• Istituto di Biologia e Patologia Molecolari


Tel :+390649912924
Fax :
eugenia.datanasio@uniroma1.it
EUGENIA D'ATANASIO
Researcher

Istitute of Molecular Biology and Pathology - National Research Council
Department of Biology and Biotecnology - Charles Darwin
Sapienza University of Rome - Istituto Genetica - P.Le A.Moro 5 00185 Roma
RESEARCH INTERESTS

My research interests are focused on the study of the genetic variability of the human populations, considering different aspects:

  • The analysis of the whole genome diversity in ancient and modern individuals to unveil their evolutionary genetic history;
  • The study of the human Y chromosome genetic diversity in order to understand the evolutionary dynamics of the human populations in Africa and Europe;
  • The study of the genetic variability of African populations with a forensic relevance;
  • The role of the gene conversion in the evolution and in the genetic diversity of the human sex chromosomes.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
  • Hui R, Scheib CL, D’Atanasio E, Inskip SA, Cessford C, Biagini SA, Wohns AW, Ali MQA, Griffith SJ, Solnik A, Niinemäe H, Ge XJ, Rose AK, Beneker O, O’Connell TC, Robb JE, Kivisild T. 2023. Medieval social landscape through the genetic history of Cambridgeshire before and after the Black Death. bioRxiv 03.03.531048
  • Guellil M, van Dorp  L, Inskip  SA, Dittmar  JM, Saag  L, Tambets  K, Hui  R, Rose  A, D'Atanasio  E, Kriiska  A, Varul  L, Koekkelkoren  AMHC, Goldina  RD, Cessford  C, Solnik  A, Metspalu  M, Krause  J , Herbig  A , Robb  JE, Houldcroft  CJ, Scheib CL. 2022. Ancient herpes simplex 1 genomes reveal recent viral structure in Eurasia. Sci Adv 8:eabo4435
  • Bonito M, Ravasini F, Novelletto A, D’Atanasio E, Cruciani F, Trombetta B. 2022. Disclosing complex mutational dynamics at a Y chromosome palindrome evolving through intra- and inter-chromosomal gene conversion. Hum Mol Genet ddac144
  • Saag L, Vasilyev SV, Varul L, Kosorukova NV, Gerasimov DV, Oshibkina SV, Griffith SJ, Solnik A, Saag L, D'Atanasio E, Metspalu E, Reidla M, Rootsi S, Kivisild T, Scheib CL, Tambets K, Kriiska A, Metspalu M. (2021) Genetic ancestry changes in Stone to Bronze Age transition in the East European plain. Sci. Adv. 7:eabd6535. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abd6535.
  • Hui R, D'Atanasio E^, Cassidy LM, Scheib CL, Kivisild T. (2020) Evaluating genotype imputation pipeline for ultra-low coverage ancient genomes. Sci. Rep. 10:18542. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-75387-w.
  • D'Atanasio E, Trionfetti F, Bonito M, Sellitto D, Coppa A, Berti A, Trombetta B, Cruciani F. (2020) Y Haplogroup Diversity of the Dominican Republic: Reconstructing the Effect of the European Colonization and the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trades. Genome Biol. Evol. 12:1579-1590. doi: 10.1093/gbe/evaa176.
  • Scheib CL, Hui R, D'Atanasio E, Wohns AW, Inskip SA, Rose A, Cessford C, O'Connell TC, Robb JE, Evans C, Patten R, Kivisild T. (2019) East Anglian early Neolithic monument burial linked to contemporary Megaliths. Ann. Hum. Biol. 46:145-149. doi: 10.1080/03014460.2019.1623912.
  • Saag L, Laneman M, Varul L, Malve M, Valk H, Razzak MA, Shirobokov IG, Khartanovich VI, Mikhaylova ER, Kushniarevich A, Scheib CL, Solnik A, Reisberg T, Parik J, Saag L, Metspalu E, Rootsi S, Montinaro F, Remm M, Mägi R, D'Atanasio E, Crema ER, Díez-del-Molino D, Thomas MG, Kriiska A, Kivisild T, Villems R, Lang V, Metspalu M, Tambets K. (2019) The Arrival of Siberian Ancestry Connecting the Eastern Baltic to Uralic Speakers Further East Curr. Biol. 29:1701-1711. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2019.04.026.
  • D'Atanasio E, Iacovacci G, Pistillo R, Bonito M, Dugoujon JM, Moral P, El-Chennawi F, Melhaoui M, Baali A, Cherkaoui M, Sellitto D, Trombetta B, Berti A, Cruciani F. (2019) Rapidly mutating Y-STRs in rapidly expanding populations: Discrimination power of the Yfiler Plus multiplex in northern Africa. Forensic Sci. Int. Genet. 38:185-194. doi: 10.1016/j.fsigen.2018.11.002.
  • D'Atanasio E, Bonito M, Iacovacci G, Berti A, Trombetta B, Cruciani F. (2019) Identification and molecular characterisation of an AMEL-X null allele due to an Alu insertion. Forensic Sci. Int. Genet. 38:e1-e4. doi: 10.1016/j.fsigen.2018.10.020.
  • D’Atanasio E^, Trombetta B^, Bonito M, Finocchio A, Di Vito G, Seghizzi M, Romano R, Russo G, Paganotti GM, Watson E, Coppa A, Anagnostou P, Dugoujon J-M, Moral P, Sellitto D, Novelletto A, Cruciani F. (2018) The peopling of the last Green Sahara revealed by high-coverage resequencing of trans-Saharan patrilineages. Genome Biol. 19:20. doi: 10.1186/s13059-018-1393-5.
  • Iacovacci G^, D’Atanasio E^, Marini O^, Coppa A, Sellitto D, Trombetta B, Berti A, Cruciani F. (2017) Forensic data and microvariant sequence characterization of 27 Y-STR loci analyzed in four Eastern African countries. Forensic Sci. Int. Genet. 27:123–131. doi: 10.1016/j.fsigen.2016.12.015.
  • Trombetta B, D’Atanasio E, Cruciani F. (2017) Patterns of inter-chromosomal gene conversion on the male-specific region of the human Y chromosome. Front. Genet. 8:1–7. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2017.00054.
  • Trombetta B, Fantini G, D’Atanasio E, Sellitto D, Cruciani F. (2016) Evidence of extensive non-allelic gene conversion among LTR elements in the human genome. Sci. Rep. 6. doi: 10.1038/srep28710.
  • Rapone C^, D’Atanasio E^, Agostino A, Mariano M, Papaluca MT, Cruciani F, Berti A. (2016) Forensic genetic value of a 27 Y-STR loci multiplex (Yfiler® Plus kit) in an Italian population sample. Forensic Sci. Int. Genet. 21:e1–e5. doi: 10.1016/j.fsigen.2015.11.006.
  • Trombetta B^, D’Atanasio E^, Massaia A, Ippoliti M, Coppa A, Candilio F, Coia V, Russo G, Dugoujon J-M, Moral P, Akar N, Sellitto D, Valesini G, Novelletto A, Scozzari R, Cruciani F. (2015) Phylogeographic refinement and large scale genotyping of human Y chromosome haplogroup E provide new insights into the dispersal of early pastoralists in the African continent. Genome Biol. Evol. 7:1940–1950. doi: 10.1093/gbe/evv118.

^ These authors contributed equally to this work.
RESEARCH GROUP
- Letizia Pistacchia, research assistant (2022-2023)
COLLABORATIONS

- Involvement in international collaborative projects with the Sapienza University of Rome and University of Tartu about ancient pre-Roman human remains from central Italy.
- Involvement in international collaborative projects with KU Leuven, University of Cambridge and University of Tartu about ancient human remains from UK, Estonia and Belgium.
- Involvement in international collaborative projects with the Sapienza University of Rome about evolutionary and forensic genetics of African and Eurasiatic populations and evolution of sex chromosomes.
- Involvement in a collaborative project with Sapienza University of Rome, University of Tor Vergata and Eurofins Genoma about the NEWPAT project (“Progetti di Gruppi di ricerca 2020”, Regione Lazio, https://www.ibpm.cnr.it/index.php/it-IT/component/k2/item/493-newpat)
CV

Grants
2021: “Progetti di Gruppi di ricerca 2020”, Regione Lazio (UC for the CNR-IBPM unit)
2020: Gerda-Henkel Research Grant
2016: “Avvio alla ricerca 2016” grant, Sapienza University of Rome

Teaching activities
From AY 2021-2022: “Fondamenti di Genetica Umana” (3CFU), Bachelor degree in “Biology”, Sapienza University of Rome
AY 2020-2021 and 2021-2022: Lecturer in the post-degree Master “Biology of Nutrition for the Human Reproduction”, Sapienza University of Rome
From AY 2016-2017: lessons during courses of the Bachelor degree in “Biology”, Bachelor degree in “Bioinformatics”, Master degree in “Genetics and Molecular Biology” (Italian and English curricula), Sapienza University of Rome

Supervision of students
AY 2022-2025: Tutor of a PhD student of “Genetics and Molecular Biology”, Sapienza University of Rome
AY 2022-2023: Supervisor of a master student of “Functional Genomics” at the University of Trieste, double degree at University of Rennes 1 in “Master M2 mention biologie moléculaire et cellulaire parcours génétique, biochimie structurale"
AY 2020-2023: Tutor of a PhD student of “Genetics and Molecular Biology”, Sapienza University of Rome
AY 2021-2022: Co-supervisor of a bachelor student of “Bioinformatics”, Sapienza University of Rome
AY 2021-2022: Supervisor of a master student of “Ecobiology”, Sapienza University of Rome and Sapienza School of Advanced Studies
AY 2019-2021: Supervisor of a master student of “Genetics and Molecular Biology”, Sapienza University of Rome
Feb 2019-Apr2019: Co-promoter of two master students at the Faculty of Medicine, Lab. for Human Evolutionary Genetics, KU Leuven

Awards & Qualifications
2022: National Scientific Qualification (Abilitazione Scientifica Nazionale) as Associate Professor of Genetics
2022: National Scientific Qualification (Abilitazione Scientifica Nazionale) as Associate Professor of Zoology and Anthopology
2017: Mention for the “AGI-Zanichelli 2017” award for the best PhD thesis

Commitees in Conferences & Schools
2023: part of the Organizing Committee of the School of Genetics “The ancient DNA revolution: from the initial attempts to the Nobel Prize” organized by the Italian Association of Genetics, Cortona (Italy), 12-13 June 2023.
2023: part of the Scientific Committee of the ISBA10 “New Horizons in Biomolecular Archaeology”, Tartu (Estonia), 13-16 September 2023
2021: Member of PhD defense committee at Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona

Skills
- Advanced knowledge of the main bioinformatic tools and pipelines to work with genetic data (whole genomes, NGS, etc): samtools, BCFtools, VCFtools, plink, GATK, ANGSD, BEAGLE, SnpEff, Eigensoft package, etc.
- Advanced knowledge of the R software
- Excellent knowledge of the Office package

Other scientific activities
Reviewer for international scientific journals: Am J Hum Genet, FSIG, Front Genet, PloS One, Sci Rep, Hum Gen, Heliyon
Member of Society of Molecular Biology and Evolution (since 2019), Italian Association of Genetics (since 2017), International Society for Biomolecular Archaeology (since 2022)

Previous work experience
2019: Post-doc fellowship at the Sapienza University of Rome – Dept. of Biology and Biotechnology, funded by “Istituto Pasteur – Fondazione Cenci-Bolognetti”
2018-2019: Post-doc fellowship at the KU Leuven – Dept. of Human Genetics, funded by the Sapienza University of Rome
2017-2018: Post-doc fellowship at the Sapienza University of Rome – Dept. of Biology and Biotechnology
2016-2017: Scholarship at the Sapienza University of Rome – Dept. of Biology and Biotechnology, funded by “Istituto Pasteur – Fondazione Cenci-Bolognetti”

Education
2013 – 2017: PhD student at the Sapienza University of Rome
2013: Master’s Degree at the Sapienza University of Rome
2011: Bachelor’s Degree at the Sapienza University of Rome