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Population geneticist Spencer Wells is dedicated to studying the roots and branches of humankind's family tree and exploring the early paths of human migration. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Texas at the age of nineteen. His interests in history and biology drove his doctoral studies at Harvard University, where he studied under the tutelage of evolutionary geneticist Richard Lewontin, and his post-doctoral training at Stanford University's School of Medicine, where he worked with the "father of anthropological genetics" Luca Cavalli-Sforza. Through his landmark research using the Y-chromosome to trace human population dispersal, Wells became committed to studying genetic diversity in indigenous peoples and unraveling the complexities of early human settlement. The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey describes Wells' global expedition in pursuit of DNA samples from widely disparate human populations. Adapted into a documentary for PBS and National Geographic, The Journey of Man describes the groundwork for the Genographic Project, the largest genetic study of the movement of human populations. The Genographic Project, lead by Wells, hopes to capture a genetic snapshot of humanity before modern-day influences make this task impossible.

Added by caterina on February 6, 2006