Hernán A. Burbano

Hernán A. Burbano studied veterinary medicine and biology (1996-2006) at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Bogotá. He moved afterwards to the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, where he worked on ancient genomics of humans and archaic hominins under the supervision of Svante Pääbo and Michael Lachmann. Burbano obtained a PhD in evolutionary genetics from the University of Leipzig (2012). In Leipzig he was part of the team that sequenced the first draft of the Neandertal Genome and established capture methods to enrich for Neandertal DNA in samples highly contaminated with microbial DNA. Burbano then relocated as a postdoctoral researcher (2012-2014) at the MPI for Developmental Biology in Tuebingen, Germany, under the supervision of Detlef Weigel. There, he integrated plant evolutionary genomics and ancient DNA. He studied the evolution of plant pathogens from historical epidemics of potato late blight during the 19th century. Since 2014 Burbano leads the research group for Ancient Genomics and Evolution at the MPI for Developmental Biology. He combines the use of both modern and historical samples and focuses on the co-evolution of plant and pathogens, the colonization of new ecological niches by plant species, and the characterization and timing of key steps of plant domestication.

In August 2019 Burbano will take a faculty position at the Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment at the University College London, where he will be affiliated with the newly formed Centre for Life’s Origin and Evolution (CLOE).