Research > Research Themes > Innovations in Methods > Biomarkers and population research

This is an area where we have new-found strength, due to reinvigoration of the biology group within Anthropology at Penn. Schurr is deeply involved in one of the most intellectually interesting scientific projects of this century: The reconstitution of human history, including human migration and the genetic (hence, also, non-genetic) bases of racial and ethnic identity, through comparisons of genotypes. He is the North American PI for the Genographic Project, and an example of his research on haplogroups is his recent paper providing genetic evidence that the original peopling of the Americas is more consistent with one rather than three waves of migration from Asia. Valeggia, in Population and Development Review, outlines how biodemographers have been able to model demographic patterns more accurately by analyzing the underlying proximate causes of fertility and mortality. Recent technological advances are making possible the analysis of biological samples collected using minimally invasive methods. She presents an overview of methods and techniques for estimating hormonal, particularly reproductive hormone, levels in large-scale population studies involving thousands of samples; collection methods and techniques include blood spots, urine samples, and saliva samples. Soldo has a wealth of experience in practical issues involving biomarker collection in population research. She works with medical researchers in Penn’s Institute of Aging on the feasibility of exporting the “best practices” protocols to field conditions; is responsible for the biomarker collection in the Chilean Social Protection Survey (Todd, Mitchell, Behrman), is part of a multi-center group using biomarkers in an exploratory study of the ways in which decision-making is an expression of a specific social-psychological environment as well as cognitive functioning, and is involved in a variety of biomarker collection efforts involving aging in Latin America. As more PSC researchers implement current projects (Kohler, Chao, Behrman, Watkins) our expertise will grow.