Paleogenomics Laboratory
The Educational and Research Laboratory of Paleogenomics was created to train museum specialists with skills in using methods from the natural sciences for studying biological samples deposited in Russia’s museum collections.
As part of the research work and the educational process, the staff of the Laboratory of Paleogenomics work with DNA extracted from anthropological material, as well as tissues of extinct animals and plants.
Laboratory staff and their colleagues develop new methods for bioinformatic analysis of genetic data that are obtained by genome decoding.
"Russian desmans are of interest because they are a relict species, millions of years old"
Scientists from the European University at St. Petersburg, together with colleagues from Moscow State University and the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan, have decoded the complete genome of the Russian desman for the first time. The results revealed the species' very low genetic diversity. These data will help develop scientific methods for its conservation and population restoration. A report on the study was published in Izvestia.
Paleogeneticists have analyzed the DNA of plants inside a burial doll from the Tashtyk culture
Artem Nedoluzhko, head of the Paleogenomics Laboratory, Svetlana Pankova, a research associate at the same laboratory, and their colleagues conducted a DNA analysis of the grasses stuffed in a funerary doll from the Oglakhtinsky burial ground. Information about this discovery appeared in a report on the N+1 portal.
Radiocarbon dating of grass from the stuffing of the burial doll indicated the 3rd to the first half of the 5th century.
Here is an excerpt from the publication on N+1:
The journal BMC Genomics published an article titled "Paleogeneticists Read DNA of a Noble Warrior from the Scythian Valley of the Kings"
The study was conducted by the European University's Laboratory of Palaeogenomics in collaboration with Genotek and is based on materials from the Hermitage's archaeological expeditions.
07.03.2025