Ludovic Orlando is a former student from the Ecole Normale Superieure of Lyon (ENS, 1996-2000), one of the top-5 French universities. First trained as a molecular biologist, he got increasingly interested in computational biology applied to DNA sequence data. He graduated in molecular genetics from the Univ. of Lyon, France in 2003, twenty years after the first ancient DNA molecule was ever sequenced. Trained in phylogenomics as a postdoc (CNRS EA 3781), he was soon after appointed as a permanent Associate Professor at ENS Lyon, where he lectured and performed research between 2005 and 2010. He started his own research group in 2010 at the Centre for GeoGenetics, Univ. of Copenhagen, Denmark, where he has been appointed as a full Professor in Molecular Archaeology since 2016. He was appointed as a CNRS research director the same year. Amongst his early career achievements feature (1) the sequencing of the oldest genome, (2) the characterization of the first ancient epigenome, and (3) the reconstruction of the genomic history of horse domestication. He entered the Highly Cited Researchers 2018 and 2020 list, which recognizes world-class researchers selected for their exceptional research performance, as demonstrated by production of multiple highly cited papers that rank in the top 1% by citations for field and year in Web of Science.

 

Ludovic is the Director of the Centre for Anthropobiology and Genomics of Toulouse (CNRS UMR 5288), and the co-head of the CNRS AMADEUS LIA (International Associated Laboratory), which supports collaborative research programmes with the Centre for GeoGenetics, Univ. of Copenhagen, Denmark. He has been part of several organizing and scientific boards of international meetings, including the prestigious international meeting for the Society of Molecular Biology and Evolution, the International Symposium on Biomolecular Archaeology, the International Union for Quaternary Research and the International Union of the Protohistoric and Prehistoric Sciences. He is a member of the scientific committee of the TAKH Association, aimed at conservation of the Przewalski’s horse in its native Mongolian range. He has been acting as an Academic Editor for the journal PLoS One since January 2012, for Scientific Reports since September 2016, and for Peer J since April 2017. He is one of the four Editors-in-Chief for the journal STAR aimed at promoting innovative approaches in archaeological research. He was expert member of the committee of the French National Research Agency (ANR) in 2012 and 2013, an expert member of the Junior Committee of the ‘Institut Universitaire de France’ in 2015 and 2016, and President of one HCERES evaluation committee in 2017. Click here for further information.

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His research team includes a core of scientists showing complementary skills and educational backgrounds, opening for the implementation of truly multi-disciplinary research activities, including archaeology, genomics, population genetics and evolutionary biology. While his team currently includes 25+ research staff involved in a number of scientific projects, the following scientists represent the production and analytical core team underlying the PEGASUS project:

 

• Current team members:

Dr Pablo Librado (December 2016-June 2022, senior post-doctoral researcher)
Dr Evelyn Todd (September 2020-November 2022, post-doctoral researcher)
Dr Duha Alioglu (October 2018-until September 2021, PhD student)Julie Birgel (May 2022-July 2022, Assistant Lab Technician)
Loreleï Chauvey (October 2021-November 2022, Assistant Engineer)

Gaetan Tressières (September 2021-November 2022, Lab technician)

Laure Tonasso-Calvière (permanent Lab technician)

Stéphanie Schiavinato (permanent Lab technician)

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• Former team members:

 

Dr Xuexue Liu (January 2020-June 2020, post-doctoral researcher)

Dr Naveed Kahn (December 2016-until December 2019, PhD student)

Dr Antoine Fages (December 2016-until December 2019, post-doctoral researcher

Dr Charleen Gaunitz (December 2016-until March 2019)

Dr Kristian Hanghøj (December 2016-until December 2019)

Dr Andaine Seguin-Orlando (September 2017-until Avril 2018)

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PEGASUS also gathers together a large consortium of collaborators across Europe and Canada, including renowned archaeozoologists, historians and geneticists, all experts in horse evolutionary history. They will be essential at multiple levels, including: accessing samples, providing guidance, performing research,  interpreting genetic results in the context of archaeological and historical knowledge, etc. We are looking forward to enriching our consortium with additional expertise throughout the course of the project.

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• Archaeo(zoo)logists:

  • Pr. Alan Outram, Univ. Exeter, UK

  • Dr. Katerina Trantalidou, Ministry of Culture and Sports, Athens, Greece

  • Dr. Naomi Sykes, Univ. of Nottingham, UK

  • Pr. Helle Vankilde, Aarhus Univ., Denmark

  • Dr. Jean-Denis Vigne, MNHN, Paris, France

  • Dr. Marjan Mashkour, MNHN, Paris, France

  • Dr. Sebastien Lepetz, MNHN, Paris, France

  • Dr. Benoit Clavel, MNHN, Paris, France

  • Dr. Emmanuelle Vila, Univ. of Lyon 2, France

  • Dr. Olivier Bignon-Lau, Univ. Nanterre, France

  • Pr Eric Crubézy, Univ. Toulouse, France

  • Dr. Armelle Gardeisen, Univ. Paul Valery, France

  • Dr. Lembi Lõugas, Archaeological Research Collection, Tallinn University, Estonia

  • Pr. Philipp W. Stockhammer, Institute for Pre- and Protohistoric Archaeology and Archaeology of the Roman Provinces, Munich, Germany

  • Dr., Will Taylor, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Human History, Jena, Germany

  • Dr. Simon Trixl, Institute of Palaeoanatomy, Domestication Research and History of Veterinary Medicine, Munich, Germany

  • Pr. Wolf-Rüdiger Teegen, ArchaeoBioCenter, Munich, Germany

  • Pr. Norbert Benecke, German Archaeological Institute, Germany

  • Pr. Svend Hansen, German Archaeological Institute, Berlin, Germany

  • Dr. Sabine Reinhold, German Archaeological Institute, Berlin, Germany

  • Albína Hulda Pálsdóttir, Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Reykjavík, Iceland

  • Dr. Sabine Deschler-Erb, Basel Univ., Switzerland

  • Dr. Maaike Groot, Basel Univ., Switzerland & VU Univ. Amsterdam, The Netherlands

  • Dr. Silvia Valenzuela, Spanish National Research Council, Madrid, Spain

  • Dr. Silvia Albizuri, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain

  • Dr. Eloisa Bernáldez Sánchez, Pablo de Olavide Univ., Seville, Spain

  • Dr. Corina Liesau von Lettow-Vorbeck, Dpto. De Prehistoria y Arqueología, Madrid, Spain

  • Pr. René Kyselý, Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic

  • Pr. Lubomir Peske, Prague, Czech Republic

  • Pr. Pavel A. Kosintsev, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

  • Pr. Pavel F. Kuznetsov, Volga State Academy of Social Sciences and Humanities, Samara, Russia

  • Dr. Natalia Roslyakova, Samara State University of Social Sciences and Education, Russia
  • Pr. Victor Zaibert, Scientific Research Institute of Archaeology and Steppe Civilizations, Almaty, Kazakhstan
  • Pr. Victor Merz, S.Toraighyrov Pavlodar State University, Kazakhstan

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• Historians & Anthropologists:

  • Dr. Stavros Lazaris, College de France, Paris, France

  • Pr. Christophe Chandezon, Univ. of Montpellier, France

  • Pr. Arnaud Zucker, Univ. Nice Sophia Antipolis, France

  • Dr. Alexandre Blaineau, France

  • Dr. Philip Slavin, Univ. of Kent, UK

  • Pr. John Langdon, Univ. of Alberta, Canada

  • Pr. Eric Baratay, Univ. of Lyon, France

  • Pr. Daniel Roche, College de France, Paris, France 

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• Geneticists:

  • Pr. Director Johannes Krause, MPI, Jena, Germany

  • Pr. Arne Ludwig, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Germany

  • Pr. Michi Hofreiter, Univ. Postdam, Germany

  • Pr. Beth Shapiro, Univ. California Santa Cruz, USA

  • Dr. Jennifer Leonard, Donana Biological Station, Spain

  • Dr. Mélanie Pruvost, Jacques Monod Institute, Paris, France

  • Dr. Angela Schlumbaum, Basel Univ., Switzerland

  • Dr. Gila Bar-Gal, Hebrew Univ. of Jerusalem, Israel

  • Dr. Cristina Luis, Univ. of Lisbon, Portugal

  • Dr. Barbara Wallner, Institute of Animal Breeding and Genetics, Vienna, Austria

  • Dr. Sanne Boessenkool, Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis, Norway

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• Ethologist & Animal Scientists:

  • Dr. Alice de Boyer des Roches, Veterinary School of Lyon, France

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• Statisticians & Population Geneticists:

  • Pr. Laurent Excoffier, Univ. Bern, Switzerland

  • Dr. Gilles Guillot, EFSA, Milan, Italy

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