Love DalénSweden

    Love Dalén is a Professor of evolutionary genomics at Stockholm University, and one of the founding members of the Swedish Centre for Palaeogenetics. He is a member of the IUCN Conservation Genetics Specialist Group, and a scientific advisor to the International Commission for Missing Persons in the Hague.

    Research

    His research is focused on using ancient DNA technology to investigate the ecology and evolutionary history of both extinct and extant wild animals,  including mammoths, lemmings, bears and cave lions, with specific focus on how past environmental changes determine the distribution and abundance of organisms. The work by his research group is focused on mammalian demographic change, adaptive evolution, and hybridisation during the last 2.5 million years, especially in the context of Pleistocene climate change.

    His research group is renowned for being the first to sequence the complete woolly mammoth and rhinoceros genomes. In 2021, he led an international consortium that sequenced the oldest genomes ever recovered, from mammoth remains that were more than one million years old.

    Grants and awards

    His current research is funded by the Swedish Research Council, the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, and an ERC Advanced Grant.

    Selected bibliography