Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Awarded to Scientists Who Sequencing the Genomes of Neanderthals

 Svante Pääbo who has been awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine 2022. The prize was given because of his success in sequencing the complete genome of Neanderthals which allows us to now know the difference between this human ancestor and the home sapiens species. Sequencing was done from bone fragments of 40,000-year-old Neanderthals.

This is a complicated process as the DNA will be destroyed the longer it is exposed and contaminated by other specimens near the sample taken. After decades of research, the genome sequencing of Neanderthals was successfully done by Pääbo in 1990 while working at the University of Munich.

In addition to the first success in sequencing the genome of Neanderthals, Pääbo also discovered a new homonymous species named Denisova. Bones found in Denisova Cave, Siberia were found to have a genome sequence different from other hominin species. The discovery by Pääbo further advances our understanding of evolution, human migration and interactions between hominin species tens of thousands of years ago.