CARTA: Mismatch: Human Origins and Modern Disease - Welcome and Opening Remarks
CARTA - Anthropogeny (Audio)Show Notes
The human body has traits that evolved at different times, from 1.5 billion to 2 million years ago, each bringing health benefits and risks. Multicellularity enabled organs and cancer. The immune system defends us but can cause inflammation. Breastfeeding supports infant health but relates to breast cancer risk. Menstruation and invasive placentas improved reproduction but led to pain and cancer risks. Human-specific traits like bipedalism and aging brought new issues like back pain and childbirth problems. Hair loss and sweat glands helped us stay cool but increased skin cancer risk. Our hunter-gatherer past shaped our microbiome and health, but also made us prone to modern diseases from lifestyle changes. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 40701]
More from CARTA - Anthropogeny (Audio)
Ajit Varki, Distinguished Professor in the Departments of Medicine and Cellular & Molecular Medicine, Co-Director of CARTA, and Co-Director of the Glycobiology Research and Training Center at the University of California, San Diego, focuses on a family of cell surface sugars called the sialic acids, and their roles in biology, evolution and disease. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 21987]
Genevieve Konopka is an Assistant Professor of Neuroscience at UT Southwestern Medical Center. The focus of her research is elucidating how developmental signaling pathways are disrupted in neuropsychiatric illnesses, and identifying human-specific pathways that are vulnerable to neuropsychiatric disease. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 21986]
Yoav Gilad is Associate Professor of Human Genetics at the University of Chicago. He studies genetic and regulatory differences between humans and our close evolutionary relatives, with the long-term goal of identifying the genetic basis for human-specific traits, including genetic variation that underlies higher susceptibility to certain diseases and disorders in humans than in other primates. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 21985]
Katherine Pollard, Associate Investigator at the Gladstone Institutes and Associate Professor of Biostatistics at UC San Francisco, specializes in evolutionary genomics, in particular identifying genome sequences that differ significantly between or within species and their relationship to biomedical traits. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 21984]
Alysson Muotri, Assistant Professor at UC San Diego, focuses on human brain development and evolution, exploring mobile elements as generators of neuronal diversity. He is also interested in modeling neurological diseases using human induced pluripotent stem cells. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 21983]