Janet Kelso Explained

Janet Kelso
Birth Date:24 March 1975[1]
Workplaces:Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Thesis Title:The development and application of informatics-based systems for the analysis of the human transcriptome
Thesis Url:http://etd.uwc.ac.za/xmlui/handle/11394/2003
Thesis Year:2003
Doctoral Advisors:Winston Hide

Janet Kelso (born 1975) is a South African computational biologist and Group leader of the Minerva Research Group for Bioinformatics at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.[2] She is best known for her work comparing DNA from previous humans (i.e. Neanderthals) with those of the present (Homo Sapiens).

A previous challenge for computational biologists was the lack of proper DNA preservation and technology to analyze the nuclear genomes of the ancient humans. This obstacle strengthened Kelso's interest in bioinformatics and initially approached the issue using the reference based method. From there, her and her research team have made advances in research towards ancient DNA.

Education

Kelso gained her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Natal in 1995 followed by Honours and Master of Science degrees in medical biochemistry and chemical pathology from the University of Cape Town in 1997 and 2000, respectively. She received her PhD in bioinformatics in 2003, from the University of the Western Cape, supervised by Winston Hide.[3] [4] [5]

Research and career

Kelso has carried out research in comparative primate genomics and has contributed to the Neanderthal, bonobo and orangutan genome projects.[6] [7] Since 2004, she has been Group leader of the Minerva Research Group for Bioinformatics at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. At the Institute, Kelso conducted her research in collaboration with the UK Biobank (UKB). UKB holds genetic and medical information at population-scale; through the UKB, Kelso and her colleagues discovered a correlation between Neantherthal variants and certain behaviors and traits. For instance, they could now calculate the probability of being an evening or morning person.[8]

Since 2013, she has been co-Executive Editor of the scientific journal Bioinformatics.[9]

Awards and honors

Kelso won a L'Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science Fellowship in 2004.[10] [11] With her co-authors, she was awarded the Newcomb Cleveland Prize for the most outstanding paper in Science in 2010: this paper published the draft sequence of the Neanderthal genome. Kelso served as Vice President of the International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB) from 2011-2013 and in 2016 was elected to serve another 3-year term as vice president, starting in January 2017.[12] She was elected an ISCB Fellow by the International Society for Computational Biology in 2016.[13] [14]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Existing members of ELIXIR SAB.pdf. 13 September 2016.
  2. Web site: Leipzig. Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Dept. of Genetics Bioinformatics Group Staff. www.eva.mpg.de. 13 September 2016.
  3. PhD . Janet. Kelso . The development and application of informatics-based systems for the analysis of the human transcriptome . University of the Western Cape . 2003 . uwc.ac.za . 56536421 . 11394/2003.
  4. Web site: ISCB Newsletter 17-2. www.iscb.org. 13 September 2016.
  5. Fogg. Christiana N.. Kovats. Diane E.. Computational Biology: Moving into the Future One Click at a Time. PLOS Computational Biology. 24 June 2015. 11. 6. e1004323. 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1004323. 26107876. 4481313. 2015PLSCB..11E4323F . free .
  6. Green. R. E.. Krause. J.. Briggs. A. W.. Maricic. T.. Stenzel. U.. Kircher. M.. Patterson. N.. Li. H.. Zhai. W.. Fritz. M. H. Y.. Hansen. N. F.. Durand. E. Y.. Malaspinas. A. S.. Jensen. J. D.. Marques-Bonet. T.. Alkan. C.. Prufer. K.. Meyer. M.. Burbano. H. A.. Good. J. M.. Schultz. R.. Aximu-Petri. A.. Butthof. A.. Hober. B.. Hoffner. B.. Siegemund. M.. Weihmann. A.. Nusbaum. C.. Lander. E. S.. Russ. C.. Novod. N.. Affourtit. J.. Egholm. M.. Verna. C.. Rudan. P.. Brajkovic. D.. Kucan. Z.. Gusic. I.. Doronichev. V. B.. Golovanova. L. V.. Lalueza-Fox. C.. de la Rasilla. M.. Fortea. J.. Rosas. A.. Schmitz. R. W.. Johnson. P. L. F.. Eichler. E. E.. Falush. D.. Birney. E.. Mullikin. J. C.. Slatkin. M.. Nielsen. R.. Kelso. J.. Lachmann. M.. Reich. D.. Paabo. S.. A Draft Sequence of the Neandertal Genome. Science. 6 May 2010. 328. 5979. 710–722. 10.1126/science.1188021. 20448178. 5100745. 2010Sci...328..710G.
  7. Prüfer. Kay. Munch. Kasper. Hellmann. Ines. Akagi. Keiko. Miller. Jason R.. Walenz. Brian. Koren. Sergey. Sutton. Granger. Kodira. Chinnappa. Winer. Roger. Knight. James R.. Mullikin. James C.. Meader. Stephen J.. Ponting. Chris P.. Lunter. Gerton. Higashino. Saneyuki. Hobolth. Asger. Dutheil. Julien. Karakoç. Emre. Alkan. Can. Sajjadian. Saba. Catacchio. Claudia Rita. Ventura. Mario. Marques-Bonet. Tomas. Eichler. Evan E.. André. Claudine. Atencia. Rebeca. Mugisha. Lawrence. Junhold. Jörg. Patterson. Nick. Siebauer. Michael. Good. Jeffrey M.. Fischer. Anne. Ptak. Susan E.. Lachmann. Michael. Symer. David E.. Mailund. Thomas. Schierup. Mikkel H.. Andrés. Aida M.. Kelso. Janet. Pääbo. Svante. The bonobo genome compared with the chimpanzee and human genomes. Nature. 13 June 2012. 10.1038/nature11128. 22722832. 3498939. 486. 7404. 527–31. 2012Natur.486..527P.
  8. Web site: Genetic data on half a million Brits reveal ongoing evolution and Neanderthal legacy. 2021-11-26. www.science.org. en.
  9. Web site: ISCB Newsletter 16-1. www.iscb.org. 13 September 2016.
  10. Web site: Cape Town Student Wins National Award for Women in Science. www.panapress.com. 13 September 2016.
  11. Web site: Winston Hide Harvard School of Public Health - Academia.edu. hsph-harvard.academia.edu. 13 September 2016.
  12. Web site: September 12, 2016 - ISCB Announces Results of the 2016 Officer and Student Council Leadership Elections!. www.iscb.org. 13 September 2016.
  13. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20170320114530/https://www.iscb.org/iscb-fellows . 2017-03-20 . ISCB Fellows . iscb.org . . Anon . 2017 . dead .
  14. Web site: Feb 22, 2016: ISCB Congratulates & Introduces the 2016 Class of Fellows!. www.iscb.org. 13 September 2016.

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