Leonardo Iasi

Postdoc

Abteilung für Evolutionäre Genetik
Max-Planck-Institut für evolutionäre Anthropologie
Deutscher Platz 6
04103 Leipzig

Telefon: +49 (0) 341 3550 525
E-Mail: leonardo_iasi@[>>> Please remove the text! <<<]eva.mpg.de

Research Interests

I am broadly interested in population genetics, evolutionary genetics, and computational inference, and in using these approaches to investigate key questions in human evolution. Genetic data have substantially advanced our understanding of the diversity of both modern humans and archaic hominins such as Neandertals and Denisovans. A major insight from this work is that admixture—the exchange of genetic material between previously isolated populations—occurred repeatedly between archaic groups and modern humans. Traces of these admixture events persist in contemporary populations, with approximately ~2% Neandertal ancestry outside Africa and up to ~5% Denisovan ancestry in some Oceanian populations. These introgressed segments have helped shape adaptive traits and patterns of genetic variation in present-day humans.

My postdoctoral research focuses on developing, improving, and evaluating methods to detect and date these admixture signals in both ancient and modern genomes. By modelling the complex dynamics of admixture and its genomic consequences, I aim to better understand how the introduction of highly diverged genetic material has influenced human evolutionary history.

Curriculum Vitae

Current Position

01/2025 - present

Post-doctoral researcher at the Department of Evolutionary Genetics at the Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig with Benjamin M. Peter

Education

01/2019 - 05/2025

Ph. D. (Dr. rer. nat.) summa cum laude in Biology at the University of Leipzig and International Max Planck Research School “The Leipzig School of Human Origins” (IMPRS-LSHO) Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig

Titel:”Ancient admixture: detecting, dating and characterising Neandertal admixture in modern  human genomes”.

Supervisors: Svante Pääbo, Benjamin M. Peter

10/2016 - 12/2018Master of Science in Biological Sciences,
Specialization in Computational Biology
University of Cologne
Title:“Improving Admixture Time Estimates Between Modern Humans and Neandertals”  
Supervisor:  Benjamin M. Peter, Thomas Wiehe
10/2015 – 09/2016Master of Science, Toxicology
Heinrich-Heine-University, Düsseldorf
10/2012 – 09/2015Bachelor of Science in Biology
University of Cologne
Title:“Characterization of Alternative Routs for Cardiolipin Precursor Supply in Saccharomyces cerevisiae”
Supervisor: Thomas Langer, Takashi Tatsuta

Professional Experience

11/2017 – 12/2017Research project in the Evolutionary and Experimantal Biology of Aging group,
Max Planck Institute for Biology of Aging, Cologne
Title:“Simulation of codon sequences under fixed selection scenarios in different killifish genera”.
Supervisor: Dario R. Valenzano, Rongfeng Cui
09/2017 – 10/2017Research project in the Statistical Genetics and Bioinformatics group, Cologne Center for Genomics
Title:“Population genetic and biogeographical analysis of a Frisian aDNA sample”.
Supervisor: Michael Nothnagel, Dimitry Drichel
10/2015 - 09/2016Lectures, practical courses, and seminars in anatomy, toxicology, laboratory animal science, pathology, and molecular toxicology (all examinations passed) as part of the Master's program in Toxicology at HHU Düsseldorf.

Teaching Experience

11/2023 - presentGuest lecturer in the “Functional and Paleogenomics” course for graduate students of the IMPRS: The Leipzig School of Human Origins.
04/2021 - presentGuest lecturer in the “Molecular Anthropology” course for graduate students in Biology, University of Leipzig.
04/2014 - 07/2014Assistant in undergraduate class in Genetics, University of Cologne.
10/2013 - 02/2014Assistant in undergraduate class in Cellular Biology and Biochemistry, University of Cologne.

Publications

Iasi, L. N.M.(2025). Ancient admixture: Detecting, dating and characterising neandertal admixture in modern human genomes. PhD Thesis, Universität, Leipzig.
BibTeX   Endnote   

Sümer, A. P. *., Rougier, H., Villalba-Mouco, V., Huang, Y.,Iasi, L. N., Essel, E., Bossoms Mesa, A., Furtwaengler, A., Peyrégne, S., de Filippo, C., Rohrlach, A. B., Pierini, F., Mafessoni, F., Fewlass, H., Zavala, E. I., Mylopotamitaki, D., Bianco, R. A., Schmidt, A., Zorn, J., Nickel, B., Patova, A., Posth, C., Smith, G. M., Ruebens, K., Sinet-Mathiot, V., Stoessel, A., Dietl, H., Orschiedt, J., Kelso, J., Zeberg, H., Bos, K. I., Welker, F., Weiss, M., McPherron, S., Schüler, T., Hublin, J.-J., Velemínský, P., Brůžek, J., Peter, B. M., Meyer, M., Meller, H., Ringbauer, H., Hajdinjak, M., Prüfer, K. *., & Krause, J. *.(2025). Earliest modern human genomes constrain timing of Neanderthal admixture. Nature,638(8051), 711-717.
Open Access   DOI   BibTeX   Endnote   

Yang, J.,Iasi, L. N., Fu, Q., Cooke, N. P., Kelso, J., Peyrégne, S., & Peter, B. M.(2025). An early East Asian lineage with unexpectedly low Denisovan ancestry. Current Biology,35: e4, pp. 4898-4908.
Open Access   DOI   BibTeX   Endnote   

Iasi, L. N., Chintalapati, M., Skov, L., Bossoms Mesa, A., Hajdinjak, M., Peter, B. M., & Moorjani, P.(2024). Neanderthal ancestry through time: Insights from genomes of ancient and present-day humans. Science,386(6727).
DOI   BibTeX   Endnote   

Lauterbur, M. E., Cavassim, M. I. A., Gladstein, A. L., Gower, G., Pope, N. S., Tsambos, G., Adrion, J., Belsare, S., Biddanda, A., Caudill, V., Cury, J., Echevarria, I., Haller, B. C., Hasan, A. R., Huang, X.,Iasi, L. N., Noskova, E., Obsteter, J., Pavinato, V. A. C., Pearson, A., Peede, D., Perez, M. F., Rodrigues, M. F., Smith, C. C., Spence, J. P., Teterina, A., Tittes, S., Unneberg, P., Vazquez, J. M., Waples, R. K., Wohns, A. W., Wong, Y., Baumdicker, F., Cartwright, R. A., Gorjanc, G., Gutenkunst, R. N., Kelleher, J., Kern, A. D., Ragsdale, A. P., Ralph, P. L., Schrider, D. R., & Gronau, I.(2023). Expanding the stdpopsim species catalog, and lessons learned for realistic genome simulations. eLife,12: RP84874.
Open Access   DOI   BibTeX   Endnote   

Skov, L., Peyrégne, S., Popli, D. R.,Iasi, L. N., Devièse, T., Slon, V., Zavala, E. I., Hajdinjak, M., Sümer, A., Grote, S., Bossoms Mesa, A., López Herráez, D., Nickel, B., Nagel, S., Richter, J., Essel, E., Gansauge, M.-T., Schmidt, A., Korlevic, P., Comeskey, D., Derevianko, A. P., Kharevich, A., Markin, S. V., Talamo, S., Douka, K., Krajcarz, M. T., Roberts, R. G., Higham, T., Viola, B., Krivoshapkin, A. I., Kolobova, K. A., Kelso, J., Meyer, M., Pääbo, S., & Peter, B. M.(2022). Genetic insights into the social organization of Neanderthals. Nature,610, 519-525.
Open Access   DOI   BibTeX   Endnote   

Iasi, L. N., Ringbauer, H., & Peter, B.(2021). An extended admixture pulse model reveals the limitations to human-Neandertal introgression dating. Molecular Biology and Evolution,38(11), 5156-5174.
Open Access   DOI   BibTeX   Endnote   

Cui, R., Medeiros, T., Willemsen, D.,Iasi, L. N., Collier, G. E., Graef, M., Reichard, M., & Valenzano, D. R.(2019). Relaxed selection limits lifespan by increasing mutation load. Cell,178(2): e20, pp. 385-399.
DOI   BibTeX   Endnote   

Contact

Department of Evolutionary Genetics

Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

Deutscher Platz 6
04103 Leipzig

phone:+49 (0)341 3550 - 500
e-mail: genetics_office@[>>> Please remove the text! <<<]eva.mpg.de