🧵 New preprint: Have you ever tried to perform molecular clock dating of ancient mitogenomes using BEAST? Have you struggled using manual tools to create your input files, run your analyses and extract your results? We hope our pipeline provides a solution to this: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

MitoDate: a Nextflow pipeline for molecular clock dating and phylogenetic inference using ancient mitogenomes

Summary Ancient DNA studies are increasingly targeting samples that are beyond the limit of radiocarbon dating (>50 thousand years old) and are often difficult or impossible to date using other geochr...

biorxiv.org

Our #CPGSthlm delegation had great presentations and posters at #SMBE2026! 👏👏👏 ♥️🧬🦣🫎🦠🦋🐝🐀💀🦬🧪

Centre for Palaeogenetics@cpgsthlm.bsky.social · last mo.

After #ICP2026, #CPGsthlm has officially landed in Copenhagen for #SMBE2026! 🇩🇰🧬 We are bringing a delegation from Stockholm to share our latest research. Here is a breakdown of every CPG presentation happening this week 🧵👇 Don't miss out!

#SMBE2026 would not have happened without its dedicated Local Organizing Committee and our partners and sponsors. Thank you, Tom Gilbert, @hernmoral.bsky.social Eline Lorenzen, @bitesizedna.bsky.social and Martin Sikora, and to the many postdocs and PhD students helping with all the preparations.

♥️ THANK YOU ♥️ We are overwhelmed by the positive comments and are incredibly happy that everyone enjoyed their time in Stockholm! #ICP2026 was only possible with the hard work of the organizing committee and a marvellous team of ECR volunteers 🟠 at @cpgsthlm.bsky.social

#ICP2026 Stockholm is over, but ICP will return... in 2028! #ICP2028 will be hosted by Trinity College Dublin 🎉☘️🇮🇪

What a fantastic conference dinner we had yesterday at the Golden Hall 🪙 of Stockholms City Hall! 🏫 Even the full-delegate (>380) conference group picture we thought we couldn't pull out, happened organically 📸🎉

On this last day of the conference, we have a Plenary talk by Beth Shapiro and sessions on Sedimentary ancient DNA and Domestication #ICP2026 See you there!

Thanks for making yesterday's Welcome Reception a thoroughly enjoyable event! Today's program includes a Plenary talk by Ian Barnes and sessions on Human Evolution and Museomics #ICP2026 See you there!

We are looking forward to welcoming you all to Stockholm next week for #ICP2026! We have updated our webpage with some important practical info, as well as some hints and tips to get the most out of Stockholm 🇸🇪 Check it out: tinyurl.com/yyyfjh7z

If ancient metagenomics is your jam, #SPAAM8, hosted by @spaam-community.bsky.social,‬ will be one of three pre-conference workshops at #ICP2026 🧬 When: June 22nd, ~09:00-17:30 (exact times tba) Where: Frescati campus @stockholm-uni.bsky.social and online Register here: tinyurl.com/36rvwe4y

If human palaeogenomics is your scene, @haam-community.bsky.social will be hosting one of three pre-conference workshops at #ICP2026 🧬 When: June 22nd, 14:00-16:30 Where: Frescati campus @stockholm-uni.bsky.social and online Register here: tinyurl.com/ytmhk7ff

If ancient animal genomics is your cup of tea, @aarc-community.bsky.social will be hosting one of three pre-conference workshops at #ICP2026 🧬 When: June 22nd, 14:00-17:30 Where: Frescati campus @stockholm-uni.bsky.social Register here: tinyurl.com/bry3b3yk

#ICP2026 Programme Update! 📢 You can now find the latest version of the full programme here 👉 icp2026.palaeogenomics.org/program We are also thrilled to announce that we now have >400 registered participants joining us in Stockholm! 🦴🧬 We can't wait to see you all soon!

Meet our keynote speakers 💁‍♂️ MATTIAS JAKOBSSON (@humanevouu.bsky.social) Mattias is a leader in employing large-scale genomic datasets to reconstruct the demographic history and evolutionary processes of past human populations. Check the full conference program👉 icp2026.palaeogenomics.org/program/

Come to Stockholm! #SPAAM8

SPAAM@spaam-community.bsky.social · 2mo ago

📢 Registration now open for SPAAM8! Join us for the ICP2026 satellite hybrid meeting on 22 June 2026 in Stockholm 🇸🇪 🧬 Ancient metagenomics community gathering in person or online! 🔗 Register here before June 10th: forms.gle/Z1AK5MHaFEfb... We look forward to seeing you! 🔥

Nice recent article in Nature about sediment DNA and its impacts on human evolution and archaeology, featuring two of our great colleagues here in Vienna, Pere Gelabert and Ben Vernot @heasvienna.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/d41...

How DNA in dirt is shaking up the study of human origins

Researchers are pulling clues from genetic material in ice age soils and rewriting chapters of human history.

nature.com

Meet our keynote speakers 💁‍♂️ HE YU (@sls-pku.bsky.social) He Yu is a specialist in using ancient DNA to reconstruct the evolutionary trajectories of modern and extinct, wild and human-commensal species. Conference info & registration 👉 icp2026.palaeogenomics.org

Meet our keynote speakers 💁‍♀️ VICTORIA MULLIN (@victoriaemullin.bsky.social) Victoria is a leader in using ancient DNA to study the origins of domestication, tracing the genomic changes driven by the interactions between humans and animals. Conference info & registration👉 icp2026.palaeogenomics.org

New paper alert 🚨 A study led by #CPGSthlm researchers found DNA from a bear in 9.6k year old lake sediments. This potentially rewrites the history of brown bears in Scandinavia! 🧬🐻🐾🏔️🧊 Check @officialernst.bsky.social thread 👉 bsky.app/profile/offi... OA article 👉 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Ancient environmental genome reveals a migratory brown bear individual in Early Holocene Scandinavia | PNAS

After the last ice age, species migrated into a newly deglaciated Scandinavia. Brown bear recolonization is thought to have occurred from two direc...

pnas.org

Ernst Johnson@officialernst.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Very excited to share our study of an ancient environmental genome extracted from lake sediment! It originates from a brown bear that lived around 9,600 years ago close to the last ice-sheet remains in northern Sweden, and has an unexpected mitochondrial haplogroup. 1/7 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

This was a fun study to be a part of, especially as the findings/story developed Great collaboration between @cpgsthlm.bsky.social and the Geological Sciences department at @stockholm-uni.bsky.social Led by @officialernst.bsky.social and Isa Feinauer

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences@pnas.org · 4mo ago

Brown bear DNA recovered from 9,600 year-old lake sediment captures information about a single male bear living in what is now northern Sweden. Surprisingly, the bear had genetic signatures associated with southern Swedish bears . In PNAS: https://ow.ly/FcnG50YMPP8

Check out our study!

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences@pnas.org · 4mo ago

Brown bear DNA recovered from 9,600 year-old lake sediment captures information about a single male bear living in what is now northern Sweden. Surprisingly, the bear had genetic signatures associated with southern Swedish bears . In PNAS: https://ow.ly/FcnG50YMPP8

We present DNAharvester 🎉🦴🚜🧬 A pipeline to process highly degraded ancient DNA data that integrates metagenomic filtering, competitive mapping, multiple alignment strategies, reference bias evaluation and much more. GitHub: github.com/NBISweden/DN... Preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Our new pipeline for analysing highly degraded genomic DNA data is now available at biorXiv! Study led by Bilal Sharif

bioRxivpreprint@biorxivpreprint.bsky.social · 4mo ago

DNAharvester: A Nextflow Pipeline for Analysing Highly Degraded DNA from Ancient and Historical Specimens https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.04.20.719564v1

Meet our keynote speakers 💁‍♂️ CRISTINA VALDIOSERA (@universidadburgos.bsky.social) Cristina is a leading expert in ancient human DNA, focusing on the genomic history of past populations and the impact of cultural shifts on human evolution. Conference info & registration 👉 icp2026.palaeogenomics.org

Meet our keynote speakers 💁‍♂️ RICHARD GREEN (UCSC Paleogenomics Lab) Ed is a pioneer in developing novel molecular and computational approaches to recover, sequence, and analyze DNA from challenging, low-quality samples. Conference info & registration 👉 icp2026.palaeogenomics.org

This is lovely: www.theguardian.com/environment/... #science #biology

In the footsteps of Linnaeus: scientists share their passion for species from tiny wasps to hairy plants – in pictures

For his project ‘De Oförtrutna’ (The Relentless), photographer Christer Björkman pictured Swedish scientists working in the spirit of Carl Linneaus, the botanist who created the modern taxonomic syste...

theguardian.com

Very excited to share our study of an ancient environmental genome extracted from lake sediment! It originates from a brown bear that lived around 9,600 years ago close to the last ice-sheet remains in northern Sweden, and has an unexpected mitochondrial haplogroup. 1/7 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Ancient environmental genome reveals a migratory brown bear individual in Early Holocene Scandinavia | PNAS

After the last ice age, species migrated into a newly deglaciated Scandinavia. Brown bear recolonization is thought to have occurred from two direc...

pnas.org

A single wandering male bear has provided crucial insights into the history of brown bears in Scandinavia after the last ice age. This is shown by DNA analysis of clay from a lake. New study from @cpgsthlm.bsky.social & @zoologysthlm.bsky.social published in @pnas.org www.su.se/english/news...

Meet our keynote speakers 💁‍♂️ KATERINA GUSCHANSKI (@kguschan.bsky.social) Katerina is expert in using genomics of museum collections to explore primate evolution, conservation genetics, and the historical impact of environmental change. Conference info & registration 👉 icp2026.palaeogenomics.org

We are looking forward to welcoming you to Stockholm in only 83 days 😍 Our conference will be packed with exciting oral presentations 💁‍♂️, poster sessions 🧾, coffee breaks ☕, and pre-conference workshops 👷‍♀️ Take a look at the preliminary program ⬇️⬇️⬇️