been professor of archaeology and paleogenetics at the University of Tübingen. In 2014,Krause was named a founding co-director of the new Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Jena.
The Goyet Caves are a series of connected caves located in Belgium in a limestone cliff about 15 m (50 ft) above the river Samson near the village of Mozet in the Gesves municipality of the Namur province. The site is a significant locality of regional Neanderthal and European early modern human occupation,as thousands of fossils and artifacts were discovered that are all attributed to a long and contiguous stratigraphic sequence from 120,000 years ago,the Middle Paleolithic to less than 5,000 years ago,the late Neolithic. A robust sequence of sediments was identified during extensive excavations by geologist Edouard Dupont,who undertook the first probings as early as 1867. The site was added to the Belgian National Heritage register in 1976.
Genetic studies on Neanderthal ancient DNA became possible in the late 1990s. The Neanderthal genome project,established in 2006,presented the first fully sequenced Neanderthal genome in 2013.
Carles Lalueza Fox is a Spanish biologist specialized in the study of ancient DNA. A doctor in Biology for the University of Barcelona,he worked in Cambridge and Oxford as well as in the private genetics company CODE Genetics of Iceland. Since 2008,he has served as a research Scientist in the Institute of Evolutionary Biology.
Denny is an ~90,000 year old fossil specimen belonging to a ~13-year-old Neanderthal-Denisovan hybrid girl. To date,she is the only first-generation hybrid hominin ever discovered. Denny’s remains consist of a single fossilized fragment of a long bone discovered among over 2,000 visually unidentifiable fragments excavated at the Denisova Cave in the Altai Mountains,Russia in 2012.
Douglas F. Easton FMedSci is a British epidemiologist who conducts research on the genetics of human cancers. He is Professor of Genetic Epidemiology and Centre for Cancer Genetic Epidemiology at the University of Cambridge. He founded Cambridge's Cancer Research UK Genetic Epidemiology Unit in 1995,and was a Principal Research Fellow there from 2001 to 2011. He is a Professorial Fellow of Homerton College,Cambridge.
Viviane Slon is a paleogeneticist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. She identified that a teenage girl born 90,000 years ago had both Neanderthal and Denisovan parents. She was selected as one of Nature's 10 in 2018.
Leucine zipper transcription factor like 1 also known as LZTFL1 is a ubiquitously expressed protein which localizes to the cytoplasm and in humans is encoded by the LZTFL1 gene.
Liran Carmel is an Israeli scientist,professor of computational biology at the Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences,the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Carmel is the Snyder Granadar Chair for Genetics,and is the 2021 Massry Prize laureate for his studies in the field of ancient DNA.
The 2022 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to the Swedish geneticist Svante Pääbo "for his research in the field of genomes of extinct hominins and human evolution". It was announced by Thomas Perlmann,secretary of the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm,Sweden,on 3 October 2022.