The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2022 has been awarded to the man who figured out how to extract ancient DNA and even sequenced the Neanderthal genome with his team in 2010. According to nobelprize.org this was “for his discoveries concerning the genomes of extinct hominins and human evolution.”

Click the image below to see him discuss the implications of his work with Neanderthal DNA in his 2022 Linnaeus Lecture.

Svante Pääbo’s use of clean rooms and technology revolutionized the field of ancient DNA. Before his work it was considered impossible to get autosomal DNA from ancient remains. It was thought that one could only extract mitochondrial DNA. Click here for the Wikipedia detailed article about him.

Another wonderful resource is his autobiographical tale of sequencing the Neanderthal genome – Neanderthal Man: In Search of Lost Genomes 1st Edition.