Hendrik Poinar

Hendrik Nicholas Poinar (born May 31, 1969 in Utrecht, The Netherlands cite web|url=http://www.socsci.mcmaster.ca/anthro/emplibrary/cv4-8-04.pdf|title=Curriculum Vitae of Hendrik Nicholas Poinar|accessdate=2007-08-29] ) is an evolutionary biologist specializing in ancient DNA. [cite news|url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/03/0325_040325_hominiddna.html
title=Prehistoric DNA to Help Solve Human-Evolution Mysteries?
last=Pickrell|first=John
publisher=National Geographic News
date=March 25, 2004
accessdate=2007-08-29] [cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3494543.stm|title=Hunt for ancient human molecules|publisher=BBC News|date=16 February, 2004|accessdate=2007-08-29] Poinar first became widely known for successfully extracting DNA sequences from ground sloth coprolites. Poinar H, Kuch M, McDonald G, Martin P, Pääbo S (2000). "Nuclear gene sequences from a Late Pleistocene sloth coprolite". "Current Biology ". 13: 1150-1152, doi|10.1016/S0960-9822(03)00450-0 [http://socserv.mcmaster.ca/adna/PDF/Poinar_al_2003_nuclear_genes_sloth.pdf] ] He is presently director of the Ancient DNA Centre at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. cite web|url=http://www.socsci.mcmaster.ca/anthro/faculty/poinar.cfm
title=Profile from the McMaster Department of Anthropology
accessdate=2007-08-29]

Education and academic career

The son of noted entomologist George Poinar, Jr. and Eva Poinar, Poinar received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo in 1992 and 1999 respectively before earning a Ph.D. in 1999 from the Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich, after which he was a postdoctoral researcher from 2000 to 2003 at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. In 2003 he was hired as an assistant professor in the anthropology department at McMaster University in Canada.

In a joint 2000 paper in "Science", Poinar and Dr. Alan Cooper argued that much existing work in human ancient DNA has not been sufficiently rigorous to prevent DNA contamination from modern human sources, and that many reported results for ancient human DNA may therefore be suspect. [Cooper A and Poinar H. (2000). "Ancient DNA: Do It Right or Not at All". Science. 289(5482): p. 1139, doi|10.1126/science.289.5482.1139b [http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/sci;289/5482/1139b] ]

In 2003, Poinar and others from the Max Planck Institute published genetic sequences isolated from coprolites of the extinct Shasta giant ground sloth , with an estimated age of 10500 years using radiocarbon dates. This were the first genetic sequences retrieved from any extinct ground sloth. cite news|url=http://www.mcmaster.ca/research/sciencecity/globe-article_poinar.htm
title=The poop on ancient man
first=Jacob|last=Berkowitz
publisher="The Globe and Mail"
date=June 19, 2004
accessdate=2007-08-28]

In 2005 Poinar was reported to be working on the sequencing of the wooly mammoth genome. [cite news
url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20051220.wxmammoth1220/BNStory/specialScienceandHealth/
title=Will woolly mammoths live again? Ancient DNA found in frozen mammoth
publisher="The Globe and Mail"
first=Anne|last=McIlroy
date=December 20, 2005
accessdate=2007-08-29] In September 2008 his laboratory published results showing that after a long period of separation in the mammoth populations of Siberia and North America, the Siberian mammoth population had been completely replaced by mammoths of North American origin. [cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/09/science/09obmamm.html?ref=science
title=Dual Citizenship for Woolly Mammoth
publisher=New York Times
date=September 4, 2008
accessdate=2008-09-09
last=Fountain|first=Henry] [cite journal |last=Debruyne |first=Régis |authorlink= |coauthors=G. Chu, C. E. King, K. Bos, M. Kuch, C. Schwarz, P. Szpak, D. R. Gröcke, P. Matheus, G. Zazula, D. Guthrie, D. Froese, B. Buigues, C. de Marliave, C. Flemming, D. Poinar, D. Fisher, J. Southon, A. N. Tikhonov, R.D.E. MacPhee, H. N. Poinar |year=2008 |month=September |title=Out of America: Ancient DNA Evidence for a New World Origin of Late Quaternary Woolly Mammoths |journal=Current Biology |volume=18 |pages=1320-1326 |url=http://www.current-biology.com/content/article/fulltext?uid=PIIS0960982208009706 |accessdate=2008-09-09 ]

References