Omer Gokcumen

Omer Gokcumen is a Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University at Buffalo, within the College of Arts and Sciences. He holds the academic rank of Professor and has received notable awards, including the Meyerson Award for Undergraduate Mentoring (2025) and the Distinguished Postdoc Mentor Award (2019). His research focuses on evolutionary anthropology, particularly human and primate evolution, ancient human populations (e.g., Neanderthals and Denisovans), and the role of genomic structural variations in disease and adaptation.

Education: PhD from the University of Pennsylvania followed by postdoctoral research at Harvard Medical School.

Research Interests: Human evolution, genomic structural variations, anthropological genomics, and the evolutionary processes underlying genetic diseases. His lab investigates salivary proteins, ancient DNA, and the evolutionary history of genetic variants in modern and ancient populations.

Key Research Themes:

• Analysis of genomic deletions/duplications in human disease
• Evolutionary mechanisms of salivary gland specialization
• Archaic hominin introgression in modern human genomes
• Genetic adaptation to dietary and environmental pressures

Lab & Collaborations: Director of the Gokcumen Lab, focusing on evolutionary genomics and functional studies of genetic variants. Collaborates with institutions like the Harvard Medical School and international research networks.