2026 Svante Pääbo: Genetics Researcher – H-Index, Publications & Awards

Discipline name	D-Index	World Ranking	Current World Ranking	National Ranking	Current National Ranking	Publications	Citations
Best Scientists	177	673	616	29	29	467	125567
Genetics	175	54	51	2	2	420	126412

Research.com Recognitions

2026 - Research.com Genetics in Germany Leader Award
2025 - Research.com Best Scientists Award
2025 - Research.com Genetics in Germany Leader Award
2024 - Research.com Genetics in Germany Leader Award
2024 - Research.com Genetics and Molecular Biology in Germany Leader Award
2023 - Research.com Genetics in Germany Leader Award
2023 - Research.com Genetics and Molecular Biology in Germany Leader Award
2022 - Research.com Genetics and Molecular Biology in Germany Leader Award
2020 - Japan Prize for pioneering contributions to paleoanthropology through decoding ancient human genome sequences.
2016 - Fellow of the Royal Society, United Kingdom
2016 - Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences for pioneering the sequencing of ancient DNA and ancient genomes, thereby illuminating the origins of modern humans, our relationships to extinct relatives such as Neanderthals, and the evolution of human populations and traits.
2016 - Keio Medical Science Prize, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan
2013 - Gruber Prize in Genetics
2011 - Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
2004 - Member of the National Academy of Sciences
2001 - German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina - Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina – Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften Human Genetics and Molecular Medicine
1998 - Member of Academia Europaea
Member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO)
Member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO)
Member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO)

Overview

Svante Pääbo is affiliated with the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany. Their research focuses primarily on biochemistry, genetics, and molecular biology, with 66 publications in these fields. Subfields of particular interest include molecular biology, genetics, archaeology, anthropology, and infectious diseases.

The main topics of their work span several interdisciplinary areas:

Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies
Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology
Forensic and Genetic Research
Archaeology and ancient environmental studies
SARS-CoV-2 detection and testing
CRISPR and Genetic Engineering
Zoonotic diseases and public health

They have published frequently in the following venues:

bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
Nature
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Science
Nature Communications

Best Publications

DYNAMICS OF MITOCHONDRIAL DNA EVOLUTION IN ANIMALS: AMPLIFICATION AND SEQUENCING WITH CONSERVED PRIMERS

T.D. Kocher;W.K. Thomas;A. Meyer;S.V. Edwards

6416
Citations
A Draft Sequence of the Neandertal Genome

Richard E. Green;Johannes Krause;Adrian W. Briggs;Tomislav Maricic

4869
Citations
Distribution, silencing potential and evolutionary impact of promoter DNA methylation in the human genome.

Michael Weber;Ines Hellmann;Michael B Stadler;Liliana Ramos

2545
Citations
The complete genome sequence of a Neanderthal from the Altai Mountains

Kay Prüfer;Fernando Racimo;Nick Patterson;Flora Jay

2399
Citations
Initial sequence of the chimpanzee genome and comparison with the human genome

Tarjei S. Mikkelsen;LaDeana W. Hillier

2328
Citations
Genetic history of an archaic hominin group from Denisova Cave in Siberia

David Reich;Richard E. Green;Martin Kircher;Johannes Krause

2284
Citations
Molecular evolution of FOXP2, a gene involved in speech and language

Wolfgang Enard;Molly Przeworski;Simon E. Fisher;Cecilia S. L. Lai

2271
Citations
A high-coverage genome sequence from an archaic Denisovan individual

Matthias Meyer;Martin Kircher;Marie Theres Gansauge;Heng Li

2176
Citations
Mitochondrial genome variation and the origin of modern humans

Max Ingman;Henrik Kaessmann;Svante Pääbo;Ulf Gyllensten

2011
Citations
Neandertal DNA Sequences and the Origin of Modern Humans

Matthias Krings;Anne C. Stone;Ralf W. Schmitz;Heike Krainitzki

1992
Citations
Genetic Analyses from Ancient DNA

Svante Pääbo;Hendrik Poinar;Hendrik Poinar;David Serre;Viviane Jaenicke-Després

1649
Citations
Complete mitochondrial genome sequence of a Middle Pleistocene cave bear reconstructed from ultrashort DNA fragments

Jesse Dabney;Michael Knapp;Michael Knapp;Isabelle Glocke;Marie-Theres Gansauge

1561
Citations
Ancient human genomes suggest three ancestral populations for present-day Europeans

Iosif Lazaridis;Iosif Lazaridis;Nick Patterson;Alissa Mittnik;Gabriel Renaud

1526
Citations
The Simons Genome Diversity Project: 300 genomes from 142 diverse populations

Swapan Mallick;Swapan Mallick;Swapan Mallick;Heng Li;Mark Lipson;Iain Mathieson

1500
Citations
Ancient DNA: extraction, characterization, molecular cloning, and enzymatic amplification.

Svante Pääbo

1408
Citations
The evolution of gene expression levels in mammalian organs

David Brawand;Magali Soumillon;Magali Soumillon;Anamaria Necsulea;Anamaria Necsulea;Philippe Julien;Philippe Julien

1336
Citations
Genome sequence of a 45,000-year-old modern human from western Siberia

Qiaomei Fu;Heng Li;Priya Moorjani;Flora Jay

1328
Citations
The genomic landscape of Neanderthal ancestry in present-day humans

Sriram Sankararaman;Swapan Mallick;Michael Dannemann;Kay Prüfer

1229
Citations
Deep proteome and transcriptome mapping of a human cancer cell line

Nagarjuna Nagaraj;Jacek R Wisniewski;Tamar Geiger;Juergen Cox

1172
Citations
Dynamics of mitochondrial DNA evolution in animals: Amplification and sequencing with conserved primers (cytochrome b/12S ribosomal DNA/control region/evolutionary genetics/molecular phylogenies)

T. D. Kocher;W. K. Thomas;A. Meyer;S. V. Edwards

8
Citations

Frequent Co-Authors

Janet Kelso Max Planck Society

Matthias Meyer Max Planck Society

Philipp Khaitovich Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology

Johannes Krause Max Planck Society

David Reich Harvard Medical School

Kay Prüfer Max Planck Society

Wolfgang Enard Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München

Richard E. Green University of California, Santa Cruz

Jean-Jacques Hublin Collège de France

Nick Patterson Harvard University

External Links

Wikipedia of Svante Pääbo Personal website of Svante Pääbo

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