Alexander Herbig

Dr. Alexander Herbig leads the Computational Pathogenomics research group at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, focusing on reconstructing ancient bacterial pathogen genomes to study their evolutionary trajectories. The group investigates pathogens like Yersinia pestis, Mycobacterium leprae, and Helicobacter pylori, emphasizing mechanisms of pathogenicity and host adaptation over millennia.

• Specializes in computational tools for pathogen evolution
• Employs phylogenetic analyses to identify functional variants
• Studied pathogens in context of human coevolution

Current projects include analyzing ancient pathogens from archaeological remains and exploring microbial adaptation patterns. The group collaborates with interdisciplinary teams across evolutionary anthropology, microbiome sciences, and molecular archaeology.