Pardis Sabeti

Pardis C. Sabeti (born December 25, 1975) is an Iranian-American evolutionary geneticist, who developed a statistical method which identifies sections of the genome that have been subject to natural selection.cite web
url = http://www.sciencespectrumonline.com/artman/publish/article_24.shtml
title = One-on-One with Pardis Sabeti
accessdate = 2007-07-27
last = Deen
first = Lango
date = 2005-07-25
work = Science Spectrum Online] cite web
url = http://www.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/wayoflife/07/13/genius.scientists/index.html?eref=rss_tech
title = Geniuses who will change your life
accessdate = 2007-07-27
last = Furman
first = Eric
work = CNN.com] [cite web
last = Sabeti et al.
title = Genome-wide detection and characterization of positive selection in human populations
publisher=Nature
url = http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v449/n7164/full/nature06250.html
date = 2007-10-18
accessdate = 2007-12-25] Sabeti is an Assistant Professor in the Center for Systems Biology and Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. cite web
url = http://sysbio.harvard.edu/csb/research/sabeti.html
title = FAS Center for Systems Biology, Harvard University] [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1567544/Top-100-living-geniuses.html She is rated 49th in Telegraph's world's Top 100 living geniuses.]

Biography

Sabeti completed her undergraduate degree at MIT and continued her education at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, before returning to earn her medical degree from Harvard Medical School where she was only the third woman ever to graduate summa cum laude.cite web
url = http://www.broad.mit.edu/cgi-bin/news/display_news.cgi?id=1641
title = Broad scientist Pardis Sabeti receives prestigious research awards
accessdate = 2007-10-12
last = Davis
first = Nicole
date = 2006-06-14] She has also received a Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award in the Biomedical Sciences.

Research

Sabeti addressed the problem of telling whether a mutation is due to natural selection or just random. When humans are exposed to diseases, like malaria and Lassa fever, they evolve traits that resist those diseases, such as sickle cell trait. Biologists can tell from comparing DNA sequences in populations whether mutations were due to natural selection, but those methods wouldn't work for evolutionary changes during the last 10,000 years, when diseases like malaria arose.

Sabeti took advantage of the fact that genes on the same place in the chromosome are inherited together. If a particular variation is subject to natural selection, its frequency will increase, along with the frequency of genes that have hitchhiked along with it. She developed a test that would use this principle to tell whether recent changes were due to natural selection or just chance. She applied this test to malaria variants, and saw a "whopping signal" of positive selection. This research was published in Nature. She later identified 2 genes, LARGE and DMD, that protect against Lassa fever, and show strong signals of natural selection in West Africans. [Profile: Pardis Sabeti; Picking up evolution's beat, Michael Balter, Science, 25 April 2008]

References

External links

* [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/0302/04.html “Profile: Pardis Sabeti” on "NOVA: Science Now", 2008 June]
* [http://network.nature.com/boston/news/Profile/2007/07/31/science-meets-mtv Science meets MTV: Broad Institute geneticist and rock singer Pardis Sabeti merges lab culture with pop culture (Nature Network Boston, 2007 July 31)]
* [http://flickr.com/photos/ahibadi/sets/72157605798942179 Thousand Days Photos (2007 May 10)]
* [http://focus.hms.harvard.edu/2005/Nov11_2005/population_genetics.shtml Genetic Road Map Drawn for Tracing Route To Common Diseases]