Targeted (specific) project objectives

Our ultimate vision is to develop a research group capable to use a MIT disciplinary approach, integrating Genetics with the Sciences of the Past as a powerful innovation force to enhance resolving contemporary issues. We identified four specific objectives as the first steps toward the realisation of our vision.

Objective one (OBJ1)

Objective one (OBJ1) is to establish and integrate the existing MIT disciplinary scientific research community in Croatia related to the Sciences of the Past under the umbrella of the Croatian Eastern-Adriatic Multi-, inter- and trans- disciplinary Archaeology Initiative (CrEAMA Initiative). This will be accomplished through partnership with two leading institutions of EU15 countries, University of Cambridge, Cambridge (UK) and University of Pisa, Pisa (Italy), that display proven success in archaeology and genetics, a prestigious scientific reputation and efficient management structure at both University and Departmental/Institute level.

Objective two (OBJ2)

Objective two (OBJ2) is to upgrade and intensify scientific research of Croatian Scientists involved in the CrEAMA Initiative by utilising recent methodological achievements in Genetics and Biology [Next-generation Sequencing (NGS), DNA refinement of ancient materials, Geometric morphometrics, Bioinformatics,…].

Thus, for example NGS methods have increased capabilities far beyond that of traditional Sanger sequencing, allowing millions of bases to be sequenced in a short time. Since then, our knowledge of genomics has grown exponentially, while the costs and capabilities of these technologies continue to improve, allowing us to analyse huge data sets and, consequently, to tackle fundamentals of life, fitness, health and disease. It is interesting to point that costs of genome sequencing are decreasing even faster than computing costs (http://www.economist.com/node/16349358; “according to Moore’s law computers double in power roughly every two years”).