Mark Whitten

About me:

i grew up in nashville and murfreesboro. i finished my BSc in anthropology and biology with a concentration in genetics/biotechnology and a minor in latin american studies at MTSU. during that time I studied monkeys in Costa Rica and culture/portuguese in Brasil, worked with gibbons at the Nashville Zoo and the Gibbon Conservation Center in California, and worked in a genetics lab. then I did an MSc in primate conservation in Oxford, England and primate genetics research at the University of Cambridge. as of January, 2006 I took a research post with the Royal Veterinary College in London researching genetic variation in horses and also doing ancient DNA research at the McDonald Institute of Archaeological Research and the Biochemistry Dept at the Univ. of Cambridge, and the London Museum of Natural History. I'm hoping to get my first published papers out by mid 2008.---------- I just started work on a PhD at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig studying prehistoric population contact and the origins/adaptations of Siberian horses.

Here is a link to my page at the institute

There is more info about my group if you click 'Group Homepage.' Most of my time will be spent in East Germany but I'll also be doing fieldwork in Siberia and, hopefully, traveling around the world going to conferences. As of February 2008 I've started a project studying the genetics of some ethnolinguistic groups in Burkina Faso, West Africa along with some linguists. My first field excursion was in Feb/March and I went back in Oct/Nov 2008----------

This page has info and pics of the Burkina project. Now new and improved in French and German :)

I don't have much of a life outside of science (and my game consoles...PS3, Xbox360 and the Wii)these days but it'd be nice to find one. I'm currently living in the Sudvorstadt area of Leipzig with my significant other.