PhD student Pavel Salazar-Fernandez
Paleogenomics and Evolutionary Biology
I am a PhD student in the Biomedical Sciences program, under the supervision of Dr. Federico Sánchez Quinto, studying how the evolutionary history of Latin American populations shapes present-day patterns of genetic disease risk. My work uses genomic data from both ancient and contemporary samples to examine how ancestry, demography, and natural selection interact in medically relevant ways.
I have a background in biotechnology and integrative biology, and a specialization in bioinformatics. I work primarily with whole-genome data in the contexts of population genomics, paleogenomics, and genetic ancestry inference. My research integrates these perspectives into a single framework for understanding how historical admixture and past selective pressures continue to influence health in the Mexican population.
My current project examines how alleles that once provided protection against ancient pathogens now contribute to susceptibility to autoimmune diseases. Through this case, I explore how evolutionary trade-offs become visible in modern clinical genetics.
