Dr. Rodrigo Barquera / VU MF archive
At the Faculty of Medicine of Vilnius University, Dr. Rodrigo Barquera, a researcher from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, delivered a lecture titled “Once upon a time in the Americas: a story of immune genes and pathogens”. The lecture was aimed at those interested in human evolutionary adaptation mechanisms and immunology.
The speaker raised thought-provoking questions: What might the first encounter between Europeans and Indigenous Americans in the lands of Mexico have been like? What changes followed this cultural collision? What lessons has humanity learned from it? Geography, history, epidemiology, immunology, genetics, and much more were intertwined in Dr. Rodrigo Barquera’s compelling narrative about the mysterious Cocoliztli epidemic of the 16th century, which claimed a large portion of the population. The pathogen responsible for this devastating outbreak remains unknown to this day. However, Dr. Rodrigo Barquera’s research continues, and perhaps the integration of ancient DNA studies with data from other scientific fields will help solve this mystery.
We invite those who could not attend in person or would like to listen again to enjoy the recording of the lecture.