


Svante Pääbo
Director, Department of Genetics
Svante Pääbo is a 2017 NOMIS Awardee and has been director of the Department of Evolutionary Genetics at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (Leipzig, Germany) since 1997.
Pääbo was born in Stockholm, Sweden. He earned his PhD from Uppsala University, Sweden, in 1986 and did postdoctoral research at the Department of Biochemistry at the University of California at Berkeley, US. He was awarded the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and has received numerous other honors and awards, including the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize, the Theodor Bücher Medal and the 2018 Princess of Asturias Award. Pääbo became professor of general biology at the University of Munich, Germany, in 1990.
One of the founders of paleogenetics, Pääbo is investigating the factors that set humans apart from other organisms. He determined high-quality genome sequences from Neandertals, the closest evolutionary relatives of present-day humans, enabling him to identify genetic changes in the human genome that all or almost all present-day humans share, and that set humans apart from Neandertals as well as chimpanzees and other apes. These genetic differences constitute an essentially complete “genetic recipe” for being a modern human. His project, A Cell and Molecular Approach to Research into the Biological Basis of the Human Condition, is analyzing these genetic differences and identifying those that have functional consequences — in particular with respect to the cognitive and social abilities that have made possible the development of rapidly changing technology, large societies, art and perhaps modern language. In 2018, Pääbo discovered that interbreeding occurred between Neandertals and Denisovans, an ancient human species. The discovery was made from a fragment of a long bone identified as coming from a 13-year-old girl nicknamed “Denny,” who lived about 90,000 years ago: She was the daughter of a Neanderthal mother and Denisovan father.

A Cell and Molecular Approach to Research into the Biological Basis of the Human Condition
NOMIS RESEARCH PROJECT
2017 NOMIS Distinguished Scientist
Research Project Insights
Svante Pääbo videos
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Svante Pääbo gallery
Svante Pääbo news
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Increased efficiency, precision and reliability in DNA editing -
Researchers develop method to detect unintended on-target effects in CRISPR genome editing by DNA donors carrying diagnostic substitutions -
Svante Pääbo awarded 2022 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine -
Modern humans generate more brain neurons than Neandertals -
Adjustment of dosage may be needed if you carry a common Neandertal gene variant -
Svante Pääbo receives Japan Prize in field of life science -
Svante Pääbo awarded Massry Prize, elected foreign member of Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei -
Reduced purine biosynthesis in humans after their divergence from Neandertals -
Point-of-care bulk testing for SARS-CoV-2 by combining hybridization capture with improved colorimetric LAMP -
Svante Pääbo: Neandertal gene variants both increase and decrease the risk for severe COVID-19 -
A direct RT-qPCR approach to test large numbers of individuals for SARS-CoV-2 -
Svante Pääbo: The major genetic risk factor for severe COVID-19 is inherited from Neandertals -
Svante Pääbo: Neanderthal gene linked to increased pain sensitivity -
Svante Pääbo and colleagues are studying the Neandertal DNA found in modern humans using stem cells and organoids -
Svante Pääbo: Women with Neandertal gene give birth to more children -
Svante Pääbo cited in Forbes’ “Four Biggest New Things We Learned About Human Evolution In 2018” -
SRF: “Genome crime scene: from Neandertal to superhumans?” -
Svante Pääbo’s mixed ancestry discovery makes PLOS’s “Top 6 Human Evolution Discoveries of 2018” list -
Svante Pääbo receives the 2018 Princess of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific and Research -
NOMIS celebrates its Distinguished Scientist Award 2017 winners -
Photo gallery -
NZZ: “What Neandertals have to do with today’s diseases” -
“… it is only in an environment in which you feel safe and at ease that you dare to express crazy ideas — there is nothing more stifling than fear.”