1. Anahit Hovhannisyan, PhD
2. Maria Antonosyan
3. Margarita Sarukhanyan

The laboratory of Ethnogenomics (initially a Group of Human Genetics) was founded in 2007. The main scope of our activity is the reconstruction of the genetic history of Armenians and other neighboring peoples of the Near East and the South Caucasus. Recently the laboratory has been actively involved in an international project aiming to study ancient DNA (aDNA) extracted from human fossils of different age strata (Bronze Age and the Neolithic).

- Prevalence of UCP1 genetic variants and their connection with obesity and cardio-metabolic disease. (FP7 EU project).
- The origin and national identity issues of the Iranian Turkish-speaking ethnic groups.
- Comparative genetic study of the Armenian and neighboring populations.

1. Allentoft ME, Sikora M, Sjögren KG, Rasmussen S, Rasmussen M, Stenderup J, Damgaard PB, Schroeder H, Ahlström T, Vinner L, Malaspinas AS, Margaryan A, Higham T, Chivall D, Lynnerup N, Harvig L, Baron J, Della Casa P, Dąbrowski P, Duffy PR, Ebel AV, Epimakhov A, Frei K, Furmanek M, Gralak T, Gromov A, Gronkiewicz S, Grupe G, Hajdu T, Jarysz R, Khartanovich V, Khokhlov A, Kiss V, Kolář J, Kriiska A, Lasak I, Longhi C, McGlynn G, Merkevicius A, Merkyte I, Metspalu M, Mkrtchyan R, Moiseyev V, Paja L, Pálfi G, Pokutta D, Pospieszny Ł, Price TD, Saag L, Sablin M, Shishlina N, Smrčka V, Soenov VI, Szeverényi V, Tóth G, Trifanova SV, Varul L, Vicze M, Yepiskoposyan L, Zhitenev V, Orlando L, Sicheritz-Pontén T, Brunak S, Nielsen R, Kristiansen K, Willerslev E. (2015) Bronze Age population dynamics and its impact on modern Eurasian genetic structure. Nature, 522(7555): 167-172. doi: 10.1038/nature14507
2. Balanovsky O., Zhabagin M.,, Agdzhoyan A., Chukhryaeva M., Zaporozhchenko V., Utevska O., Highnam G., Sabitov Zh., Greenspan E., Dibirova Kh., Skhalyakho R., Kuznetsova M., Koshel S., Yusupov Yu., Nymadawa P., Zhaxybay Zh., Pocheshkhova E., Haber M., Zalloua P.A., Yepiskoposyan L., Dybo A., Tyler-Smith Ch.,, Balanovska E. (2015) Deep phylogenetic analysis of haplogroup G1 provides estimates of SNP and STR mutation rates on the Y-chromosome and reveals migrations of Iranic speakers. PLoS ONE, 10(4): e0122968. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0122968
3. Yunusbayev B., Metspalu M., Metspalu E., Valeev A., Litvinov S., Valiev R., Akhmetova V., Balanovsky O., Shahlo Turdikulova, Dilbar Dalimova, Pagbajabyn Nymadawa, Bahmanimehr A., Sahakyan H., Tambets K., Fedorova S.A., Nikolay Barashkov, Irina Khidiyatova, Mihailov E., Rita Khusainova, Damba L.D., Derenko M., Boris Malyarchuk, Osipova L., Voevoda M., P., Yepiskoposyan L., Kivisild T., Khusnutdinova E.K., Villems R. (2013) The genetic legacy of the expansion of Turkic-speaking nomads across Eurasia. PLoS Genetics, 11(4): e1005068. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1005068
4. Hovhannisyan A., Khachatryan Z., Haber M., Hrechdakian P., Karafet T., Zalloua P., Yepiskoposyan L. (2014) Different waves and directions of Neolithic migrations in the Armenian Highland. Investigative Genetics, 5: 15 (11 pages). doi:10.1186/s13323-014-0015-6
5. Derenko M., Malyarchuk B., Bahmanimehr A., Denisova G., Perkova M., Farjadian S., Yepiskoposyan L. (2013) "Complete mitochondrial DNA diversity in Iranians". PLOS ONE, 8(11): e80673. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0080673