Jin Li

Biography

Prof. Jin received his doctoral degree in genetics from the University of Texas, and is an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Prof. Jin holds a Haoqing-Fudan Professorship and has been awarded the Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation Award for Science and Technology Achievement, Second Prize for National Natural Science Award, First Prize for Shanghai Science and Technology Advancement Award of Shanghai, among others. He serves as an editorial board member for nine academic journals, is president of the Shanghai Society of Genetics, and is president of the Shanghai Society of Anthropology. His research interests lie in medical genetics and genetic epidemiology, computational biology, human population genetics and genomics. Prof. Jin has published approximately 400 articles, in journals including Nature, Science, PNAS, JCI andJAMA. Prof. Jin assumed the current position of Vice President in 2011.

Research Interest

Jin is a leading proponent of the model of recent African origin of modern humans.His research presented evidence that the majority of the gene pools in China originated from Africa.His team analyzed the Y chromosomes of males around China and compared this group with those of Southeast Asians and Africans. Results of the analysis suggested that Southeast Asia was the first destination of the migration from Africa to Asia which began approximately 60,000 years ago; from there, migrants moved into Southern China, then crossing the Yangtze River to Northern China.He "could not find any evidence that is consistent with the hypothesis of independent origin in China" in the 1998 study which used genetic markers called microsatellites to compare Chinese populations.He stated that while his research does not necessarily rule out independent origin, the burden of proof has been shifted to those who believe in independent origin.The findings contrast with the hypothesis that the Peking Man was the ancestor of Chinese people.