Leonardo Iasi

Leonardo Iasi is a researcher in the Department of Evolutionary Genetics at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, affiliated with the University of Leipzig. His work focuses on developing computational methods to study human evolution, particularly detecting and dating admixture events between modern humans and archaic hominins. He completed a PhD in Evolutionary Genetics under Svante Pääbo and Benjamin Peter, investigating admixture signatures in ancient and modern genomes. His research integrates population genetics, evolutionary theory, and bioinformatics to address questions about genetic diversity and adaptive traits.

Education:

• PhD in Evolutionary Genetics (2019–2025), University of Leipzig
• MSc in Biological Sciences (2016–2018), University of Cologne
• MSc in Toxicology (2015–2016), Heinrich-Heine-University, Düsseldorf
• BSc in Biology (2012–2015), University of Cologne

Research Interests: Combining computational methods with genetic data to trace admixture events, analyze archaic hominin ancestry (Neandertals/Denisovans), and model demographic histories. His work emphasizes improving methodologies for dating admixture and interpreting genetic signals in modern and ancient populations.

Publications: His work spans high-impact journals like Nature and Science, focusing on ancient genomic analysis, admixture dynamics, and computational tools for evolutionary genetics. Recent contributions include studies on the earliest modern human genomes and Neanderthal social organization inferred from genetic data.

Teaching & Research Experience: Taught undergraduate courses in Genetics and Cellular Biology at the University of Cologne. Conducted research projects on aging biology (Max Planck Institute for Biology of Aging) and population genetics (Cologne Center for Genomics).

Labs/Teams: Collaborates within the Department of Evolutionary Genetics and with international teams led by Svante Pääbo, Benjamin Peter, and Dario Valenzano.