Personal profile

Postgraduate Research Opportunities

Funded PhD projects are often available through Doctoral Training Partnerships.

Currently, a project on genetic decline and rescue in the British red squirrel is available (application deadline November 27, 2024): https://www.uea.ac.uk/course/phd-doctorate/phd-bergstromau25sci-genetic-decline-and-rescue-in-the-red-squirrel/2025-26/oct

For informal enquiries contact Anders directly.

Key Research Interests

My research is focussed on understanding the evolutionary history of organisms, primarily animals. By studying genetic diversity within and between species, we can learn about the evolutionary processes that have shaped that diversity. Ancient and historical DNA furthermore gives opportunities to directly observe past diversity. Key areas of research focus include:

Humans: Where do we come from as a species, how did we spread so widely and quickly around the world, how has our genetic diversity been shaped by various cultural developments such as the advent of agriculture? Genomics is joining archaeology, linguistics and other research fields to help unravel the rich and complex history of our own species, and also provides a background framework for medical genetics. Key publications:

- Bergström, A. et al. Origins of modern human ancestry. Nature, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03244-5

- Bergström, A. et al. Insights into human genetic variation and population history from 929 diverse genomes. Science, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aay5012

- Bergström, A. et al. A Neolithic expansion, but strong genetic structure, in the independent history of New Guinea. Science, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aan3842

Dogs and wolves: The dog was the first animal that entered a domestic relationship with humans, way back during the Ice Age. But where in the world dogs come from, and how they became the most ubiquitous human companion animal, remains a scientific mystery. Since then, dogs have evolved alongside humans as we have embarked on large-scale migrations and lifestyle transitions. The ancestor of dogs, the grey wolf, has an interesting evolutionary history in its own right, being one of the large carnivores that survived the dramatic climate change of the last Ice Age. Today, however, wolves are struggling under human pressures in many regions. Key publications:

- Bergström, A. et al. Grey wolf genomic history reveals a dual ancestry of dogs. Nature, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04824-9

- Bergström, A. et al. Origins and genetic legacy of prehistoric dogs. Science, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aba9572

Red fox: Unlike the wolf and many other of its canid relatives, the red fox is not struggling in the face of human expansions—to the contrary, it is thriving. Second to humans, the red fox is likely the land mammal with the largest natural distribution, living in a wide range of environments across most of the northern hemisphere, and recently is even finding ways of life in cities and other human-dominated environments. Little is known about the evolutionary history underlying the success of the red fox, including the extent to which it is driven by genetic adaptation to various local environments.

Keywords

  • Genetics
  • Genomics
  • Evolution
  • Ancient DNA
  • Domestication
  • Human genetics

Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years

Recent external collaboration on country/territory level. Dive into details by clicking on the dots or
  • Improving data archiving practices in ancient genomics

    Bergström, A., 10 Jul 2024, In: Scientific Data. 11, 754.

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Open Access
    File
    1 Citation (Scopus)
    2 Downloads (Pure)
  • Grey wolf genomic history reveals a dual ancestry of dogs

    Bergström, A., Stanton, D. W. G., Taron, U. H., Frantz, L., Sinding, M-H. S., Ersmark, E., Pfrengle, S., Cassatt-Johnstone, M., Lebrasseur, O., Girdland-Flink, L., Fernandes, D. M., Ollivier, M., Speidel, L., Gopalakrishnan, S., Westbury, M. V., Ramos-Madrigal, J., Feuerborn, T. R., Reiter, E., Gretzinger, J., Münzel, S. C., & 61 othersSwali, P., Conard, N. J., Carøe, C., Haile, J., Linderholm, A., Androsov, S., Barnes, I., Baumann, C., Benecke, N., Bocherens, H., Brace, S., Carden, R. F., Drucker, D. G., Fedorov, S., Gasparik, M., Germonpré, M., Grigoriev, S., Groves, P., Hertwig, S. T., Ivanova, V. V., Janssens, L., Jennings, R. P., Kasparov, A. K., Kirillova, I. V., Kurmaniyazov, I., Kuzmin, Y. V., Kosintsev, P. A., Lázničková-Galetová, M., Leduc, C., Nikolskiy, P., Nussbaumer, M., O’Drisceoil, C., Orlando, L., Outram, A., Pavlova, E. Y., Perri, A. R., Pilot, M., Pitulko, V. V., Plotnikov, V. V., Protopopov, A. V., Rehazek, A., Sablin, M., Seguin-Orlando, A., Storå, J., Verjux, C., Zaibert, V. F., Zazula, G., Crombé, P., Hansen, A. J., Willerslev, E., Leonard, J. A., Götherström, A., Pinhasi, R., Schuenemann, V. J., Hofreiter, M., Gilbert, M. T. P., Shapiro, B., Larson, G., Krause, J., Dalén, L. & Skoglund, P., 14 Jul 2022, In: Nature. 607, 7918, p. 313-320 8 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Open Access
    File
    60 Citations (Scopus)
    14 Downloads (Pure)
  • Ancient and recent origins of shared polymorphisms in yeast

    Tellini, N., De Chiara, M., Mozzachiodi, S., Tattini, L., Vischioni, C., Naumova, E. S., Warringer, J., Bergström, A. & Liti, G., Apr 2024, In: Nature Ecology & Evolution. 8, 4, p. 761-776 16 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Open Access
    File
    2 Citations (Scopus)
    1 Downloads (Pure)
  • Shared chromosomal segments connect ancient human societies

    Bergström, A., 1 Jan 2024, In: Nature Genetics. 56, 1, p. 10-11 2 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticle

    Open Access
    File
    17 Downloads (Pure)
  • The history of Coast Salish “woolly dogs” revealed by ancient genomics and Indigenous Knowledge

    Lin, A. T., Hammond-Kaarremaa, L., Liu, H-L., Stantis, C., McKechnie, I., Pavel, M., Pavel, S. S. M., Wyss, S. S., Sparrow, D. Q., Carr, K., Aninta, S. G., Perri, A., Hartt, J., Bergström, A., Carmagnini, A., Charlton, S., Dalén, L., Feuerborn, T. R., France, C. A. M., Gopalakrishnan, S., & 13 othersGrimes, V., Harris, A., Kavich, G., Sacks, B. N., Sinding, M-H. S., Skoglund, P., Stanton, D. W. G., Ostrander, E. A., Larson, G., Armstrong, C. G., Frantz, L. A. F., Hawkins, M. T. R. & Kistler, L., 15 Dec 2023, In: Science. 382, 6676, p. 1303-1308 6 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Open Access
    4 Citations (Scopus)