
Photograph by Lindsey Larson
Dr. Lisa Matisoo-Smith, the Genographic Project's newest Principal Investigator.
The Genographic team recently met up with our newest member, Lisa Matisoo-Smith! Lisa is a Biological Anthropologist at the University of Auckland, in New Zealand. She is best known for her research on mitochondrial DNA (that's maternal DNA, inherited from your mother only) variation in the animals that accompanied Pacific peoples in their canoes - dogs, pigs, chickens and the Pacific rat. Lisa originally studied animal DNA instead of human DNA because animals can serve as proxies for tracking the movement of the ancient exploring canoes that carried humans. This allowed her to identify the origins and interactions of the human populations in the Pacific.
Dr. Matisoo-Smith joined the Genographic project as a Principal Investigator to further our work with Pacific Island communities. She took the time to answer a couple questions for us, so click on "read this entire post" to read the interview.
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Dr. Lisa Matisoo-Smith, the Genographic Project's newest Principal Investigator.
Dr. Matisoo-Smith joined the Genographic project as a Principal Investigator to further our work with Pacific Island communities. She took the time to answer a couple questions for us, so click on "read this entire post" to read the interview.