Dr Lounès Chikhi (born Paris, France) is a French

population geneticist Population genetics is a subfield of genetics that deals with genetic differences within and between populations, and is a part of evolutionary biology. Studies in this branch of biology examine such phenomena as adaptation, speciation, and popu ...

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

Berber Berber or Berbers may refer to: Ethnic group * Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa * Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages Places * Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile People with the surname * Ady Berber (1913–196 ...

extraction, based at the

Université Paul Sabatier Paul Sabatier University (''Université Paul Sabatier'', UPS, also known as Toulouse III) is a French public university, in the Academy of Toulouse. It is one of the several successor universities of the University of Toulouse. Toulouse III was ...

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, and also at the

Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência The Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (IGC) is an international centre for biological and biomedical research and graduate training based in Oeiras, Portugal. Founded by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (FCG) in 1961, and still supported by the F ...

in Oeiras,

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

, where he runs th
Population and Conservation Genetics Group

Scientific career

Chikhi is notable for leading a number of population genetics studies on the origins and demographic history of various of human populations – including Europeans and the peoples of Japan – and on the conservation genetics of various primate species. He has published a number of influential

scientific papers : ''For a broader class of literature, see Academic publishing.'' Scientific literature comprises scholarly publications that report original empirical and theoretical work in the natural and social sciences. Within an academic field, scienti ...

in defense of model-based inference of

population history Demographic history is the reconstructed record of human population in the past. Given the lack of population records prior to the 1950s, there are many gaps in our record of demographic history. Historical demographers must make do with estimates, ...

and raising concerns about incautious used of interpretative

phylogeography Phylogeography is the study of the historical processes that may be responsible for the past to present geographic distributions of genealogical lineages. This is accomplished by considering the geographic distribution of individuals in light of ge ...

in making inferences on human population demographic history. He is also involved in

conservation Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws. Conservation may also refer to: Environment and natural resources * Nature conservation, the protection and managem ...

projects in northern

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...

and

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

, among others.

References

Population and Conservation Genetics group website

Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência staff page

Selected Scientific Bibliography

* Beaumont M, Nielsen R, Robert C, Hey J, Gaggiotti O, Knowles L, Estoup A, Panchal M, Corander J, Hickerson M, Sisson SA, Fagundes N, Chikhi L, Beerli P, Vitalis R, Cornuet JM, Huelsenbeck J, Foll M, Yang, Rousset F, Balding D, Excoffier L (2010) In defense of model-based inference in phylogeography. Molecular Ecology, 19 (3), 436-446. * Quéméré, E, Champeau J, Besolo, A, Rasolondraibe, E Rabarivola, C, Crouau-Roy, B Chikhi, L (2010) Spatial variation in density and total size estimates in fragmented primate populations: the golden-crowned sifaka (Propithecus tattersalli). American Journal of Primatology, 72, 72-80. * Chikhi L (2009) Genetic data and story-telling: from Archeogenetics to Astrologenetics? An update to “Clinal variation in the nuclear DNA of Europeans” By Chikhi, L., Destro-Bisol, G., Pascali, V., Baravelli V., Dobosz, M., Barbujani, G. Published in 1998 in Human Biology. Human Biology, 81, (5-6), 639-643. * Rasteiro, R., Chikhi, L. (2009). Revisiting the peopling of Japan: an admixture perspective. Journal of Human Genetics, 54,349-354. * Parreira, B., Trussart, M., Sousa, V., Hudson, R., Chikhi, L., (2009). SPAms : A user-friendly software to simulate population genetics data under complex demographic models. Molecular Ecology Resources. 9 : 749-753. * Sousa, V., Fritz, M., Beaumont, M.A., Chikhi, L. (2009) Approximate Bayesian Computation without summary statistics: the case of admixture. Genetics, 181, 187-197. * Chikhi, L. (2008). News and Commentary: How accurate can genetic data be? Heredity 101 :471-472 * Chikhi, L., (2008). Nos ancêtres dans nos gènes. La Recherche, 37, 77-81. * Radespiel, U, Rakotondravony, R, Chikhi, L (2008). Natural and anthropogenic determinants of genetic structure in the largest remaining metapopulation of the endangered golden-brown mouse lemur, Microcebus ravelobensis American Journal of Primatology 70 :1-11 * Barbujani G., Chikhi, L. (2007). Human genetic diversity and its history In Handbook of Statistical Genetics, eds D. Balding, M. Bishop, and C. Cannings, 3rd edition. * Goossens, B.*., Chikhi, L.*., Ancrenaz, M., Lackman-Ancrenaz, I., Andau, M., Bruford, M.W. (2006). Genetic signature of anthropogenic population collapse in orang-utans PLoS, Biology, 4(2) :285-291. *Shared first authorship. * Chikhi, L. Beaumont, M.. (2005). Modelling Human Genetic History Encyclopaedia of Genetics, Genomics, Proteomics & Bioinformatics. * Chikhi, L., Bruford, M.W. (2005). Mammalian population genetics and genomics Mammalian Genomics (ed. Ruvinsky A, Marshall Graves J). CABI Publisher 21 :539-583. * Chikhi, L., Nichols, R.A., Barbujani G., Beaumont M.A. (2002). Y genetic data support the Demic diffusion model. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci, USA 98 :11007-11013. * Goldstein, D.B., Chikhi, L. (2002). Human migrations and population structure : what we know and why it matters Annual Review of Genomics and Human Genetics 3 :129-152.

External links

Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência staff page

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chikhi, Lounes Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Scientists from Paris French people of Algerian-Berber descent French geneticists Population geneticists