Laboratory of Paleogenetics and Conservation Genetics

Profile

Ancient DNA is powerful tool to reconstruct evolutionary processes which occurred thousands of years ago. Extraction of DNA from various kind of remains coupled with the high throughput sequencing, radiocarbon dating and isotopic analyses enables investigation ancient populations and tracing its changes through the time and space. In our laboratory we use state of the art techniques to resolve wide range of intriguing questions pertaining to biology, palaeontology, anthropology and archaeology. Currently our research focuses on the two main topics.

First one is reconstruction of evolutionary histories of Late Pleistocene mammal species. We investigate population dynamics and migration patterns as a reaction on the climatic changes which took place in the past. The knowledge learnt form past populations could help to predict species’ responses to the climatic changes in the future. Currently, we explore several small mammal species throughout Eurasia such as common vole (M. arvalis), field vole (M. agrestis), narow-heded vole (M. gregalis), bank vole (Clethrionomys glareolus) and root vole (Microtus oeconomus).

The second group of projects encompasses paleogenomics ancient human populations. We study of pre-Columbian populations with the main objective to broaden the knowledge about the social structure and history of the two Andean civilizations – Tiwanaku and Inka. We also aim to explore the genetic history of Poland by studying historical human remains from Poland and broader Central Europe.

Leader

Professor Piotr Węgleński passed away on 19th January 2024.

Geneticist, professor at the University of Warsaw.

All scientific career connected with the University of Warsaw: 1961 Master’s degree, 1965 doctorate, 1974 habilitation, 1982 associate professor, 1989 full professor.

He has done post-doctoral research in Great Britain and the US. Visiting professor at the Masachussetts Institute of Technology (1987 -1989) and Universite Paris-Sud (1991). Vice-Chancellor of the University of Warsaw in the 1980s and 1990s, Rector in 1999-2005.

Professor Węgleński is a pioneer of genetic engineering in Poland, author of several dozen publications in the field of genetics and co-author of several academic books and textbooks. Cited more than 600 times, index H=17. He has promoted several dozen master’s and several doctoral theses. He received honorary doctorates from the Universities of Ivanofrankivsk (Ukraine), Podgorica (Montenegro), Sofia (Bulgaria) and Arequipie (Peru), as well as French Golden Academic Palms and Commander’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta. He is a full member of the Polish Academy of Sciences, a member of the Warsaw Scientific Society and a member of the Commission for Ethics in Science.

Team

Leader
Prof. Piotr Węgleński

Postdocs / employees
Mateusz Baca, PhD, DSc
Martyna Molak-Tomsia, PhD
Danijela Popovic, PhD
Aleksandra Żeromska, PhD
Barbara Bujalska, MSc

Students:
Michał Golubiński
Gabriela Damentka
Aleksandra Deroń

Selected projects:

Selected publications:

• Niedziałkowska M., Górny M., Gornia J., Popović D., Baca M., Ratajczak-Skrzatek U., Kovalchuk O., Sykut M., Suska-Malawska M., Mackiewicz P., Hofman-Kamińska E., Kowalczyk R., Czarniauski M., Pawłowska K., Makowiecki D., Tataurova L., Bondarev A., Shpansky A., Protopopov A.V., Sorokin A.D., Saarma U., Kosintsev P., Schmölcke U., Wilczyński J., Lipecki G., Nadachowski A., Boeskorov G.G., Baryshnikov G.F., Zorzin R., Vorobiova N., Moskvitina N.S., Leshchinskiy S., Malikov D., Berdnikov I.M., Balasescu A., Boroneant A., Klementiev A., Fyfe R., Woodbridge J., Stefaniak K.
  Impact of global environmental changes on the range contraction of Eurasian moose since the Late Pleistocene
  (2024) Science of the Total Environment, 957, art. no. 177235
  DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.177235
• Niebylski J.M., Dobrzańska H., Szczepanek A., Krzewińska M., Gan P., Barszcz M., Rodríguez-Varela R., Pochon Z., Lityńska-Zając M., Makowicz-Poliszot D., Pankowska A., Rauba-Bukowska A., Wasilewski M., Kozerska M., Urbanik A., Włodarczak P., Popović D., Baca M., Götherström A.
  Unveiling Hunnic legacy: Decoding elite presence in Poland through a unique child’s burial with modified cranium
  (2024) Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 56, art. no. 104563
  DOI: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2024.104563
• Bacalum M., Radu M., Osella S., Knippenberg S., Ameloot M.
  Generalized polarization and time-resolved fluorescence provide evidence for different populations of Laurdan in lipid vesicles
  (2024) Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology, 250, art. no. 112833
  DOI: 10.1016/j.jphotobiol.2023.112833
• Saha A., Baca M., Popović D., Mohammadi Z., Olsson U., Roycroft E., Fostowicz-Frelik Ł.
  The first complete mitochondrial genome data of the Afghan pika Ochotona rufescens (Lagomorpha, Ochotonidae), near the type locality
  (2024) Data in Brief, 53, art. no. 110246
  DOI: 10.1016/j.dib.2024.110246
• Pan J., Liu X., Baca M., Calvière-Tonasso L., Schiavinato S., Chauvey L., Tressières G., Perdereau A., Aury J.-M., Oliveira P.H., Wincker P., Abdykanova A., Arsuaga J.L., Bayarsaikhan J., Belinskiy A.B., Carbonell E., Davoudi H., Lira Garrido J., Gilbert A.S., Hermes T., Warinner C., Kalmykov A.A., Lordkipanidze D., Mackiewicz P., Mohaseb A.F., Richter K., Sayfullaev N., Shapiro B., Shnaider S., Southon J., Stefaniak K., Summers G.D., van Asperen E.N., Vanishvili N., Hill E.A., Kuznetsov P., Reinhold S., Hansen S., Mashkour M., Berthon R., Taylor W.T.T., Houle J.-L., Hekkala E., Popović D., Orlando L.
  Genome-wide population affinities and signatures of adaptation in hydruntines, sussemiones and Asian wild asses
  (2024) Molecular Ecology, 33 (19), art. no. e17527
  DOI: 10.1111/mec.17527
• Popović D., Baca M., Wiejacka M., Chudziak W., Makowiecki D.
  Genetic characterization of horses in Early Medieval Poland
  (2024) Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 56, art. no. 104530
  DOI: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2024.104530
• Rabiniak E., Rekovets L., Kovalchuk O., Baca M., Popović D., Strzała T., Barkaszi Z.
  Hares from the Late Pleistocene of Ukraine: a phylogenetic analysis and the status of Lepus tanaiticus (Mammalia, Lagomorpha)
  (2024) Biologia, 79 (1), pp. 87 – 99
  DOI: 10.1007/s11756-023-01499-z
• Religa-Sobczyk J., Wojenka M., Baca M., Popović D., Wojtal P.
  Guinea pig remains from the XVIth century Ojców castle (southern Poland)
  (2023) Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 52, art. no. 104293
  DOI: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2023.104293
• Gawlik J., Koper M., Bogdanowicz A., Weglenski P., Dzikowska A.
  Nuclear Functions of KaeA, a Subunit of the KEOPS Complex in Aspergillus nidulans
  (2022) International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 23 (19), art. no. 11138
  DOI: 10.3390/ijms231911138
• Krajcarz M., Krajcarz M.T., Baca M., Baumann C., van Neer W., Popovic D., Sudoł-Procyk M., Wach B., Wilczynski J., Wojenka M., Bocherens H.
  Ancestors of domestic cats in Neolithic Central Europe: Isotopic evidence of a synanthropic diet
  (2020) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 117 (30), pp. 17710 – 17719
  DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1918884117

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