Svante Pääbo awarded Nobel Prize for Discoveries in Evolution

Sequencing these genomes gave a crucial reference point for scientists

The Nobel Prize in Physiology was awarded to the Sweden-born geneticist Svante Pääbo. His work of discovering the genomes of extinct human groups that shed light on the genetic characteristics unique to present-day humans was awarded. The committee said that Dr. Pääbo overcame the challenges in analyzing and recovering ancient DNA to sequence the genome of the Neanderthal, an extinct relative of present-day humans. He also discovered a previously unknown human relative, called the Denisova. Dr.Pääbo is based at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany.

Sequencing these genomes gave a crucial reference point for scientists in understanding the genetic divergence that make Homo sapiens unique, the committee said. His work laid the foundations for a new field of science known as genomic paleontology, or the use of genetic analysis to shed light on human evolution. “By revealing genetic differences that distinguish all living humans from extinct hominins, his discoveries provide the basis for exploring what makes us uniquely human,” said the Nobel committee.