Sankar Subramanian

Dr. Sankar Subramanian is a Senior Lecturer in Genetics at the University of the Sunshine Coast (UniSC), affiliated with the School of Science, Technology and Engineering and the Centre for Bioinnovation. He holds a PhD from IARI and joined UniSC in 2017 as a Senior Research Fellow. His research focuses on population genomics, molecular evolution, and ancient DNA analysis, particularly studying genetic drift's role in mutation patterns. Key areas include the evolution of codon usage bias, deleterious mutations in humans and penguins, and ancient vertebrate genomics (e.g., tuatara, moa). He also investigates Aboriginal Australian population history and conservation genomics of Australian dingoes.

Dr. Subramanian has led projects funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC), including studies on harmful mutations in First Australians and mutation load characterization. He coordinates the Bachelor of Science (Honours) program and teaches Genetics and Bioinformatics. His work has been recognized with awards like the Queensland-Smithsonian Fellowship (2018).

His research highlights include uncovering the genomic consequences of population bottlenecks, analyzing mutation rate dependencies, and developing methods to quantify deleterious variants. He collaborates widely, with publications spanning evolutionary genomics, conservation biology, and ancient DNA analysis.