Megan Michel

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About Me

I am a doctoral candidate jointly affiliated with the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University and the Archaeogenetics Department at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Jena, Germany. Broadly, my research seeks to illuminate the mechanisms and consequences of human/pathogen coevolution using genomic analyses of ancient and modern pathogen DNA. Specific areas of interest include:

  1. Exploring the impact of human dietary transitions (particularly Neolithization) on the evolution of the cariogenic oral microbe Streptococcus mutans
  2. Using ancient genomics to illuminate the evolutionary origins of human malaria parasites, particularly Plasmodium falciparum and P. vivax
  3. Application of ancient DNA methodologies to non-invasively generate pathogen genomes from poorly-preserved metagenomic contexts 

My graduate work is advised by Prof. Dr. Johannes Krause, Prof. Dr. Christina Warinner, and Dr. Alexander Herbig, and I am supported by the Max Planck-Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean (MHAAM) graduate fellowship. Prior to beginning graduate school, I spent two years working as an ancient DNA technician in the Reich Lab at Harvard Medical School. I obtained my Bachelor of Arts from Oberlin College in 2015, achieving highest honors for my senior thesis, advised by Dr. Yolanda Cruz.

I am also interested in public science education/outreach, diversity and inclusivity in the STEM, and scientific pedagogy. I currently serves as Co-Leader of the Outreach Working Group of the Human Evolutionary Biology Department’s Diversity and Inclusion Task Force.