'You probably didn't inherit any DNA from Charlemagne': What it means when your DNA 'matches' a historic person's
A genetic match to an ancient person doesn't mean you're more related genealogically.
Harald Ringbauer
Group Leader, Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
I am a population geneticist who develops and applies computational tools to analyze genomic data. A key research interest of mine is the study of human ancient DNA. This field is rapidly growing - by now thousands of genomes of humans who lived thousands of years ago are being published every single year. I develop new ways to study these ancient genomes and make computational tools available to other researchers. Currently, I hold a junior group leader position at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig (Germany), and I build up a research group in this field.
