University of Richmond Biology Professor Melinda A. Yang Receives NSF CAREER Award, Nearly $1 Million For Genomics Research

UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND — Melinda A. Yang, a biology professor at the University of Richmond, has received a National Science Foundation CAREER award of more than $990,000 to support her research to increase and improve understanding of genetic adaptations in modern humans.

Over the next five years, Yang, an ancient DNA expert, will create an easy-to-use tool for researchers to identify genetic changes that have helped humans adapt and survive over time by combining data from both present-day and ancient DNA.

While advances in DNA sequencing and analytic tools have revealed surprising selection signals, like genetic changes that affect alcohol metabolism or the ability to digest milk, most tools and demographic models incorporating ancient DNA have been applied mainly to people of West Eurasian ancestry. Yang’s latest research will develop a reliable demographic model for East and Southeast Asian populations, creating an unprecedented resource for genomic research worldwide.

Yang will also develop a Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) using ancient DNA datasets for students taking her Human Evolutionary Genomics course at UR. Students will investigate selection intensity and timing in different genes across worldwide human populations. Yang will then train faculty across the U.S. in the CURE curriculum she develops, which will further increase bioinformatic skills and research opportunities across biology classrooms nationwide.

“This research and these new tools will lower technical barriers and expand the geographic scope of selection studies,” said Yang. “We are excited that this NSF-funded work will diversify research on human adaptation, accelerate discovery of evolutionarily important genes, and build bioinformatics capacity among the next generation of scientists and educators.”

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