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The primary focus of Dr. Sterner’s research is to understand the genetic basis of distinctive human traits. As a molecular anthropologist, she uses a combination of comparative genomics and molecular biology to address questions about primate evolution and human biology, health and disease. Dr. Sterner has ongoing projects in primate aging, human adaptations (e.g., bipedalism, brain evolution), and primate adaptation to SIV infection. Dr. Sterner co-directs the molecular anthropology lab in the Anthropology Department. Her research has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Leakey Foundation, Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research and the American Association of University Women.