The plenary speakers

Evolutionary genomics gains resolution when genomic data span extended time frames and cover broad diversity. Comparative genomics of extant diversity remains the standard DNA-based approach to studying species evolution, but it cannot capture extinct diversity, is biased toward present-day genotypes, and fails to reconstruct a substantial fraction of past evolutionary states and events. Ancient DNA complements this view by adding temporal depth—direct snapshots from genomes of the past that anchor evolutionary inferences. In this talk, I will highlight some of the insights that ancient DNA uniquely enables: i) studying past infections and epidemics, notably in regions and periods that lack written records; ii) identifying human and pathogen adaptations that can only be detected through ancient genomes; iii) tracing how humans and their commensal microbes spread together over our species’ history, representing an opportunities to study human-microbe co-evolution. I will close by showing that evolutionary genomics is not only a window onto the past but also a lens to look into the future. I will present how we can conduct ecosystem-scale experiments that simulate projected climate-change scenarios, enabling us to test how plant populations and microbial communities are likely to respond. Altogether, the presentation will connect past, present, and future in a health-oriented evolutionary perspective, underscoring how integrating temporal depth with comparative diversity can inform prevention and public health.