Sharon Browning

Photo of Sharon Browning
Research Professor
Biostatistics
206-616-5037
206-543-3742
Magnuson Health Sciences Center - F Wing
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Education

Bio

Affiliations

Research

News
PhD
Statistics
University of Washington
1999
BScHons
Mathematics
University of Auckland (New Zealand)
1995

I work on developing stochastic models for correlations between genetic variants along chromosomes, and on computationally-efficient statistical methods utilizing these models. Applications of my work include haplotype phasing, genotype imputation and detection of segments of identity by descent.

Research Associate Professor
Genetic Analysis Center
Study Section Member
NIH study section: Genetic Variation and Evolution (GVE)
Member of population genetics working group
Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed)
Faculty Research Interests: 
Statistical Genetics and Genomics
Population genetics
Ancient Bone Reveals Surprising Sex Lives Of Neanderthals
NPR - Thu Aug 23
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, recently announced that they’d found something quite surprising: the bones of a child who had a Neanderthal for a mother and a Denisovan for a father....
New Discovery Adds to Denisovan Story
Scientific American - Wed Aug 22
Earlier this year, UW Biostatistics professor Sharon Browning published research showing that two distinct populations of Denisovans mixed with modern humans....
A Blended Family: Her Mother Was Neanderthal, Her Father Something Else Entirely
The New York Times - Wed Aug 22
Genetic analysis of bones discovered in a Siberian cave hints that the prehistoric world may have been filled with “hybrid” humans.“They managed to catch it in the act — it’s an amazing discovery,” said Sharon Browning, a statistical geneticist at th...
Offspring of Neanderthal and Denisovan identified for first time
The Guardian - Wed Aug 22
“Finding remains from a first generation admixed individual should be a very small probability occurrence, unless perhaps interbreeding between Neanderthals and Denisovans was not uncommon at a small number of locations, such as the Denisova cave, wh...
Interbreeding Surprise! More Denisovans in Our Family Tree
Discover Magazine - Mon Mar 19
Hey, sex happens. And apparently, whenever our ancestors met up with other members of the genus Homo, it happened a lot....
Our ancestors mated with the mystery ‘Denisovan’ people – twice
New Scientist - Mon Mar 19
Our ancestors mated with another species of ancient hominins, the Denisovans, on at least two occasions....
Humans bred with this mysterious species more than once, new study shows
The Washington Post - Mon Mar 19
Homo sapiens had lots of sex with Homo neanderthalensis....
Modern humans interbred with Denisovans more than once
ars TECHNICA - Mon Mar 19
Humans in Asia and Oceania met, mingled, and bred with Denisovans at least twice....
Mysterious Denisovans interbred with modern humans more than once
CNN - Mon Mar 19
Neanderthals, Denisovans and our ancestors were mixing and mingling a long time ago -- and some of our genetics can be traced back to these archaic humans....
Move over, Neanderthals: Our ancestors mated with Denisovans not once but twice, scientists say
The Los Angeles Times - Mon Mar 19
Humans weren't just making babies with Neanderthals back in the day. A new study that compares the genomes of different groups of modern humans has found that our ancestors interbred with another close relative, the Denisovans, more than once....
New analysis of genetic data finds two pulses of Denisovan populations contributed to ancestry of modern humans in East Asia
Dept. of Biostatistics - Thu Mar 15

Education
PhD
Statistics
University of Washington
1999
BScHons
Mathematics
University of Auckland (New Zealand)
1995

Bio

I work on developing stochastic models for correlations between genetic variants along chromosomes, and on computationally-efficient statistical methods utilizing these models. Applications of my work include haplotype phasing, genotype imputation and detection of segments of identity by descent.

Affiliations
Research Associate Professor
Genetic Analysis Center
Study Section Member
NIH study section: Genetic Variation and Evolution (GVE)
Member of population genetics working group
Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed)

Research
Faculty Research Interests: 
Statistical Genetics and Genomics
Population genetics

News
Ancient Bone Reveals Surprising Sex Lives Of Neanderthals
NPR - Thu Aug 23
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, recently announced that they’d found something quite surprising: the bones of a child who had a Neanderthal for a mother and a Denisovan for a father....
New Discovery Adds to Denisovan Story
Scientific American - Wed Aug 22
Earlier this year, UW Biostatistics professor Sharon Browning published research showing that two distinct populations of Denisovans mixed with modern humans....
A Blended Family: Her Mother Was Neanderthal, Her Father Something Else Entirely
The New York Times - Wed Aug 22
Genetic analysis of bones discovered in a Siberian cave hints that the prehistoric world may have been filled with “hybrid” humans.“They managed to catch it in the act — it’s an amazing discovery,” said Sharon Browning, a statistical geneticist at th...
Offspring of Neanderthal and Denisovan identified for first time
The Guardian - Wed Aug 22
“Finding remains from a first generation admixed individual should be a very small probability occurrence, unless perhaps interbreeding between Neanderthals and Denisovans was not uncommon at a small number of locations, such as the Denisova cave, wh...
Interbreeding Surprise! More Denisovans in Our Family Tree
Discover Magazine - Mon Mar 19
Hey, sex happens. And apparently, whenever our ancestors met up with other members of the genus Homo, it happened a lot....
Our ancestors mated with the mystery ‘Denisovan’ people – twice
New Scientist - Mon Mar 19
Our ancestors mated with another species of ancient hominins, the Denisovans, on at least two occasions....
Humans bred with this mysterious species more than once, new study shows
The Washington Post - Mon Mar 19
Homo sapiens had lots of sex with Homo neanderthalensis....
Modern humans interbred with Denisovans more than once
ars TECHNICA - Mon Mar 19
Humans in Asia and Oceania met, mingled, and bred with Denisovans at least twice....
Mysterious Denisovans interbred with modern humans more than once
CNN - Mon Mar 19
Neanderthals, Denisovans and our ancestors were mixing and mingling a long time ago -- and some of our genetics can be traced back to these archaic humans....
Move over, Neanderthals: Our ancestors mated with Denisovans not once but twice, scientists say
The Los Angeles Times - Mon Mar 19
Humans weren't just making babies with Neanderthals back in the day. A new study that compares the genomes of different groups of modern humans has found that our ancestors interbred with another close relative, the Denisovans, more than once....
New analysis of genetic data finds two pulses of Denisovan populations contributed to ancestry of modern humans in East Asia
Dept. of Biostatistics - Thu Mar 15