Welcome to Axel Barlow’s
Pleistocene Genomics Lab
We use palaeogenomics to study the evolution and ecology of Pleistocene animals that lived tens of thousands of years ago!
Latest News
New paper on museum linsang DNA
We were part of an international team recovering DNA from museum samples of Asian linsangs. Check out the results in the paper, published in PLoS ONE! Paijmans JLA, Barlow A, Henneberger K, Fickel J, Hofreiter M, Foerster DWG (2020) Ancestral mitogenome capture of the Southeast Asian banded linsang. PLoS ONE. 15(6): e0234385. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0234385
New paper on DNA sequences from museum frog specimens!
We were part of an international team recovering mitochondrial sequences from South American frog museum specimens. This data helped resolve long-standing questions on the taxonomy of the group! Check out: Lyra ML, Lourenço ACC, Pinheiro PDP, Pezzuti TL, Baêta D, Barlow A, Hofreiter M, Pombal José PJR, Haddad CFB, Faivovich J (2020) High-throughput DNA sequencing […]
New paper on cave bear diet out!!!
We were on the team finally solving the puzzle of the unusual isotopic signals in Romanian cave bears: they were herbivorous after all! New paper published in Scientific Reports: Naito YI, Meleg IN, Robu M, Vlaicu M, Drucker DG, Wißing C, Hofreiter M, Barlow A, Bocherens H (2020) Heavy reliance on plants for Romanian cave […]
New paper on cave hyena palaeogenomes, published in Science Advances!
We were part of the team presenting the first palaeogenomes from extinct Pleistocene cave hyenas, and uncovering their relationship to modern hyenas. Check ou tthe new paper in the current issue of Science Advances! https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/6/11/eaay0456 And a write up on physorg: https://phys.org/news/2020-03-prehistoric-hyenas-humans-migration-patterns.html
New paper on extinct giant beaver DNA!
We were part of an International Team working on the phylogenetics of the extinct giant beaver, including Prof. Hofreiter’s team at Uni Potsdam and researchers at the Joseph Moore Museum, Earlham College. Check out our results, published in the latest issue of Current Biology! https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982219316744?dgcid=author Also write up and excellent video from Earlham College! https://earlham.edu/news/article/?id=70872&r=40315&title=research-group-sequences-dna-of-long-extinct-giant-beaver
WE ARE RECRUITING PhD STUDENTS!!!
Nottingham Trent University is currently offering 50 fully funded PhD studentships, deadline Feb 14th, anticipated start date Oct 2020 or Jan 2021. Masters-level students and graduates interested in the general topics of palaeogenomics and population genomics are invited to contact me and apply for a PhD in my group. Our current research investigates the population […]
Axel has joined the Editorial Advisory Board of Global Pasts!
Check out the new open access Elsevier Global Pasts, covering archaeology, anthropology and heritage studies in their widest perspective! https://www.journals.elsevier.com/global-pasts/
Happy New Year: and first paper of 2020!
Our paper describing the Consensify method has been published as the feature paper of the new issue of Genes. Check it out: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4425/11/1/50
Cave bear review out!
Our cave bear review is published, in honour of Prof. Gernot Rabeder’s 80 birthday! Barlow A, Hofreiter M, Knapp M (2019) Cave bears and ancient DNA: a mutually beneficial relationship. In Berichte der Geologischen Bundesanstalt Nr. 132. Festschrift zum 80. Geburtstag von emer. Univ.-Prof. Dr. Mag. Gernot Rabeder. ISSN: 1017-8880
Pleistocene Genomics Lab website is live!
Our website is now online and indexed by search engines. Watch this space for all the latest PGL news and developments!
Research Themes
Palaeogenomics
We collect genomic data from ancient subfossil bones to study the evolution and ecology of Pleistocene animals. Find out more
Laboratory methods
Our work also involves the development and optimisation of new laboratory methods for recovering palaeogenomic data. Find out more
Bioinformatics
We also develop new computational and statistical methods for the analysis of palaeogenomic data. Find out more
Museum samples
We are also interested in the genomic analysis of historical museum specimens as a way of sampling endangered and recently extinct animals. Find out more
Phylogenetics
We also generate datasets for phylogenetic analysis and molecular dating. Find out more
Latest News
Pleistocene Genomics Lab website is coming!
We are very pleased to announce our forthcoming website. Here, you will be able to find out about the PGL team, our research and all the latest news!
Get in touch!
