Meet the Team - Ele

Hello, I am the RATTUS Project’s resident palaeogeneticist here in Palaeohub at the University of York.

In many ways, I am a product of the Department of Archaeology in York; I first joined this department in 2012 as a Bioarchaeology undergraduate student. Twelve years later I am still kicking around, but now as a RATTUS post-doctoral researcher! I began specialising in ancient DNA analysis during my Master's program (you guessed it, also Bioarchaeology at the University of York!), but I really developed my skills as an ancient DNA researcher through my PhD program. In July 2023 I submitted my thesis, the short title was “The Pursuit of Novel Substrates as Reservoirs of Ancient Biomolecules”.

Within the RATTUS Project, I am responsible for the laboratory processing of samples in our specialised ancient DNA clean lab and the bioinformatic analysis of the genetic data we get back from the sequencing centre. I will use the generated palaeogenetics data to address three broad aims:

1. To trace the arrival of black rats in Europe from their native range of Asia
2. To investigate the impacts of the plague on rat populations across Europe
3. To understand the route(s) brown rats took to arrive in Europe

I am feeling very excited to be working as part of a team, after flying solo for my PhD work for so long! And it’s brilliant that I am also able to travel to collect some of the specimens myself (Photo 1). I think it’s a great thing in the palaeogenomics field to be able to complete each process within a project - going from selecting a sample, to doing the required lab work, the data analysis and the final paper. This is the main reason I enjoy my job so much - there is huge variety in the required work for this project!

 

Here I am at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris before sampling some of the rats in their collection. Each of those trays is filled with rat skins - if you look closely you can see some of their little whiskers.

 

Why rats?

Well so far, I have spent my time in academia primarily using ancient DNA analysis to study neglected specimens or substrates. So far this has included skulls historically recovered from the River Thames which don’t have any associated context information, coprolites (preserved faeces) and cess deposits. Surprisingly, due to the fame of the lab rat, there haven’t been that many studies investigating commensal rat genetics. And especially few for the black rat. Did you know a black rat reference genome was only made available in 2020? 

Rats also makes for very cute crochet subjects, I started to make this little rat whilst travelling to Belfast for the 2023 EAA (European Association of Archaeologists) conference.

A little rat I crocheted just after beginning my post-doc.

Team rattus or team norvegicus?

Hmmm, team rattus. 

Several reasons: First, most of my work on the project will be around understanding Rattus rattus (or black rat) movements across space and time, so there has to be an obvious loyalty there. Second, I think the Vikings are pretty cool and they will have all interacted with black rats, not brown rats. Third, everyone likes an underdog don’t they?

Favourite rat in fiction?

Rizzo the Rat. Obviously. Could there be any other answer? The food-loving rodent with a fear of heights is usually found by the side of his best friend Gonzo being scared but having fun. This iconic actor has brought us such cinematic masterpieces as Muppet Treasure Island and The Muppets Christmas Carol. 

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, look them up. You won’t be disappointed!