Computational biology professor
Sohini Ramachandran is professor atBrown University known for her work inevolutionary biology andpopulation genetics .
Early life and education [ edit ] Ramachandran's parents were both professors.[ 1] In the summer before her senior year of high school, Ramachandran completed a research project in plant genomics under the guidance ofMarcus Feldman , which won her the fourth place prize in the 1998 Westinghouse Science Talent Search,[ 2] where when she was the youngest finalist in the group.[ 3] Ramachandran earned a B.S. fromStanford University in 2002. She went on to complete a Ph.D. atStanford University in the Department of Biological Sciences, advised byMarcus Feldman . Her dissertation research was dissertation was titled "The signature of historical migrations on human population genetic data."[ 4] Following her PhD, she was in theHarvard Society of Fellows as a postdoctoral researcher with John Wakeley inHarvard University 's Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology.[ 5] She moved to Brown University in 2010 and was promoted to professor in 2021.[ 5] In 2019, she was a fellow at theSwedish Collegium for Advanced Study .[ 6]
Ramachandran's research group uses statistical and mathematical modeling techniques to studyevolutionary biology andpopulation genetics . Her early research examined the genetic relationships originating within people from Africa,[ 7] [ 8] where she showed that diversity decreases as distance from Africa increases.[ 9] She has also investigated the use of genetic tools to track infectious diseases[ 10] [ 11] and shown that while more outbreaks are occurring, fewer people are getting infected.[ 12] She has also shown a lack of genetic evidence for selection for language at theFOXP2 site.[ 13]
Selected publications [ edit ] Li, Jun Z.; Absher, Devin M.; Tang, Hua; Southwick, Audrey M.; Casto, Amanda M.; Ramachandran, Sohini; Cann, Howard M.; Barsh, Gregory S.; Feldman, Marcus; Cavalli-Sforza, Luigi L.; Myers, Richard M. (2008-02-22)."Worldwide Human Relationships Inferred from Genome-Wide Patterns of Variation" .Science .319 (5866):1100– 1104.Bibcode :2008Sci...319.1100L .doi :10.1126/science.1153717 .ISSN 0036-8075 .PMID 18292342 .S2CID 53541133 . Ramachandran, Sohini; Deshpande, Omkar; Roseman, Charles C.; Rosenberg, Noah A.; Feldman, Marcus W.; Cavalli-Sforza, L. Luca (2005)."Support from the relationship of genetic and geographic distance in human populations for a serial founder effect originating in Africa" .Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences .102 (44):15942– 15947.Bibcode :2005PNAS..10215942R .doi :10.1073/pnas.0507611102 .ISSN 0027-8424 .PMC 1276087 .PMID 16243969 . Wang, Sijia; Lewis, Cecil M. Jr.; Jakobsson, Mattias; Ramachandran, Sohini; Ray, Nicolas; Bedoya, Gabriel; Rojas, Winston; Parra, Maria V.; Molina, Julio A.; Gallo, Carla; Mazzotti, Guido (2007-11-23)."Genetic Variation and Population Structure in Native Americans" .PLOS Genetics .3 (11): e185.doi :10.1371/journal.pgen.0030185 .ISSN 1553-7404 .PMC 2082466 .PMID 18039031 . Ramachandran, Sohini; Rosenberg, Noah A.; Zhivotovsky, Lev A.; Feldman, Marcus W. (2004)."Robustness of the inference of human population structure: A comparison of X-chromosomal and autosomal microsatellites" .Human Genomics .1 (2):87– 97.doi :10.1186/1479-7364-1-2-87 .ISSN 1479-7364 .PMC 3525066 .PMID 15601537 . In 2012, Ramachandran received aSloan Research Fellowship [ 14] and was named a Pew Scholar.[ 15] From Brown University she has received the Henry Merritt Wriston Fellowship (2016)[ 16] and the Philip J. Bray Award for excellence in teaching.[ 17] In 2019, she received aPresidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering .[ 18] [ 19]
^ Chen, Ling-Ling; Claw, Katrina G.; Ramachandran, Sohini (2016)."A two-fold challenge: the experience of women of color in genomics" .Genome Biology .17 (1): 210.doi :10.1186/s13059-016-1075-0 .ISSN 1474-760X .PMC 5059990 .PMID 27729075 . ^ Chiu, Yvonne (1998-03-09)."Fair Oaks teen gets national honor" .The Sacramento Bee . p. 2. Retrieved2022-04-17 . ^ Alcala, Carlos (1998-01-28)."Fair Oaks teen, like sister, is on academic fast track" .The Sacramento Bee . pp. [1] ,[2] . Retrieved2022-04-17 . ^ Ramachandran, Sohini (2007).The signature of historical migrations on human population genetic data (Thesis).OCLC 269371999 . ^a b "Sohini Ramachandran Lab: people" .brown.edu . Retrieved2022-04-17 .^ "SCAS: Sohini Ramachandran" .www.swedishcollegium.se . Retrieved2022-01-22 .^ Ramachandran, Sohini; Deshpande, Omkar; Roseman, Charles C.; Rosenberg, Noah A.; Feldman, Marcus W.; Cavalli-Sforza, L. Luca (2005)."Support from the relationship of genetic and geographic distance in human populations for a serial founder effect originating in Africa" .Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences .102 (44):15942– 15947.Bibcode :2005PNAS..10215942R .doi :10.1073/pnas.0507611102 .ISSN 0027-8424 .PMC 1276087 .PMID 16243969 . ^ Henn, Brenna M.; Gignoux, Christopher R.; Jobin, Matthew; Granka, Julie M.; Macpherson, J. M.; Kidd, Jeffrey M.; Rodríguez-Botigué, Laura; Ramachandran, Sohini; Hon, Lawrence; Brisbin, Abra; Lin, Alice A. (2011-03-29)."Hunter-gatherer genomic diversity suggests a southern African origin for modern humans" .Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences .108 (13):5154– 5162.doi :10.1073/pnas.1017511108 .ISSN 0027-8424 .PMC 3069156 .PMID 21383195 . ^ Scudellari, Megan (June 2012)."Sohini Ramachandran: Population Tracker" .The Scientist Magazine® . Retrieved2022-04-17 . ^ Smith, Katherine F.; Goldberg, Michael; Rosenthal, Samantha; Carlson, Lynn; Chen, Jane; Chen, Cici; Ramachandran, Sohini (2014-12-06)."Global rise in human infectious disease outbreaks" .Journal of the Royal Society Interface .11 (101): 20140950.doi :10.1098/rsif.2014.0950 .PMC 4223919 .PMID 25401184 . ^ Nakka, Priyanka; Raphael, Benjamin J; Ramachandran, Sohini (2016-10-01)."Gene and Network Analysis of Common Variants Reveals Novel Associations in Multiple Complex Diseases" .Genetics .204 (2):783– 798.doi :10.1534/genetics.116.188391 .ISSN 1943-2631 .PMC 5068862 .PMID 27489002 . ^ Berman, Jessica (October 29, 2014). "Global Infection Outbreaks Rise over Past 30 Years".Voice of America News / FIND; Washington . ^ Atkinson, Elizabeth Grace; Audesse, Amanda Jane; Palacios, Julia Adela; Bobo, Dean Michael; Webb, Ashley Elizabeth; Ramachandran, Sohini; Henn, Brenna Mariah (2018-09-06)."No Evidence for Recent Selection at FOXP2 among Diverse Human Populations" .Cell .174 (6): 1424–1435.e15.doi :10.1016/j.cell.2018.06.048 .ISSN 0092-8674 .PMC 6128738 .PMID 30078708 . ^ "Sohini Ramachandran, Ph.D." pew.org . August 23, 2012. Retrieved2022-01-13 .^ "Eight Women Win Pew Scholarships in the Biomedical Sciences".Women in Academia Report; Bartonsville . July 3, 2012. ^ "Sohini Ramchandran awarded Wriston Fellowship" .CCMB | Brown University . Retrieved2022-04-17 .^ Gimenes, Livia (2021-07-03)."Sohini Ramachandran Receives The Philip J. Bray Award For Excellence In Teaching In The Physical Sciences" .awards.cs.brown.edu . Retrieved2022-04-17 . ^ "Two Brown researchers earn top White House award for early-career scientists" .Brown University . Retrieved2022-01-13 .^ Abbey Bigler and Talylor Walter (26 February 2020)."PECASE Honoree Sohini Ramachandran Studies the Genetic Foundations of Traits in Diverse Populations" .NIGMS Biomedical Beat Blog . Retrieved2022-04-17 .