Nick Patterson (scientist)

Last updated

Nick Patterson
Born
Nicholas James Patterson

(1947-06-09)June 9, 1947
Education University of Cambridge
Known for Neanderthal genome project
Scientific career
Fields Genetics
Institutions Broad Institute
Thesis On Conway's Group .O and Some Other Groups (1973)
Doctoral advisor John G. Thompson

Nicholas James Patterson (born 9 June 1947) [1] is a mathematician working as a staff scientist at the Broad Institute with notable contributions to the area of computational genomics. [2] [3] His work has appeared in scientific journals such as Nature , Science and Nature Genetics . [4] [5] His research has brought a better understanding of early human migrations. [6] [7] He is among the group of scientists who have sequenced the Neanderthal genome in 2010. [8] This was followed by the sequencing of a much higher quality Neanderthal genome, where the subject was from the Altai Mountains, in 2014. [9] These studies have uncovered some unexpected facts about the interbreeding between archaic and modern humans.

Contents

Biography

Patterson was an only child who grew up in the Bayswater section of central London. [10] Patterson received his B.A. and Ph.D. in mathematics at Cambridge University. [3] His doctoral advisor was John G. Thompson. [11] He initially worked for the British code-breaking agency GCHQ and the Center for Communications Research in Princeton. [12]

Following this cryptology work, Patterson worked at the quantitative trading firm Renaissance Technologies. [13]

In 2001, Patterson joined the Center for Genome Research at MIT, the Whitehead Institute. He briefly worked on gene expression data applied to cancer before switching to the study of human genetics. [3]

In 2012, Patterson developed ADMIXTOOLS, a software package written in C that is currently widely used by population geneticists. [14]

Chess

Nick Patterson was a child chess prodigy. [2] He won the Irish Chess Championship in 1969. In a long game in the Chess Olympiad of Siegen in 1970, where he played top board for Ireland, he met the Danish grandmaster Bent Larsen, who was one of the top 10 players in the world at the time, and managed to make a draw after 93 moves. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Svante Pääbo</span> Swedish geneticist (born 1955)

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Early modern human</span> Old Stone Age Homo sapiens

Early modern human (EMH), or anatomically modern human (AMH), are terms used to distinguish Homo sapiens that are anatomically consistent with the range of phenotypes seen in contemporary humans, from extinct archaic human species. This distinction is useful especially for times and regions where anatomically modern and archaic humans co-existed, for example, in Paleolithic Europe. Among the oldest known remains of Homo sapiens are those found at the Omo-Kibish I archaeological site in south-western Ethiopia, dating to about 233,000 to 196,000 years ago, the Florisbad site in South Africa, dating to about 259,000 years ago, and the Jebel Irhoud site in Morocco, dated about 315,000 years ago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neanderthal extinction</span> Prehistoric event

Neanderthals became extinct around 40,000 years ago. Hypotheses on the causes of the extinction include violence, transmission of diseases from modern humans which Neanderthals had no immunity to, competitive replacement, extinction by interbreeding with early modern human populations, natural catastrophes, climate change and inbreeding depression. It is likely that multiple factors caused the demise of an already low population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of human evolution</span> Chronological outline of major events in the development of the human species

The timeline of human evolution outlines the major events in the evolutionary lineage of the modern human species, Homo sapiens, throughout the history of life, beginning some 4 billion years ago down to recent evolution within H. sapiens during and since the Last Glacial Period.

David Emil Reich is an American geneticist known for his research into the population genetics of ancient humans, including their migrations and the mixing of populations, discovered by analysis of genome-wide patterns of mutations. He is professor in the department of genetics at the Harvard Medical School, and an associate of the Broad Institute. Reich was highlighted as one of Nature's 10 for his contributions to science in 2015. He received the Dan David Prize in 2017, the NAS Award in Molecular Biology, the Wiley Prize, and the Darwin–Wallace Medal in 2019. In 2021 he was awarded the Massry Prize.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Genetic history of Europe</span>

The genetic history of Europe includes information around the formation, ethnogenesis, and other DNA-specific information about populations indigenous, or living in Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peștera cu Oase</span> Cave and archaeological site in Romania

Peștera cu Oase is a system of 12 karstic galleries and chambers located near the city Anina, in the Caraș-Severin county, southwestern Romania, where some of the oldest European early modern human (EEMH) remains, between 42,000 and 37,000 years old, have been found.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vindija Cave</span> Cave and archaeological site in Croatia

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Denisovan</span> Asian archaic human

The Denisovans or Denisova hominins(di-NEE-sə-və) are an extinct species or subspecies of archaic human that ranged across Asia during the Lower and Middle Paleolithic. Denisovans are known from few physical remains; consequently, most of what is known about them comes from DNA evidence. No formal species name has been established pending more complete fossil material.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Denisova Cave</span> Cave and archaeological site in Russia

Denisova Cave is a cave in the Bashelaksky Range of the Altai mountains, Siberian Federal District, Russia. The cave has provided items of great paleoarchaeological and paleontological interest. Bone fragments of the Denisova hominin originate from the cave, including artifacts dated to around 40,000 BP. Remains of a 32,000-year-old prehistoric species of horse has also been found in the cave.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neanderthal</span> Extinct Eurasian species or subspecies of archaic humans

Neanderthals, also written as Neandertals, are an extinct species or subspecies 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Interbreeding between archaic and modern humans</span> Evidence of human hybridization during the Paleolithic

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ust'-Ishim man</span> Hominin fossil found in Siberia

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manot Cave</span> Archaeological site in Israel

Manot Cave is a cave in Western Galilee, Israel, discovered in 2008. It is notable for the discovery of a skull that belongs to a modern human, called Manot 1, which is estimated to be 54,700 years old. The partial skull was discovered at the beginning of the cave's exploration in 2008. Its significance was realised after detailed scientific analysis, and was first published in an online edition of Nature on 28 January 2015. This age implies that the specimen is the oldest known human outside Africa, and is evidence that modern humans lived side-by-side with Neanderthals. The cave is also noted for its "impressive archaeological record of flint and bone artefacts". Geologically, it is an "active stalactite cave".

Manot 1 is a fossil specimen designated to a skullcap that represents an archaic modern human discovered in Manot Cave, Western Galilee, Israel. It was discovered in 2008 and the scientific description was published in 2015. Radiometric dating indicates that it is about 54,700 years old, and thought to be directly ancestral to the Upper Paleolithic populations of the Levant and Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Janet Kelso</span> South African bioinformatician

Janet Kelso is a South African computational biologist and Group leader of the Minerva Research Group for Bioinformatics at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. She is best known for her work comparing DNA from previous humans with those of the present.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goyet Caves</span> Caves and archaeological site in Belgium

The Goyet Caves are a series of connected caves located in Wallonia 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, Belgium. 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.

ADMIXTOOLS is a software package that is primarily used for analyzing admixture in population genetics. The original version was developed as a set of standalone C programs by Nick Patterson and colleagues and published in 2012. A reimplemented version, ADMIXTOOLS 2, was developed as an R package by Robert Maier and colleagues and published in 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine</span> Award

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.

References

  1. 1 2 "Nicholas J Patterson". chessgames.com.
  2. 1 2 Chen, Ingfei (12 December 2006). "Nick Patterson: A Cold War Cryptologist Takes a Crack at Deciphering DNA's Deep Secrets". The New York Times.
  3. 1 2 3 "Nick Patterson". Broad Institute. April 2012.
  4. "Nick Patterson". scholar.google.com.
  5. "Nick Patterson". ScienceMag.org. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
  6. Skoglund, Pontus; Thompson, Jessica C.; Prendergast, Mary E.; Mittnik, Alissa; Sirak, Kendra; Hajdinjak, Mateja; Salie, Tasneem; Rohland, Nadin; Mallick, Swapan; Peltzer, Alexander; Heinze, Anja; Olalde, Iñigo; Ferry, Matthew; Harney, Eadaoin; Michel, Megan; Stewardson, Kristin; Cerezo-Román, Jessica I.; Chiumia, Chrissy; Crowther, Alison; Gomani-Chindebvu, Elizabeth; Gidna, Agness O.; Grillo, Katherine M.; Helenius, I. Taneli; Hellenthal, Garrett; Helm, Richard; Horton, Mark; López, Saioa; Mabulla, Audax Z.P.; Parkington, John; Shipton, Ceri; Thomas, Mark G.; Tibesasa, Ruth; Welling, Menno; Hayes, Vanessa M.; Kennett, Douglas J.; Ramesar, Raj; Meyer, Matthias; Pääbo, Svante; Patterson, Nick; Morris, Alan G.; Boivin, Nicole; Pinhasi, Ron; Krause, Johannes; Reich, David (2017). "Reconstructing Prehistoric African Population Structure". Cell. 171 (1): 59–71.e21. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2017.08.049. PMC   5679310 . PMID   28938123.
  7. Sankararaman, S.; Patterson, N.; Li, H.; Pääbo, S.; Reich, D; Akey, J.M. (2012). "The Date of Interbreeding between Neandertals and Modern Humans". PLOS Genetics. 8 (10): e1002947. arXiv: 1208.2238 . doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1002947 . PMC   3464203 . PMID   23055938.
  8. Green RE, Krause J, Briggs AW, Maricic T, Stenzel U, Kircher M, Patterson N, Li H, Zhai W, Fritz MH, Hansen NF, Durand EY, Malaspinas AS, Jensen JD, Marques-Bonet T, Alkan C, Prüfer K, Meyer M, Burbano HA, Good JM, Schultz R, Aximu-Petri A, Butthof A, Höber B, Höffner B, Siegemund M, Weihmann A, Nusbaum C, Lander ES, Russ C, Novod N, Affourtit J, Egholm M, Verna C, Rudan P, Brajkovic D, Kucan Z, Gusic I, Doronichev VB, Golovanova LV, Lalueza-Fox C, de la Rasilla M, Fortea J, Rosas A, Schmitz RW, Johnson PL, Eichler EE, Falush D, Birney E, Mullikin JC, Slatkin M, Nielsen R, Kelso J, Lachmann M, Reich D, Pääbo S (7 May 2010). "Draft full sequence of Neanderthal Genome". Science. 328 (5979): 710–22. Bibcode:2010Sci...328..710G. doi:10.1126/science.1188021. PMC   5100745 . PMID   20448178.
  9. Prüfer, K.; Racimo, F.; Patterson, N.; Jay, F.; Sankararaman, S.; Sawyer, S.; et al. (2014) [Online 2013]. "The complete genome sequence of a Neanderthal from the Altai Mountains". Nature. 505 (7481): 43–49. Bibcode:2014Natur.505...43P. doi:10.1038/nature12886. PMC   4031459 . PMID   24352235.
  10. Chapter 8; The Man Who Solved the Market by Gregory Zuckerman
  11. "Nicholas Patterson - the Mathematics Genealogy Project".
  12. "The Man Who Breaks Codes". Radcliffe Magazine. 30 January 2017.
  13. Mayer, Jane (19 March 2017). "The Reclusive Hedge-Fund Tycoon Behind the Trump Presidency". The New Yorker.
  14. Patterson N, Moorjani P, Luo Y, Mallick S, Rohland N, Zhan Y, Genschoreck T, Webster T, Reich D (November 2012). "Ancient admixture in human history". Genetics. 192 (3): 1065–93. doi:10.1534/genetics.112.145037. PMC   3522152 . PMID   22960212.