Flavio De Angelis
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Mail code: 2402Campus: Tempe
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Flavio De Angelis is an Associate Research Scientist at Arizona State University’s Institute of Human Origins and School of Human Evolution and Social Change. His research lies at the intersection of ancient genomics, evolutionary biology, biological anthropology, and statistical genetics, with a particular focus on reconstructing human population history and understanding how genetic variation, environmental pressures, and demographic processes have shaped human biological diversity and health.
His research integrates ancient and modern genomic data with archaeological, bioanthropological, and environmental evidence to investigate population dynamics, migration, admixture, kinship, biological adaptation, and gene-environment interactions across time. A major component of his work involves the development and application of computational approaches for low-coverage ancient genomes, including genotype imputation, population-genetic analyses, ancestry modeling, and polygenic approaches.
De Angelis has extensive experience in both ancient DNA laboratory methods and computational genomics, spanning archaeological sampling, DNA extraction and genomic library preparation through high-throughput sequencing and downstream population-genetic analyses. His current work combines these approaches to investigate genomic variation in past populations across Europe and the Mediterranean and to explore the evolutionary history of complex traits and human responses to environmental and infectious pressures.
Before joining Arizona State University, De Angelis held research and academic positions at California State University, Northridge; the University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”; Yale University School of Medicine; and the University of Rome Tor Vergata. His interdisciplinary research seeks to bridge ancient genomics, biological anthropology, evolutionary genetics, and biomedical genomics to understand how past demographic and evolutionary processes continue to influence human variation and health today.
PhD, Evolutionary Biology and Ecology, University of Rome Tor Vergata, 2010
MS, Human Evolutionary Biology, University of Rome Tor Vergata, 2005, cum laude
BS, Evolutionary Biology and Ecology, University of Rome Tor Vergata, 2003, cum laude
Ancient DNA and paleogenomics; human evolutionary genomics; population genetics; biological anthropology; human anatomy and evolutionary anatomy; neuroscience and neurogenomics; bioarchaeology; statistical genetics; polygenic risk scores; gene-environment interactions; genotype imputation; human population history; adaptation and natural selection; evolutionary medicine.
Amorim Lab – Institute of Human Origins, School of Human Evolution and Social Change
My research investigates human biological variation from an evolutionary perspective by integrating ancient and modern genomics, biological anthropology, human anatomy, neuroscience, and statistical genetics. A major focus of my work is reconstructing the genomic history of past populations and understanding how demographic processes, natural selection, environmental pressures, and disease have shaped human biological diversity through time.
My research in ancient and evolutionary genomics addresses population structure, migration, admixture, biological relatedness, and genetic continuity across prehistoric and historical transitions. I combine population-genetic approaches with polygenic methods and gene-environment analyses to investigate the evolutionary history of complex traits and the relationships among genetic variation, environmental exposures, biological stress, resilience, and health.
A complementary area of my research focuses on human and evolutionary anatomy. By integrating anatomical and skeletal variation with genomic, archaeological, and imaging data, I investigate how human morphology reflects development, adaptation, disease, lifestyle, and evolutionary history. This work provides a bridge between traditional biological anthropology and genomic approaches to human variation.
My interests also extend to neuroscience and neurogenomics, particularly the evolutionary and genetic basis of variation in the human nervous system, neurodevelopment, brain structure and connectivity, and neurodegenerative processes. I am interested in how evolutionary genomic approaches can contribute to understanding the biological mechanisms underlying neurological and neuropsychiatric traits and disease.
Methodologically, my work spans ancient DNA laboratory research and computational genomics, including archaeological sampling, DNA extraction and library preparation, low-coverage genome analysis, genotype imputation, ancestry modeling, polygenic analyses, and the integration of genomic information with anatomical, phenotypic, and environmental data. My broader goal is to connect evolutionary genomics, anatomy, neuroscience, and biomedical genetics to understand how our evolutionary and demographic past contributes to human biological variation and health today.