Keolu Fox Talk: Creating Accountability in Human Population Genetics Using Base Editing Tools

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The Archaeological Science Group at Cornell and the American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program are
pleased to co-sponsor a lecture by Keolu Fox. Keolu Fox Ph.D., K─ünaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) is an assistant professor
at University of California, San Diego, affiliated with the Department of Anthropology, the Global Health Program, the
Hal─▒c─▒o─ƒlu Data Science Institute, the Climate Action Lab, and the Indigenous Futures Lab. He holds a Ph.D. in Genome
Sciences from the University of Washington, Seattle (2016). Dr. Fox's multi-disciplinary research interests include genome
sequencing, genome engineering, computational biology, evolutionary genetics, paleogenetics, and Indigenizing
biomedical research. His primary research focuses on questions of functionalizing genomics, testing theories of natural
selection by editing genes and determining the functions of mutations. Dr. Fox has published numerous articles on human
genetics, biomedicine, ancient genomics, and Indigenous data sovereignty, most recently in the New England Journal of
Medicine, Nature, and the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Dr. Fox is a recipient of grants from numerous
organizations including the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, National Geographic,
the American Association for Physical Anthropology, Emerson Collective, the Social Science Research Council and
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, SOLVE Initiative. The talk will last approximately 1 hour and will be followed by
a Q&A with the speaker.
Appropriate empirical-based evidence and detailed theoretical considerations should be used for evolutionary
explanations of phenotypic variation observed in the field of human population genetics (especially Indigenous
populations). Investigators within the population genetics community frequently overlook the importance of these criteria
when associating observed phenotypic variation with evolutionary explanations. A functional investigation of populationspecific
variation using cutting-edge genome editing tools has the potential to empower the population genetics
community by holding "just-so" evolutionary explanations accountable. In this lecture Dr. Fox will detail currently available
precision genome editing tools and methods, with a particular emphasis on base editing, that can be applied to
functionally investigate population-specific point mutations.

Sponsored by GPSAFC. All interested members of the Cornell community are invited.
Keywords: base editing; population genetics; signatures of natural selection; functional genomics

Link to registration page: https://cornell.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJIsceCtqDkjHtVrdVTeGWgY_o6Z0tCyL0Ww

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