GeneSoc alumnus co-authored study among Top 10 publications of 2023

Asst. Prof. Jae Rodriguez co-authors study that lands on Top 10 publications of UPD College of Science.

Assistant Professor Jae Joseph Russell B. Rodriguez (Ribozymes) was recognized as one of the co-authors of the journal article named by the University of the Philippines Diliman College of Science as among the Top 10 publications released by the College in 2023.

The article titled, “Genomic Perspectives on Human Dispersals during the Holocene,” was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, a peer-reviewed multidisciplinary scientific journal. Through the analysis of two decades’ worth of genomic data, Asst. Prof. Rodriguez and fellow researchers, Mark Stoneing, Leonardo Arias, and Dang Liu, traced the migration of humans around the world along with the proliferation of language and agriculture during the Holocene period roughly ten thousand years ago. 

Their study suggested that the Austronesians, human settlers in Southeast Asia, first migrated from China to Taiwan, then moved southward to Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, and the Philippines. It provided an overview of the complex history of Holocene dispersals in the light of genomic evidence.

The selection process for the Top 10 publications was based on studies published in journals with high Impact Factor (IF), a metric of average number of times research papers are cited.