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NOVA scienceNOW: Profile: Pardis Sabeti
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Program Overview
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Dr.
Pardis Sabeti is a professor of genetics and an infectious disease specialist
at Harvard University. She developed an effective way to track the spread of
genes in a population, providing insight into natural selection. Currently she
studies how the malaria parasite develops drug resistance. She's also is
a singer, songwriter, and guitarist in a rock band.
This NOVA scienceNOW segment:
reviews
that DNA mutations occur at a high frequency in a population; mutations that
help an individual survive in a specific environment are considered beneficial. explains
that beneficial mutations, such as those that enabled humans to digest milk,
are passed down to offspring at a greater frequency than non-beneficial ones
and "spread" quickly through a population. reports
that Dr. Sabeti developed an algorithm identifying genes that spread rapidly in
a population. Scientists now scan the human genome using this algorithm and
learn more about natural selection and evolution. considers
how Sabeti's family experiences affected her character and work: Her
family fled Iran during the 1979 Revolution and lost all their possessions.
Later, Sabeti's father nearly died in a car accident, and after apprenticing
with her father's doctor, she decided to study medicine. reports
that Pardis's current research involves understanding how the parasite
that causes malaria becomes resistant to the drugs commonly used to fight it.
Taping Rights: Can be used up to one year after the program is taped off the air.
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