Erika Hagelberg

At the age of 13, Hagelberg's father escaped from Nazi Germany to the United Kingdom on the Kindertransport in 1939.{{Cite web|url=https://networks.h-net.org/node/73374/announcements/116860/there-such-thing-jewish-genome-lecture-professor-erika-hagelberg|title=Is there such a thing as a Jewish genome? A lecture by Professor Erika Hagelberg {{!}} H-Announce {{!}} H-Net|website=networks.h-net.org|access-date=2019-04-11}} Hagelberg studied biochemistry at the University of London and earned her bachelor's degree in 1977. She completed a Master's in History and Philosophy of Science from University College London.{{Cite journal |last1=Hagelberg |first1=Erika |last2=Hofreiter |first2=Michael |last3=Keyser |first3=Christine |date=2015-01-19 |title=Ancient DNA: the first three decades |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |volume=370 |issue=1660 |pages=20130371 |doi=10.1098/rstb.2013.0371 |pmc=4275880 |pmid=25487324}} She moved to the University of Cambridge for her doctoral studies, and was awarded her PhD degree from the Department of Biochemistry in 1983.{{Cite web|url=https://royalsociety.org/science-events-and-lectures/2013/ancient-dna/|title=Ancient DNA: the first three decades {{!}} Royal Society|website=royalsociety.org|language=en-gb|access-date=2019-04-12}} Her thesis is entitled The Biochemistry of Activation and Germination of Bacterial Spores.{{Cite web |title=Biochemistry of Activation and Germination of Bacterial Spores |url=https://idiscover.lib.cam.ac.uk/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=44CAM_ALMA21429674120003606&context=L&vid=44CAM_PROD&lang=en_US&search_scope=SCOP_CAM_ALL&adaptor=Local%20Search%20Engine&tab=cam_lib_coll&query=any,contains,Erika%20Hagelberg&offset=0 |access-date=2025-02-01 |website=idiscover.lib.cam.ac.uk |language=en}}

Hagelberg works in the analysis of ancient DNA from archaeological bones.{{Cite journal|date=1991-04-22|title=Isolation and characterization of DNA from archaeological bone|journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences|volume=244|issue=1309|pages=45–50|doi=10.1098/rspb.1991.0049|pmid=1677195|issn=1471-2954|last1=Hagelberg|first1=E.|last2=Clegg|first2=J. B.|bibcode=1991RSPSB.244...45H|s2cid=23859039}} She joined the University of Oxford in 1987, where she worked at the John Radcliffe Hospital alongside Bryan Sykes and Robert E. M. Hedges.{{Cite journal|last1=Hagelberg|first1=Erika|last2=Sykes|first2=Bryan|last3=Hedges|first3=Robert|date=1989|title=Ancient bone DNA amplified|journal=Nature|language=en|volume=342|issue=6249|pages=485|doi=10.1038/342485a0|pmid=2586623|issn=1476-4687|bibcode=1989Natur.342..485H|s2cid=13434992|doi-access=free}} At Oxford, Hagelberg collaborated with Alec Jeffreys on the applications of bone DNA in forensic science. Jeffreys once described her as being able to 'get DNA out of a stone, just about'.{{Cite journal|last=Zagorski|first=Nick|date=2006-06-13|title=Profile of Alec J. Jeffreys|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|language=en|volume=103|issue=24|pages=8918–8920|doi=10.1073/pnas.0603953103|issn=0027-8424|pmid=16754883|pmc=1482540|bibcode=2006PNAS..103.8918Z |doi-access=free }} Jeffreys and Hagelberg worked on single tandem repeat typing. Her early work included the analysis of bones from the Mary Rose.{{Cite web|url=http://phdsymposium.embl.org/symp2007/abstract-hagelberg.shtml|title=Erika Hagelberg - Analysis of ancient bone DNA from the wreck of Mary Rose, the flagship of Henry VIII - EMBL PhD Student Symposium|website=phdsymposium.embl.org|access-date=2019-04-11}} Hagelberg identified pig DNA in a leg bone from the food stores in the Mary Rose.

Jeffreys and Hagelberg demonstrated the DNA analysis could be used to identify the skeletal remains of a murder victim.{{Cite journal|last1=Jeffreys|first1=Alec J.|last2=Gray|first2=Ian C.|last3=Hagelberg|first3=Erika|date= August 1991|title=Identification of the skeletal remains of a murder victim by DNA analysis|journal=Nature|language=en|volume=352|issue=6334|pages=427–429|doi=10.1038/352427a0|pmid=1861721|issn=1476-4687|bibcode=1991Natur.352..427H|s2cid=4263579}} Unfortunately, the body had been in the ground for so long that it had disintegrated.{{Cite web|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/jeffreys-alec-john|title=Jeffreys, Alec John {{!}} Encyclopedia.com|website=www.encyclopedia.com|access-date=2019-04-11}} They could not use conventional DNA fingerprinting to analyse the DNA, and had to develop more sophisticated techniques. In the 1990s she was one of the first people to use bone DNA analysis for forensic identification.{{Cite web|url=http://www.ethnicityandrace.com/researchers.html|title=Researchers|website=From racial typology to DNA sequencing|language=en|access-date=2019-04-11}}

Hagelberg's DNA extraction technique was used to identify bones found in Brazil that were believed to belong to Josef Mengele.{{Cite journal|last1=Jeffreys|first1=A. J.|last2=Allen|first2=M. J.|last3=Hagelberg|first3=E.|last4=Sonnberg|first4=A.|date=1992|title=Identification of the skeletal remains of Josef Mengele by DNA analysis|journal=Forensic Science International|volume=56|issue=1|pages=65–76|issn=0379-0738|pmid=1398379|doi=10.1016/0379-0738(92)90148-P}} With Jeffreys, Hagelberg extracted DNA from a skeleton that had been buried for several years, and compared it with that of Mengele's family members. Their discovery closed a case of war crime that had stayed open for half a century.{{Cite journal|last=Jobling|first=Mark A.|date=2013-11-18|title=Curiosity in the genes: the DNA fingerprinting story|journal=Investigative Genetics|volume=4|issue=1|pages=20|doi=10.1186/2041-2223-4-20|pmid=24245602|pmc=3831598|issn=2041-2223 |doi-access=free }}

Hagelberg played a key role in the identification of remains of the Romanov family, the Russian imperial family, who were murdered in 1918 by the Bolsheviks. Their bodies had been mutilated with grenades before burial to prevent identification.{{Cite news |last=Honan |first=William H. |date=1992-08-12 |title=A Playwright Applies His Craft To Czar Nicholas II's Last Days |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/08/12/books/a-playwright-applies-his-craft-to-czar-nicholas-ii-s-last-days.html |access-date=2025-02-12 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} Nine skeletons were analysed, including those of the putative Tsarina and three of her daughters, and their DNA was compared to that of living descendants.{{Cite journal|last1=Sullivan|first1=Kevin|last2=Hagelberg|first2=Erika|last3=Evett|first3=Ian|last4=Tully|first4=Gillian|last5=Benson|first5=Nicola|last6=Piercy|first6=Romelle|last7=Kimpton|first7=Colin|last8=Ivanov|first8=Pavel L.|last9=Gill|first9=Peter|date= February 1994 |title=Identification of the remains of the Romanov family by DNA analysis|journal=Nature Genetics|language=en|volume=6|issue=2|pages=130–135|doi=10.1038/ng0294-130|pmid=8162066|s2cid=33557869|issn=1546-1718}} Hagelberg conducted the laboratory analysis, extracting, amplifying, and sequencing the bone samples, blindly and in a separate laboratory. She extracted DNA from bone fragments using a method she had developed previously, now modified, as described in her 1991 article coauthored with the molecular biologist John Clegg.{{Cite journal |title=Isolation and characterization of DNA from archaeological bone |url=https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/epdf/10.1098/rspb.1991.0049 |access-date=2025-02-12 |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences |date=1991 |volume=244 |issue=1309 |pages=45–50 |language=en |doi=10.1098/rspb.1991.0049|pmid=1677195 }} Hagelberg removed the outer surfaces of bone fragments from the skeletons by sanding with a flap-wheel attached to a high-speed drill. The remaining bone was frozen in liquid nitrogen, ground to a fine powder, mixed with Proteinase, extracted three times, centrifuged in a Centricon 30 microconcentrator, washed and centrifuged again. The DNA derived from this process was compared with blood samples from maternal relatives of the Tsar and Tsarina, supplied as a liquid or stains on cotton cloth, which were then extracted.

Hagelberg has also used mitochondrial DNA to study the migration of human populations. "Bone DNA-typing allows the direct investigation of the genetic affinities of past populations".{{cite book |last1=Stefan |first1=Vincent H. |last2=Gill |first2=George W. |title=Skeletal Biology of the Ancient Rapanui (Easter Islanders) |date=7 January 2016 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-02366-6 |page=194 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jaUTCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA194 |language=en}} Hagelberg extracted DNA from mammoth bones.{{Cite journal|last1=Lister|first1=Adrian M.|last2=Baryshnikov|first2=Gennady F.|last3=Andrei V. Sher|last4=Cook|first4=Charles E.|last5=Thomas|first5=Mark G.|last6=Hagelberg|first6=Erika|date= August 1994 |title=DNA from ancient mammoth bones|journal=Nature|language=en|volume=370|issue=6488|pages=333–334|doi=10.1038/370333b0|pmid=8047136|issn=1476-4687|bibcode=1994Natur.370R.333H|s2cid=8694387}} She used a molecular clock based on cytochrome b on two Asian specimens, one from the Taymyr Peninsula, and the other from the region of the Allaikha River.{{cite book |last1=Jones |first1=Martin |title=The Molecule Hunt: Archaeology and the Search for Ancient DNA |date=2002 |publisher=Arcade Publishing |isbn=978-1-55970-611-7 |page=116 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m495x_todUgC&pg=PA116 |language=en}} The analysis of these Siberian samples, which were provided through the Russian Academy of Sciences, has consequences for the taxonomy of Mammuthus.{{cite book |last1=Ukraintseva |first1=Valentina V. |title=Mammoths and the Environment |date=8 August 2013 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-02716-9 |page=30 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iWgoAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA30 |language=en}}

In 1998 Hagelberg left Cambridge and joined the University of Otago in New Zealand. There she continued her research on human migrations in the Pacific Islands, by examining mitochondrial DNA polymorphisms in Polynesian and Melanesian bones to resolve conflicting opinions on the migratory patterns.{{Cite journal|last=Ben-Ari|first=Elia T.|date=1999-02-01|title=Molecular biographies: Anthropological geneticists are using the genome to decode human history|journal=BioScience|language=en|volume=49|issue=2|pages=98–103|doi=10.2307/1313533|issn=0006-3568|jstor=1313533|doi-access=free}}{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/2002/12/genes-reveal-andamanese-origins/|title=Genes Reveal Andamanese Origins|last=Philipkoski|first=Kristen|date=2002-12-09|magazine=Wired|access-date=2019-04-11|issn=1059-1028}} She also investigated the genetic origins of the people of the Andaman Islands. She found that the Andamanese are genetically more similar to Asian as opposed to African populations, predicting they are descendants of the Paleolithic colonies in Southeast Asia.{{Cite journal|last1=Thangaraj|first1=Kumarasamy|last2=Singh|first2=Lalji|last3=Reddy|first3=Alla G.|last4=Rao|first4=V.Raghavendra|last5=Sehgal|first5=Subhash C.|last6=Underhill|first6=Peter A.|last7=Pierson|first7=Melanie|last8=Frame|first8=Ian G.|last9=Hagelberg|first9=Erika|date=2003|title=Genetic Affinities of the Andaman Islanders, a Vanishing Human Population|journal=Current Biology|volume=13|issue=2|pages=86–93|doi=10.1016/s0960-9822(02)01336-2|issn=0960-9822|pmid=12546781|s2cid=12155496|doi-access=free|bibcode=2003CBio...13...86T }} Hagelberg has also written on the evolution of language, and how social complexity is related to brain size.{{Cite web|url=https://benjamins.com/catalog/la.202.21hag|title=The evolution of language|last=Hagelberg|first=Erika|website=la.202.21hag|language=English|access-date=2019-04-11}} She is interested in how reliable mitochondrial DNA is in studies of human evolution and phylogenetics.{{Cite journal|last1=Hagelberg|first1=E.|last2=Goldman|first2=N.|last3=Lió|first3=P.|last4=Whelan|first4=S.|last5=Schiefenhövel|first5=W.|last6=Clegg|first6=J. B.|last7=Bowden|first7=D. K.|date=1999-03-07|title=Evidence for mitochondrial DNA recombination in a human population of island Melanesia|journal=Proceedings. Biological Sciences|volume=266|issue=1418|pages=485–492|doi=10.1098/rspb.1999.0663|issn=0962-8452|pmc=1689791|pmid=10189712}}{{Cite journal|last1=Lalueza-Fox|first1=Carles|last2=Bertranpetit|first2=Jaume|last3=Alcover|first3=Josep Antoni|last4=Shailer|first4=Neil|last5=Hagelberg|first5=Erika|date=2000|title=Mitochondrial DNA from Myotragus balearicus, an extinct bovid from the Balearic Islands>|journal=Journal of Experimental Zoology|language=en|volume=288|issue=1|pages=56–62|doi=10.1002/(SICI)1097-010X(20000415)288:1<56::AID-JEZ6>3.0.CO;2-X|pmid=10750053|bibcode=2000JEZ...288...56L |issn=1097-010X}}

In 2002 Hagelberg joined the University of Oslo.{{Cite web|url=https://www.mn.uio.no/ibv/personer/vit/erikaha/index.html|title=Erika Hagelberg - Institutt for biovitenskap|website=www.mn.uio.no|language=no|access-date=2019-04-11}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0WQsDgAAQBAJ&q=erika+hagelberg+otago&pg=PT19|title=Life and Death in Asia Minor in Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine Times: Studies in Archaeology and Bioarchaeology|last1=Brandt|first1=J. Rasmus|last2=Hagelberg|first2=Erika|last3=Bjørnstad|first3=Gro|last4=Ahrens|first4=Sven|date=2016-12-31|publisher=Oxbow Books|isbn=9781785703607|language=en}} Hagelberg investigates how definitions of biological race are used by evolutionary biologists.{{Cite web|url=http://www.ethnicityandrace.com/project-overview.html|title=Project Overview|website=From racial typology to DNA sequencing|language=en|access-date=2019-04-11}} Her work has been covered in The Guardian and The New York Times.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/10/world/an-ancient-link-to-africa-lives-on-in-bay-of-bengal.html|title=An Ancient Link to Africa Lives On in Bay of Bengal|last=Wade|first=Nicholas|date=2002-12-10|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-04-11|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/may/12/highereducation.humanities|title=DNA secret of Stone Age travels|last=Harding|first=Luke|date=2001-05-12|work=The Guardian|access-date=2019-04-11|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}} She has written several articles for Nature, including 'DNA from Ancient Mammoth Bones' and 'DNA from Ancient Easter Islanders'.{{Cite journal |last1=Hagelberg |first1=Erika |last2=Thomas |first2=Mark G. |last3=Cook |first3=Charles E. |last4=Sher |first4=Andrei V. |last5=Baryshnikov |first5=Gennady F. |last6=Lister |first6=Adrian M. |date=1994 |title=DNA from ancient mammoth bones |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/370333b0 |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=370 |issue=6488 |pages=333–334 |doi=10.1038/370333b0 |pmid=8047136 |bibcode=1994Natur.370R.333H |issn=1476-4687}}{{Cite journal |last1=Hagelberg |first1=Erika |last2=Quevedo |first2=Silvia |last3=Turbon |first3=Daniel |last4=Clegg |first4=J. B. |date=1994 |title=DNA from ancient Easter Islanders |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/369025a0 |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=369 |issue=6475 |pages=25–26 |doi=10.1038/369025a0 |pmid=8164735 |bibcode=1994Natur.369...25H |issn=1476-4687}}

She has written several books and edited both The Oxford Companion to Archaeology and Life and Death in Asia Minor in Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine Times: Studies in Archaeology and Bioarchaeology.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ystMAgAAQBAJ&q=erika+hagelberg+otago&pg=PR16|title=The Oxford Companion to Archaeology|last1=Silberman|first1=Neil Asher|last2=Bauer|first2=Alexander A.|last3=Holtorf|first3=Cornelius|last4=García|first4=Margarita Díaz-Andreu|last5=Waterton|first5=Emma|date=2012|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780195076189|language=en}} {{Cite web|url=https://www.waterstones.com/book/life-and-death-in-asia-minor-in-hellenistic-roman-and-byzantine-times/j-rasmus-brandt/erika-hagelberg/9781785703591|title=Life and Death in Asia Minor in Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine Times by J. Rasmus Brandt, Erika Hagelberg {{!}} Waterstones|website=www.waterstones.com|language=en|access-date=2019-04-11}} She edited a themed issue of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society on Ancient DNA.

In 2015, Hagelberg was awarded the Cheney Senior Fellowship from the University of Leeds. The Fellowship is awarded to scientists who have achieved international impact in their field. The Fellowship gives leading scientists an opportunity to research at a leading UK institution, exploring new research ideas and building new collaborations.{{Cite web |last=Melteig |first=Elina |date=7 December 2015 |title=We congratulate Erika Hagelberg on being awarded the Cheney Senior Fellowship |url=https://www.uio.no/english/for-employees/unitpages/mn/ibv/current-matters/news/we-congratulate-erika-hagelberg-on-being-awarded-t.html |access-date=12 February 2025 |website=University of Oslo}}

• Life and Death in Asia Minor in Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine Times: Studies in Archaeology and Bioarchaeology, edited by J. Rasmus Brandt, Erika Hagelberg, Gro Bjørnstad, and Sven Ahrens (Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2017)

• Gro Bjørnstad, Erika Hagelberg, 'Analysis of DNA in skeletal material from Hierapolis', Life and Death in Asia Minor from Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine Times edited by J. Rasmus Brandt, Erika Hagelberg, Gro Bjørnstad, and Sven Ahrens (Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2017) pp. 219–27
• J. R. Brandt, S. Ahrens, C. C. Wenn, E. Hagelberg, G. Bjørnstad and others, 'Liv og død i Hierapolis: Norske utgravninger i en hellenistisk-romersk-bysantinisk by i Lilleasia', Viking (Norsk archeologisk årbok) 79 (2016) pp. 193–220
• Erika Hagelberg, 'Genetic affinities of the Rapanui', Skeletal Biology of the Ancient Rapa Nui, edited by G.W. Gill and V. Stefan (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016) pp. 182–201
• J. M. B. Motti, E. Hagelberg, J. Lindo, R. Malhi, C. M. Bravi, R. A. Guichón, 'Primer genoma mitochondrial en restos humanos de la costa de Santa Cruz, Argentina', Magallania (Chile) 43 (2015) pp. 119–31
• Chunxiang Li, Chang Ning, Erika Hagelberg, Hongjie Li, Yongbin Zhao, Wenying Li, Idelisi Abuduresule, Hong Zhu, Hui Zhou, 'Analysis of ancient human mitochondrial DNA from the Xiaohe cemetery: Insights into prehistoric population movements in the Tarim Basin, China', BMC Genetics (2015)
• Erika Hagelberg, Michael Hofreiter, and Christine Keyser, 'Ancient DNA: the First Three Decades', Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (2015) pp. 1–6 https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2013.0371
• Erika Hagelberg et al., 'A Genetic Perspective on the Origins and Dispersal of the Austronesians: Mitochondrial DNA Variation from Madagascar to Easter Island', Past Human Migrations in East Asia: Matching Archaeology, Linguistics and Genetics, edited by Alicia Sanchez-Mazas et al. (London: Routledge, 2008)
• K. W. P. Miller, J. L. Dawson, & E. Hagelberg, 'A Concordance of Nucleotide Substitutions in the First and Second Hypervariable Segments of the Human mtDNA Control Region', International Journal of Legal Medicine 109 (1996) pp. 107–13.
• Erika Hagelberg and John Clegg, 'Isolation and Characterization of DNA from Archaeological Bone', Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B (1991) 244 45–50

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