Palesa Madupe

My research investigates ancient biomolecules from Plio-Pleistocene hominins in Africa to address questions that cannot be easily resolved with morphological or genomic data alone. The African hominin fossil record from the Late Pliocene to Middle Pleistocene is exceptionally diverse, but the scarcity of molecular evidence has hampered efforts to clarify evolutionary relationships among extinct taxa. Since ancient DNA rarely survives over such timescales, I employ palaeoproteomic techniques; analyzing ancient proteins, to reconstruct phylogeny, study intra-species variation, and assess sexual dimorphism in these fossils. Recently, I have expanded my interests to ancient glycomics, particularly exploring how changes in glycans may have influenced human evolution. Ultimately, my goal is to leverage ancient biomolecules to unravel taxonomic relationships and intraspecific variation, including sexual dimorphism, in Pleistocene hominins, thereby shedding light on key aspects of human evolution.

Career & Education

Research experience (e.g. fieldwork, internships)

• Nucleic acid extraction 
• Protein extraction from a variety of ancient tissues
• PCR, cloning, and sequencing (including next-generation sequencing)
• Bioinformatics analyses using R and Python
• Machine learning approaches, including random forest for microbiome analysis
• Analysis of ancient protein mass spectrometry data
• Experience with MaxQuant and FragPipe for proteomics
• Phylogenetic tree construction using BEAST2
• Comparative genomics research
• Wildlife genomics and microbiome analysis