Posted By: Alyson Barnes, PhD, Assistant Editor, AJHG
Each month, the editors of The American Journal of Human Genetics interview an author of a recently published paper. This month we check in with Anahit Hovhannisyan, PhD (X: @anahit_19; BlueSky: @anahit19.bsky.social) to discuss her recent paper “Demographic history and genetic variation of the Armenian population.”
AB: What motivated you to start working on this project?
AH: Although I was born in Armenia, I emigrated at the age of three and spent most of my life living abroad. Over the years, I found myself feeling increasingly distanced from my homeland and its history. When it came time to choose a profession, I was drawn to genetics – a field I had loved since my school years. Eventually, I returned to Armenia and had the opportunity to join a population genetics lab. I was captivated by how much the field had advanced in recent decades and how genetic tools could provide nuanced insights into some of history’s most debated questions. This felt like a perfect fit for me: it combined my love for science with my growing desire to reconnect with Armenia and contribute to it in some meaningful way – a sentiment perhaps rooted in my years of living apart from my country. One of the most fascinating and controversial topics I encountered was the origin of the Armenian population, and I enthusiastically began to explore it from a genetic perspective.
AB: What about the papers/project most excites you?
AH: I find it particularly exciting how genetics can now completely rewrite human history – whether we are exploring the origin and expansion of modern humans or the ethnogenesis of a specific population. This is what we have now: a case where the Balkan theory on the origin of Armenians, largely based on the accounts of the Greek historian Herodotus, has been univocally accepted for decades by many historians and linguists. Now, with our work, we are challenging this view, based on the most objective proof – our genes.
Another belief that we are disproving with this paper concerns the Assyrian origin of the Armenian population of Sasun, which has been mentioned in many historical sources, such as a Bible. We have shown that this population has no such connection and instead derives its slight divergence from the rest of the Armenian groups due to recent contraction in size. Such an unexpected and thought-provoking finding!
AB: Thinking about the bigger picture, what implications do you see from this work for the larger human genetics community?
AH: I believe this work has an impact and implications beyond the Armenian community. The history of each population is part of our shared global history. Additionally, the region we studied in this paper, the Armenian highlands, is located at the crossroads of Europe and Asia and has played a pivotal role in many historical and prehistoric migrations. For example, the northeastern part of the Armenian highlands lies in the Southern Caucasus, and it has been shown that there was a post-Neolithic population movement from the Caucasus into the steppe, which ultimately contributed genetically to the formation of Yamnaya ancestry – ancestry that is part of the genetic makeup of present-day Europeans. Ultimately, the dataset we are releasing is the first sizable whole-genome dataset for the Armenian population, which can be utilized for further studies, including population and medical genetics research.
AB: What advice do you have for trainees/young scientists?
AH: I might sound trivial, but first and foremost, dream big. I never thought I would end up where I am now. Believe in the path you have chosen and don’t listen to anyone else, only your own instincts; the opportunity will come. Doing science is the most exciting thing! I especially want to address this to people working in institutions in countries categorized as low- or middle-income as I know firsthand that career paths in these regions are often not straightforward and more challenging, due to limited financial support for science and the difficulties in attending scientific conferences due to a visa requirement. Another of my favorite expressions is “when one door closes, another opens”. I have experienced this many times in my career, and I believe that persistence always pays off, with new opportunities emerging at just the right time.
AB: And for fun, tell us something about your life outside of the lab.
AH: I consider myself lucky to have joined a lab where I can call many of my colleagues, my friends, or people I am close to. So often, my life outside the lab is about spending wonderful time with people from the lab. Beyond my scientific work, I make an effort to stay socially active wherever I have lived (which, as it turns out, is quite a list of countries). Currently, I’m involved in building connections within the Armenian diaspora in Ireland and abroad, as well as organizing various events locally. Outside of the lab, you might also find me attending Latino dance classes, running with a local club, or, most recently, exploring my hobby of painting!
Anahit Hovhannisyan, PhD is a Marie Curie Fellow at Trinity College Dublin.