HOLLY MORTENSEN 

Email:  hollym@umd.edu
Advisor:  Dr. Tishkoff

Research:  My area of specialization is human evolutionary genetics. The main focus of my recent projects has been in the study of DNA at the nucleotide level to infer past population processes (migration, subdivision, and levels of gene-flow). As an undergraduate I compared genetic and linguistic variation in Native American groups of the American Southwest (Malhi et al., 2003), and went on to study linguistically and culturally diverse African populations as a Master's student (Knight et al., 2003) and for my Doctoral dissertation (Tishkoff, et al. 2007a, 2007b; Gonder, Mortensen, et al. 2007). One challenge in human population genetics has been to distinguish the effect of demographic history from that of natural selection on patterns of genetic variation. To this end and for my primary dissertation topic, I have broadened my study of African genetic diversity to include the characterization of nucleotide variation at the N-acetyltransferase drug-metabolizing genes (NAT1, NAT2) and the pseudo-gene (NATP1) in global human populations, including many previously underrepresented African populations. My interests in disease and drug-metabolizing genes stem from a larger interest in human health and a desire to contribute to more applied areas of research in the future. I believe that an understanding of population genetic history, environment and cultural heritage is critical in order to understand the maintenance of genetic variation and predisposition to disease.

Tishkoff, S. A., Gonder, M.K., Henn, B.M., Mortensen, H.M., Fernandopulle, N., Gignoux,C., Lema, G., Nyambo, T. B, Underhill, P.A., Ramakrishnan,U., Reed, F. A., Mountain, J. L., 2007, History of click-speaking populations of Africa inferred from mtDNA and Y chromosome genetic variation, Molecular Biology and Evolution, 24 (10):2180-2195.

Gonder, M. K., Mortensen, H.M., Reed, F.A., Tishkoff, S.A., 2007, Whole mtDNA Genome Sequence Analysis of Ancient African Lineages, Molecular Biology and Evolution 24 (3):757-768.

Tishkoff, S. A., Reed, F. A., Ranciaro, A., Voight, B. F., Babbitt, C. C., Silverman, J. S., Powell, K., Mortensen, H. M., Hirbo, J. B., Osman, M., Ibrahim, M., Omar, S. A., Lema, G., Nyambo, T. B., Ghori, J., Bumpstead, S., Pritchard, J. K., Wray, G. A., and Deloukas, P., 2007, Convergent adaptation of human lactase persistence in Africa and Europe, Nature Genetics 39 (1):31-40.

Knight, A., Underhill, P.A., Mortensen, H.M., Zhivotovsky, L.A., Henn, B.M., Ruhlen, M., Mountain J.L., 2003, African Y Chromosome and mtDNA Divergence Provides Insight into the History of Click Languages. Current Biology, 13: 464-473.

Malhi, R.S., Mortensen, H.M., Eshleman, J.A., Kemp, B.M., Lorenz, J.G., Kaestle, F. A., Johnson, J.R., Gorodezky, C., Smith. D.G., 2003, Native American mtDNA Prehisory in the American Southwest. American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 120: 108-124.