Anthropology and Ancient DNA Dr. Hila May

Biohistory and evolutionary medicine

What make people vulnerable to diseases?

Most present-day health hazards, such as obesity, cancer, sclerosis, and arthritis, have their roots thousands or even millions of years ago, when humans began to acquire their current anatomical shape . Dr. May studies recent and past human populations to achieve new insights on long lasting biological and social phenomena

This type of research allows a comprehensive understanding of human behavior, biology and illness The research is based on a

CT reconstruction of 2,000 year old mummy of an Egyptian priest https://hilamaylab.wixsite.com /bem -lab multidisciplinary approach for the study of humankind and combines both genetic and morphological data . The morphological research is carried out using advanced imaging techniques, as well as traditional anthropological methods . The genetic study uses cutting -edge techniques of DNA that is extracted from ancient bones .

Dr. May is head of the Biohistory and Evolutionary Medicine Laboratory at the Department of Anatomy and Anthropology. She is affiliated to the Dan David Center for Human Evolution and Biohistory Research. Dr. May graduated from Tel Aviv University in Life Sciences and Sociology and Anthropology, obtained an MSc in Evolutionary Medicine, and a PhD in Physical Anthropology at Tel Aviv University. For her postdoctoral research, she joined the Institute for Evolutionary Medicine at Zurich University, where she specialized in methods of virtual anthropology. The research in her laboratory is multidisciplinary and involves novel methodologies for the study of past populations and revealing the evolutionary causes of modern -day diseases. Dr. May won the Bergmann Memorial Award from the BSF for young scientists.