Operator
Eurac Research
Our goal: reconstructing the genome of pathogens.
We investigate the markers of hereditary diseases. Using modern DNA research methods.
In the Modern DNA Lab, we develop and improve molecular methods for the study of modern DNA. The lab offers the possibility of working with a high copy number of molecular products and testing new methods before they are applied to bioarchaeological material.
The most important method used is 'targeted enrichment', i.e. the enrichment of target sequences to isolate human or microbial DNA from complex samples. When the endogenous DNA content is low, this molecular method offers a range of procedural approaches that allow researchers to, for example, focus their investigations on population genetics, genetic disease markers or reconstruction of the complete genome of a pathogen. To avoid cross-contamination, the laboratory for modern DNA is spatially separated from the laboratory for ancient DNA.