Bread, Wine and Genes

Human civilization is anchored on domesticated crops that we started to develop more than 9,000 years ago. Hear how archaeology and genomics are helping unlock the nature of domesticated plants, and the lessons we can learn about evolution.

Domesticated species are a cornerstone of modern human civilization, providing food resources for human societies. Domesticated crops are also a model we can use to understand the nature of evolution — as Darwin himself noted 'a careful study of domesticated animals and cultivated plants would offer the best chance of making out this obscure problem'.

Taking a look at food species as diverse as rice and date palm, we will discover recent research into crop species that combines archaeology with evolutionary biology and genomics.

Entry to the talk is free but please make sure to book your tickets in advance.

About the Speaker:
Michael Purugganan is a biologist whose work focuses on plant evolutionary genomics, especially the evolutionary genomics of crops. He is the Silver Professor of Biology at New York University at the Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, and is also an affiliate faculty member at the NYU Institute for the Study of the Ancient World and the NYU campus in Abu Dhabi. Currently he serves as academic director of 19 Washington Square North, and in the past served as the NYU Dean of Science. He has been a Guggenheim and Kavli Fellow, a Sloan Young Investigator, and was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a corresponding member of the National Academy of Science and Technology of the Philippines.