SCIENTIFIC ADVISORS

Mark Shriver, PHD - Pennsylvania State University
Generally, Dr. Shriver's lab works on applications of population genetics to questions of human origins and human evolution with a particular focus on normal and disease phenotypes that may have been subject to recent active natural selection. These phenotypes include chronic diseases such as NIDDM, obesity, and hypertension, and normal variation in common traits, namely skin and hair pigmentation, tooth features, dermatoglyphics, and stature. One approach to these questions that his lab is using is the Admixture Mapping method. This method may likely prove one of the most powerful means to identify genes for certain polygenic traits - specifically, those where the parental populations of the hybrid group differ in the prevalence of the trait interest. Since little is known of the proportions and dynamics of admixture in the US, , it is possible that many traits will be addressable with this technique and so one major effort is to construct and interpret a US admixture map. His lab uses both molecular and theoretical methods and also has an active field research component. Dr. Shriver has an active research program that involves ascertaining study subjects from the resident population of State College and surrounding towns. Subjects are interviewed and examined in the Anthropometrics Laboratory in the Penn State General Clinical Research Center (GCRC) which is located in the Noll Laboratory Building on the University Park Campus. The focus of this research is the genetics of normal variation in common traits.