Beleza , Sandra - University of Leicester - School of Biological Sciences

个人简介

Sandra received her B.S. degree from the University of Porto, Portugal, in 1998. She then worked for two years in cell biology research at the Institute of Pathology and Immunology of the University of Porto (IPATIMUP), before she joined the graduate program in Forensic and Population Genetics at the University of Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain, in January 2001. Her dissertation project focused on using uniparental markers (Y-chromosome and mtDNA) in European and African populations to address forensic, population genetics and evolutionary questions. After receiving her Ph.D. in mid-2005, Sandra accepted a post-doctoral position at IPATIMUP and the Department of Genetics, Stanford University, California, USA. During her post-doc, she focused on recently African/European admixed populations and analysed genome-wide data to study the genetic architecture and evolution of morphologic and biomedical traits. In November 2013, Sandra joined the Department of Genetics of the University of Leicester to establish her on laboratory in Human Population Genetics.

研究领域

Our research centres on the application of genomic tools to address questions in human evolutionary genetics, anthropology, and the biomedical sciences. We are interested in discovering and measuring human genetic diversity and stratification related to either ancient population history or recent admixture, and in elucidating the genetic basis and evolution of complex morphological traits and diseases. We are particularly focused on the genomic structure of African and African-derived populations. One common thread in our research is traits that vary in prevalence across the world and therefore have the potential for being successfully characterized in admixed populations. We are currently working with the African/European admixed population of the Cape Verde islands, a former Portuguese colony located 400 km off the west coast of Africa, to study phenotypes with anthropological relevance, namely skin and eye colour, and phenotypes with biomedical relevance, namely host-pathogen interactions that underlie the large heterogeneity in disease susceptibility to Helicobacter pylori infection. We are also extending these studies to other populations, namely those in Brazil, Angola, and Mozambique.

近期论文

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Beleza S, Johnson NA, Candille SI, Absher DM, Coram MA, Lopes J, Campos J, Gomes C, Araújo II, Anderson TM, Vilhjálmsson BJ , Nordborg M, Correia e Silva A, Shriver MD, Rocha J, Barsh GS, Tang H (2013). Genetic architecture of skin and eye color in an African-European admixed population. PLoS Genetics 9: e1003372. Beleza S, Múrias dos Santos A, McEvoy B, Alves I, Martinho C, Cameron E, Shriver MD, Parra EJ, Rocha J (2013). The timing of pigmentation lightening in Europeans. Mol Bio Evol 30: 24-35. Beleza S, Campos J, Araújo II, Hoppfer- Almada A, Correia e Silva A, Parra EJ, Rocha J (2012). The admixture structure and genetic variation of the archipelago of Cape Verde and its implications for admixture mapping studies. PLoS One 7: e51103. Candille SI, Absher DM, Beleza S, Bauchet M, McEvoy B, Garrison N, Myers RM, Barsh GS, Tang H , Shriver MD (2012). Genome-wide Association Studies of Quantitatively Measured Skin, Hair, and Eye Pigmentation in Four European Populations. PLoS One 7: e48294. Reiner AP, Beleza S, Franceschini N, Auer PL, Carlson CS, Robinson JG, Kooperberg C, Peters U, Tang H (2012). Genome-wide association and population genetic analysis of C-reactive protein in African American and Hispanic American women: the Women's Health Initiative SNP Health Association Resource. Am J Human Genet 91: 502-512. Coelho M, Sequeira F, Luiselli D, Beleza S, Rocha J (2009). On the edge of Bantu expansions: mtDNA, Y chromosome and lactase persistence genetic variation in southwestern Angola. BMC Evol Biol 9: 80. Miller C, Beleza S, Pollen A, Schluter D, Kittles R, Shriver MD, Kingsley DM (2007). Cis-regulatory changes in Kit ligand expression and parallel evolution of pigmentation changes in sticklebacks and humans. The Cell 131:1179-1189. McEvoy B, Beleza S, Shriver M (2006). The Genetic Architecture of Normal Variation in Human Pigmentation: An Evolutionary Perspective and Model. Hum Mol Genet 15 Suppl 2: R176-R181.