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ellie_ancient

@elenaessel

Living in Leipzig. Molecular biologists in the field of ancient DNA based at the MPI EVA. ☠️ Labperson. πŸ₯Ό Love challenges in the lab. πŸ‘©β€πŸ”¬ Love adventures.🏞️

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21.09.2023
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Latest posts by ellie_ancient @elenaessel

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Quick Analysis of Sedimentary Ancient DNA Using quicksand Abstract. Ancient DNA extracted from the sediments of archaeological sites (sedaDNA) can provide fine-grained information about the composition of past eco

@merszym.bsky.social @janetk.bsky.social et al. develop quicksand, an open-source Nextflow pipeline designed for rapid and accurate taxonomic classification of mammalian mitochondrial DNA in sedimentary ancient DNA samples.

πŸ”— doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaf305

#evobio #molbio #compbio #aDNA

09.12.2025 09:35 πŸ‘ 7 πŸ” 6 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1

I am very excited to present this work to the (sed)aDNA community - and I am looking forward to some cool applications!

If you want to use quicksand, I recommend following supplementary section 8, which demonstrates several use-cases :)

see github.com/mpieva/quicksand for more details

09.12.2025 15:32 πŸ‘ 15 πŸ” 10 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Paleogenomics Reveals a Loss of Bovine Lineages in Mid-latitude Asia Over the Last 200,000 Years Abstract. Bovines have a complex yet poorly understood evolutionary history that is characterized by admixture and diversity loss during the Late Pleistoce

Our manuscript on bovine deep-time paleogenomics at Denisova Cave and in the broader mid-latitude Asia is online! doi.org/10.1093/gbe/... 🦬🦴🧬

Main findings in the 🧡 below ⬇️

@cpgsthlm.bsky.social @genomebiolevol.bsky.social #aDNA

20.11.2025 09:52 πŸ‘ 54 πŸ” 18 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 3

If you’re working with sedaDNA and are curious about large-scale screening approaches, this is absolutely worth a read.
Massive props to the team, super cool stuff!

28.11.2025 12:20 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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quick analysis of sedimentary ancient DNA using quicksand Abstract. Ancient DNA extracted from the sediments of archaeological sites (sedaDNA) can provide fine-grained information about the composition of past eco

Cool work from my colleagues @mpi-eva-leipzig.bsky.social just dropped! Merlin Szymanski, @janetk.bsky.social et al. developed quicksand, a fast, accurate and beautifully designed Nextflow pipeline for taxonomic classification of mammalian mtDNA from ancient sediment DNA. doi.org/10.1093/molb...

28.11.2025 12:20 πŸ‘ 35 πŸ” 14 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

You know who are not confused, or uncertain, or mealy-mouthed about this? The Germans. Who might have some insight into this matter.

21.01.2025 19:10 πŸ‘ 30 πŸ” 11 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1
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Back in beautiful Leiden and @naturalis.bsky.social today! πŸ¦΄πŸ’€βœ¨ Wrapped up work and finally got to explore the exhibitionβ€”what an incredible spot to dive into the wonders of evolution! 🧬🌿 Feeling inspired

21.01.2025 18:47 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 8 πŸ“Œ 0

SchΓΆn, dass du hier bist πŸ”

21.01.2025 18:40 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Way too excited about this! Just packed my MTG LOTR Jumpstart decks into their new home. How cool are these 3D-printed deck sleeves? #mtg #lotr #3Dprint

15.01.2025 19:34 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Millennial evolution of the Mediterranean sea-level: a story of mud, archeology and geophysical modelling.

First seminar for our series 'Human Palaeosystems in Focus' for the new year! Join us tomorrow at 14.00 CET!

www.gea.mpg.de/115578/mille...

14.01.2025 12:39 πŸ‘ 8 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

Laut CDU ist es blauΓ€ugig in Sachsen einen Abgeordnetenausweis hochzuhalten und bei einer Demonstration darauf zu hoffen nicht zusammengeschlagen zu werden. Damit ist dann aber wirklich alles gesagt #Riesa

14.01.2025 11:55 πŸ‘ 191 πŸ” 56 πŸ’¬ 6 πŸ“Œ 2
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During a weekend winter walk, I stumbled upon this cool phenomenonβ€”hair ice! It looks like frozen cotton candy, but it’s actually delicate ice strands growing on dead wood when temperatures dip just below freezing. A little fungus is the genius behind this frosty art! #fungifriends

13.01.2025 19:30 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Grumpy northern pygmy owl on a curved branch with a brown and blue background.

Grumpy northern pygmy owl on a curved branch with a brown and blue background.

When you foolishly tell the Northern Pygmy Owl that it's Monday morning before they've had their coffee.

#owls #birds #canada #nature #wildlife #photography #wildlifephotography #birding #nikon #monday

13.01.2025 15:21 πŸ‘ 6592 πŸ” 515 πŸ’¬ 131 πŸ“Œ 36
A colony of robust splitgill mushrooms with gills which flow like the tributaries of a river grow on the bottom of an upturned branch above the forest floor 

All photos by me

A colony of robust splitgill mushrooms with gills which flow like the tributaries of a river grow on the bottom of an upturned branch above the forest floor All photos by me

Here are some nice mushrooms

13.01.2025 15:56 πŸ‘ 17041 πŸ” 814 πŸ’¬ 301 πŸ“Œ 54

Your birbs are amazing 😍 Would totally get a calendar with them. Sending many hugs from Leipzig 🀍

07.01.2025 05:48 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Wann vermischten sich moderne Menschen und Neandertaler? Bislang Γ€lteste Genome moderner Menschen geben Auskunft

Spannend! Neue #aDNA 🏺🧬 Analytik an Altfunden: Knochenfragmente aus der Ilsenhâhle bei #Ranis (Thüringen) geben Àlteste Genome moderner Menschen preis - und zeigen #Neandertaler Genomsegmente eines einzigen Vermischungsereignisses vor 45.000-49.000 Jahren:

nachrichten.idw-online.de/2024/12/12/w...

14.12.2024 21:05 πŸ‘ 25 πŸ” 8 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Mystery woman’s DNA reveals close family ties between Europe’s earliest people Pair of studies shines light on how modern humans and Neanderthals settled the continent together

New studies out yesterday show when modern humans last mated w/Neanderthals, but it's the details in this paper by @arevsumer.bsky.social @kaypruefer.bsky.social & co. that got me–like a mother and daughter found together after 45K years, or their close relative identified in a distant Czech cave.

13.12.2024 06:51 πŸ‘ 219 πŸ” 73 πŸ’¬ 5 πŸ“Œ 3
Earliest modern human genomes constrain timing of Neanderthal admixture - Nature Nature - Earliest modern human genomes constrain timing of Neanderthal admixture

I am very happy to share our new paper on the genetics of some of the first modern humans who ever lived in Europe! We sequenced nuclear DNA from 13 specimens from Ranis in Germany, and found that they belonged to at least 6 individuals. www.nature.com/articles/s41... (1/n)

12.12.2024 19:00 πŸ‘ 277 πŸ” 110 πŸ’¬ 13 πŸ“Œ 17

So incredibly proud of and happy for @arevsumer.bsky.social , @leonardoiasi.bsky.social and @mchintalapati.bsky.social, and their two papers that just came out yesterday! πŸ’€β€οΈπŸ§¬
And so incredibly grateful to be able to work with such an amazing group of people. :)
A great 🧡 by @arevsumer.bsky.socialπŸ‘‡

13.12.2024 10:28 πŸ‘ 13 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

I am very happy and excited that our finds from Ranis along with those from the 1930s excavations (now stored at the Museum for Prehistory at Halle(Saale) led to these incredible results! A big Thank You to @arevsumer.bsky.social and the entire team for this amazing work!

13.12.2024 12:01 πŸ‘ 15 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Two super interesting papers out today about Neanderthal admixture. Showing it happened less than 49kya. So any modern human remains outside Africa before that date must have belonged to other populations which we presumably don’t descend from??? (I might be wrong though)

13.12.2024 02:36 πŸ‘ 23 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Mystery woman’s DNA reveals close family ties between Europe’s earliest people Pair of studies shines light on how modern humans and Neanderthals settled the continent together

β€˜Mystery woman’s DNA reveals close family ties between Europe’s earliest [sic] people’

12.12.2024 20:33 πŸ‘ 109 πŸ” 27 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 4

Excited to share the groundbreaking work by @arevsumer.bsky.social, who successfully sequenced the oldest modern human genomes ever! πŸ’€ A scientifically thrilling and deeply rewarding project to be part of!

13.12.2024 06:21 πŸ‘ 12 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Neanderthal ancestry through time: Insights from genomes of ancient and present-day humans Gene flow from Neanderthals has shaped genetic and phenotypic variation in modern humans. We generated a catalog of Neanderthal ancestry segments in more than 300 genomes spanning the past 50,000 year...

Out today in @sciencemagazine, we've journeyed into our shared history with Neandertals by analyzing over 300 present-day and ancient modern humans, including 59 individuals who lived between 2,000 and 45,000 years ago.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

12.12.2024 19:38 πŸ‘ 79 πŸ” 44 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 8
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PhD fellowship in Sediment DNA at the Department of Forensic Medicine

Wonderful to see so many new people here! :-)

Interested in sedaDNA, aDNA, or forensic genetics?
Join me in Copenhagen!
I'm hiring a PhD and a Postdoc to start in 2025. Application deadline 28 November
employment.ku.dk/phd/?show=16...
employment.ku.dk/all-vacancie...

15.11.2024 09:36 πŸ‘ 56 πŸ” 41 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 4
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Very excited (and a bit nervous) to announce that I will be hiring two Postdocs for my new group(!) in Copenhagen to study the Neanderthal and Denisovan DNA which survives in present-day humans. Retweet will be much appreciated :)

Link for application:
candidate.hr-manager.net/ApplicationI...

02.12.2024 12:46 πŸ‘ 418 πŸ” 287 πŸ’¬ 9 πŸ“Œ 9

πŸ“’ Check out my newest paper published in JAS @ElsevierArchaeo !

β€œPrey body size generates bias for human and avian agents: Cautions for interpreting small game assemblages”

#Ethnoarchaeology #experimental #taphonomy #smallgame #rats #butchery

authors.elsevier.com/a/1h%7EJA15S...

26.10.2023 02:00 πŸ‘ 7 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1

🚨 PhD position 🚨

Excited to be recruiting a PhD student on using #ancientDNA 🧬 from bones and sediments to understand the impacts of human dispersal on faunal biodiversity.

Deadline: 10th Nov. 2023.
Based at the Centre for Palaeogenetics & Stockholm University.

Come join us! su.se/english/abou...

20.10.2023 14:54 πŸ‘ 16 πŸ” 19 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
At DNA sequencing facilities of MPI-EVA

At DNA sequencing facilities of MPI-EVA

At DNA sequencing facilities of MPI-EVA

At DNA sequencing facilities of MPI-EVA

At DNA sequencing facilities of MPI-EVA

At DNA sequencing facilities of MPI-EVA

Finally, after 2 years at MPI-EVA, visited our DNA sequencing lab! Lots of cool machines. One of them is called Hamilton: an appropriate name for a robot that kills you at the end of the movie πŸ”΄. Jokes aside, huge thanks to @arevsumer.bsky.social & @elenaessel.bsky.social for the tour!

01.10.2023 09:11 πŸ‘ 10 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0