A US$50,000 grant from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust will help Walla Walla University (WWU) associate biology professor Matthew Williams investigate five millennia of Mesopotamian genetic history. The funding will expand his lab’s computing resources and provide two undergraduate students with paid summer research opportunities.
“While Mesopotamian cultural history is fairly well documented, we know remarkably little about their biological history,” said Williams. His project explores that history in a region whose early urban communities helped seed modern civilization.
The project builds on Williams’ recently published ancient DNA study of Bakr Awa, an archaeological site in the Zagros foothills of eastern Mesopotamia. That research, which included contributions from WWU biology student Aidan Richards, examined genetic changes between the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. The new investigation expands across the entire Mesopotamian region and five millennia, from the Chalcolithic, or Copper Age, to the present day.
Williams will examine genetic adaptation, demographic changes, and the movement of people throughout the region. He is particularly interested in how the development of urban life shaped human biology and health. As ancient communities expanded into dense settlements and lived in close proximity to domestic animals, they experienced notable dietary shifts and unprecedented pressures from novel pathogens. These selective pressures are hypothesized to have left distinct genetic signatures—biological footprints that continue to influence our modern immune response, metabolism, and disease vulnerability.
The grant will expand computational infrastructure beyond resources already provided by the WWU Academic Administration. With that additional capacity, the lab can analyze genomic datasets from thousands of individuals and examine patterns across places and periods in greater detail.
Two undergraduate researchers will participate through paid summer positions across three years in a focused mentoring setting. Their work will combine scientific literature review with direct training in analyzing large-scale genetic datasets, applying statistical methods, and modeling population history. For students heading into graduate study or medicine, working directly with raw genomic data builds practical computational skills and statistical literacy that go far beyond standard classroom labs. Williams has not yet selected the students and plans to announce an open application process.
“Coupling theory with hands-on analysis allows students to do real, primary research. They aren’t just re-running solved problems or reproducing known results—they are working on unanswered questions and contributing genuinely new knowledge to the field,” Williams says. Students will gain experience with the tools of modern genetic research while helping answer fundamental questions about how our ancestors’ environments continue to shape human biology today.
That connection between scientific discovery and student development stood out to Murdock’s reviewers. In its award notification, the trust praised Williams’ research approach and the thoughtful integration of undergraduate researchers, commending WWU for supporting research and education together. The funding will extend those opportunities as Williams and his students work to reconstruct the genetic history of the communities that helped pioneer urban life.
The original article was published on the Walla Walla University news site.
