A Proper Study for Mankind: Understanding the Human Condition through the Lens of other Primates
to
Jenny Tung, Ph.D.
Professor
Director, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Max Planck Gesellschaft
Jenny Tung, born 1982 in Seaford, Delaware, United States, studied Evolutionary Biology at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA. She received her Ph.D. at Duke University investigating the causes and consequences of genetic variation in wild baboons, under the supervision of Susan Alberts and Gregory Wray. She spent her postdoctoral studies investigating the functional genomic signature of genotype and social environment in nonhuman primates, under the supervision of Yoav Gilad at the University of Chicago, Chicago, USA. In 2012, she joined the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology and the Duke Population Research Institute at Duke University. While at Duke, Tung investigated the genetic and genomic consequences of social environmental variation in baboons, rhesus macaques, and other social mammals, as well as the role of behavior in primate hybridization. Tung co-directs the Amboseli Baboon Research Project, one of the longest-running primate field sites in the world. Tung was awarded tenure in 2017. She started her position as a director of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, in 2022.
Summary
https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=52201
Our experiences in early life and our social connections throughout life strongly predict our health and our lifespans. Work in the last few decades reveals that similar patterns govern the lives of our closest living relatives, the non-human primates. These studies suggest that the social determinants of health in humans have deep evolutionary roots. Here, I will consider our emerging understanding of this process, drawing on my work on both captive rhesus macaques and wild baboons. I will review the strong evidence that early adversity, social status, and affiliative ties in adulthood are central to life outcomes, suggesting that observations in humans are not an artifact of the modern human environment. I will discuss possible pathways that connect early life to later life outcomes, including work we have done to connect social interactions with changes in gene regulation “under the skin.” Finally, I will highlight what we know about buffers against adversity in other primates, including the potential for resilience following adversity.
Presentation objectives:
- Demonstrate that the strong relationships between early life experience, social connections, and major life outcomes in humans are part of a long evolutionary legacy.
- Illustrate how studies in other primates can help overcome the challenges of life course research in humans, including by helping to reveal the pathways that translate social and environmental adversity to changes in the body.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 1, 2024