N. Ezgi Altınışık

N. Ezgi Altınışık
Ph.D.
ezgialtinisik@hacettepe.edu.tr
https://avesis.hacettepe.edu.tr/ezgialtinisik
Hacettepe Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi
Antropoloji Bölümü, A Kapısı
06800 Beytepe
Ankara/Turkey

I completed my PhD in Biology at the University of Ostrava, Czechia. During my PhD, I worked with Pavel Flegontov on modelling the history of various populations and understanding the correlation of genetic and linguistic patterns. I used both frequent- and rare variant-based computational tools on autosomal genetic markers. In the last year of the study, I have been in Max Planck Institute for Science of Human History in Jena, Germany as a visiting student to learn analytical methods in population history for 7 months. I am currently working at Human-G Lab at the Department of Anthropology, Hacettepe University, Ankara in 2019. 

Experience
Hacettepe University, Department of Anthropology
2019-present
Instructor
Life Science Research Center, University of Ostrava
2015-2019
Researcher
Max Planck Institute for Science of Human History
September 2018-March 2019
Trainee

I had an internship in Stephan Schiffels' lab in Max Planck Institute for Science of Human History to improve my skills on analytical methods in human populations. 

Mustafa Kemal University, Department of Anthropology
2014-2015
Research Assistant
Education
University of Ostrava
2015-2019
Ph.D. in Biology

▪ Thesis: Bridging the Americas and Eurasia: Population History of American Arctic Peoples / Advisors: Dr. Pavel Flegontov, Dr. Stephan Schiffels

Istanbul University
2012-2015
M.Sc. in Molecular Biology and Genetics

▪ Thesis: Mitochondrial Genome Analysis and Haplogroup Determination in Ancient Human Skeletons / Advisor: Assoc. Prof. Ercan Arıcan

Istanbul University
2007-2012
B.Sc. in Molecular Biology and Genetics

▪ Thesis: Optimization of ancient DNA isolation from goat and pig skeletons excavated from Yoncatepe/Van / Advisor: Assoc. Prof. Ercan Arıcan

Publication

Peer-reviewed Publications

  1. Flegontov P, Altınışık NE*, Changmai P*, Rohland N, Mallick S, Bolnick DA, Candilio F, Flegontova O, Jeong C, Harper TK, Keating D, Kennett DJ, Kim AM, Lamnidis TC, Olalde I, Potter BA, Raff J, Sattler RA, Skoglund P, Vajda EJ, Vasilyev S, Veselovskaya E, Hayes MG, O'Rourke DH, Pinhasi R, Krause J, Reich D, Schiffels S. (2019) Palaeo-Eskimo genetic ancestry and the peopling of Chukotka and North America. Nature. 570, p. 236-240. 
  2. Kılınç GM, Koptekin D, Atakuman Ç, Sumer AP, Dönertaş HM, Yaka R, Bilgin CC, Buyukkarakaya AM, Baird D, Altınışık NE, Flegontov P, Götherström A, Togan İ, Somel M. (2017) Archaeogenomic analysis of the first steps of Neolithisation in Anatolia and the Aegean. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B Biol. Sci.
  3. Flegontov P, Changmai P*, Zidkova A*, Logacheva MD, Altınışık NE, Flegontova O, Gelfand MS, Gerasimov ES, Khrameeva EE, Konovalova OP, Neretina T, Nikolsky YuV, Starostin G, Stepanova VV, Travinsky IV, Tříska M, Tříska P, Tatarinova TV§. (2016) Genomic study of the Ket: A Paleo- Eskimo-related ethnic group with significant ancient North Eurasian ancestry. Sci. Rep. 6:20768. 
  4. Altınışık, N. E. (2016) Modern İnsan Popülasyonlarında Arkaik İzler. Kebikeç İnsan Bilim. İçin Kaynak Araştırmaları Derg. 41, 283–294 (in Turkish)
  5. Altınışık, N. E. (2016) Adaptif Melezlenme: Homo Sapiens’in Dünya Yayılışında Etkileri. Toplum ve Hekim 31, 295-298 (in Turkish)

Preprints

  1. Starostin, G.*, Altınışık, N. E.*, Zhivlov, M., Changmai, P., Flegontova, O., Spirin, S. A., Zavgorodnii, A., Flegontov, P. & Kassian, A. S.  (2021). Circumpolar peoples and their languages: lexical and genomic data suggest ancient Chukotko-Kamchatkan–Nivkh and Yukaghir-Samoyedic connections. bioRxiv, doi: 10.1101/2021.02.27.433193 (Pre-print) *co-first authors
  2. Changmai, P., Jaisamut, K., Kampuansai, J., Kutanan, W., Altınışık, N.E., Flegontova, O., Inta, A., Yüncü, E., Boonthai, W., Pamjav, H., et al.  (2021). Indian genetic heritage in Southeast Asian populations. bioRxiv, doi: 10.1101/2021.01.21.427591 (Pre-print)
  3. Ning, C., Fernandes, D., Changmai, P., Flegontova, O., Yüncü, E., Maier, R., Altınışık, N.E., Kassian, A.S., Krause, J., Lalueza-Fox, C., et al. (2020). The genomic formation of First American ancestors in East and Northeast Asia. bioRxiv, doi: 10.1101/2020.10.12.336628 (Pre-print)
  4. Ceballos, F.C., Gürün, K., Altınışık, N.E., Can Gemici, H., Karamurat, C., Başak Vural, K., Sürer, E., Selim Erdal, Y., Götherström, A., Atakuman, Ç., et al. (2020). Human inbreeding has decreased in time through the Holocene. bioRxiv, doi: 10.1101/2020.09.24.311597 (Pre-print)

Book chapters

  1. Yaka R., Doğu A., Kaptan D., Dağtaş N. D. , Chyleński M., Vural K. B. , Altınışık N. E. , Mapelli I., Koptekin D., Karamurat C., Gemici H. C. , Yorulmaz S., Lagerholm V. K. , Fer E., Işıldak U., Ghalichi A., Kılınç G. M. , Mazzucato C., Juras A., Marciniak A., Larsen C. S. , Pilloud M., Haddow S. D. , Knüsel C. J. , Togan İ., Götherström A., Erdal Y. S. , Sürer E., Özer F. , Atakuman Ç., Somel M. (2021). Ancient genomics in Neolithic Central Anatolia and Çatalhöyük. In Peopling the Landscape of Çatalhöyük: Reports from the 2009-2017 Seasons, Ian Hodder ed., London:The British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara, pp. 1-11.
  2. Altınışık, N.E. (2020). Adaptif Gen Sızması. In Antropoloji Sözlüğü, K. Emiroğlu and S. Aydın, eds. İstanbul: Islık Yayınları, pp. 23–25.(in Turkish)
Conference Proceedings
  1. Altınışık, N. E., Flegontov, P., Changmai, P., Schiffels, S. (2019). Kuzey Amerika ve Kuzeydoğu Asya Halklarının İlişkisinin Genomik Açıdan İncelenmesi, 7. Biyolojik Antropoloji Sempozyumu, Ankara, Türkiye
  2. Altınışık, N. E. ,  & Flegontov, P., (2018).  Comparing Alternative Hypotheses on the Peopling of the American Arctic, II Joint Congress on Evolutionary Biology, Montpellier, France                
  3. Altınışık, N. E. ,  & Flegontov, P., (2018).  Modelling the origin and expansion of Turkic speakers, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Symposium, İzmir, Turkey                                   
  4. Altınışık, N. E. ,  & Flegontov, P., (2017).  A New Model for Peopling of the American Arctic, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Symposium, İstanbul, Turkey                
  5. Flegontov, P., Altınışık, N. E., Changmai, P., Vajda, E. J. , Krause, J., Schiffels, S., (2016).  Rare variants and autosomal haplotypes reveal the Siberian roots of North American Na Dene populations. DNA Polimorphisms in Human Populations, Paris, France                
Programming Skills
Python
R
Bash
Language Skills
English
Turkish
Native
Honours and awards
ESEB Outreach Initiative–2017
▪ Funding for A Timeline of Human Evolutionary Tree with Actual/Replica Skulls
Best oral presentation–2017
▪ Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Symposium
ESEB Outreach Initiative–2015
▪ Funding for 5th Evolution, Science and Education Symposium, Turkey
Memberships
▪ Society for Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Turkey (Eko-Evo)
▪ European Society for Evolutionary Biology (ESEB)
▪ Society for the Study of Evolution (SSE)