As NEOMATRIX partners (Eva-Maria Geigl, Anders Götherström, Pavlos Pavlidis and Mehmet Somel) we organized a symposium at the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution 2023 meeting in Ferrara last week. We had five great talks: Victoria Mullin and Torsten Günther told us about sex-biased admixture from aurochs into cattle in Europe. Elisabetta Canteri described a new modeling approach to explain the spread of plant and animal domesticates using ancestry, mobility, and climate. Audrey Lin told the dramatic story of woolly dogs raised by Native Americans and how they went extinct under cultural assimilation pressure by colonizers. Finally, Anders Bergström talked about new leads on the mystery of dog domestication.
Our session also had 35 posters on various topics, from rice and agave to humans and cats. Finally, we were dismayed by news that a symposium participant from China could not join because of visa issues.
Our symposium in SMBE 2023 was a success!
