William
Barrie.
Junior Research Fellow at Magdalene College, Cambridge ancient DNA, evolutionary genetics, and the history of human disease
A geneticist working on what ancient DNA can tell us about human health.
I study how thousands of years of human migration, lifestyle change and infectious disease have shaped the genetic architecture of the diseases we live with today. My work sits at the meeting point of ancient DNA, statistical genetics and evolutionary medicine.
I am a Neville Junior Research Fellow at Magdalene College and work in Richard Durbin's group in the Department of Genetics at Cambridge. I read Natural Sciences at Clare College, Cambridge, and completed my PhD at Pembroke College in 2023 under Eske Willerslev, with co-supervision from Rasmus Nielsen (UC Berkeley) and Daniel Lawson (Bristol). Before starting my JRF I held postdoctoral positions in the Cambridge Department of Genetics and at the GLOBE Institute in Copenhagen.
I was first or joint-first author on three of the four papers that appeared on the cover of Nature in January 2024, including the lead study tracing the elevated risk of multiple sclerosis in northern Europe to positive selection in Bronze Age steppe pastoralists. The papers were covered widely in the international press: BBC television and radio, ITV News, the Guardian, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Financial Times, the Economist, and several hundred further outlets.
The evolutionary origins of complex disease.
My research aims to answer two fundamental questions: how has human evolution produced populations harbouring high levels of disease-associated genetics variants? And why are these genetic variants poorly suited to modern environments? This is particularly relevant in the case of autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis. Ultimately, I want to use this information to predict, prevent and treat autoimmune conditions today. Answering these questions requires looking deep into the past at our ancestors' DNA, how they lived, and what infections they were living alongside.
Current work
Ancient DNA & selection
Detecting and dating signatures of natural selection across tens of thousands of ancient genomes.
Polygenic risk scores
Building polygenic risk scores in ancient and modern populations. I am interested in how local ancestry information can improve polygenic risk scores.
Autoimmune disease evolution
Why are diseases such as MS, rheumatoid arthritis and type 1 diabetes so common in northern Europe? I'm interested in where the genetic risk variants underlying these diseases originated, and why they are so common today.
HLA & pathogen co-evolution
Using computer modelling to investigate the Red Queen dynamics of human-pathogen co-evolution, particularly in the HLA region of the human genome.
Looking ahead
My current work is moving in two directions. The first broadens the same evolutionary lens beyond autoimmunity to cardio-metabolic disease, biomarkers and other complex traits, and develops new methods for tracing fine-scale ancestry through deep time. The second is more translational: testing long-standing hypotheses about why modern environments misfire on ancient immune systems, with implications for public health and personalised medicine.
Publications.
See also Google Scholar and ORCID.
Peer-reviewed
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Elevated genetic risk for multiple sclerosis emerged in steppe pastoralist populations
Nature 625, 321–328. Read DOI -
The selection landscape and genetic legacy of ancient Eurasians
Nature 625, 312–320. Read DOI -
Population genomics of post-glacial western Eurasia
Nature 625, 301–311. Read DOI -
Ancient DNA reveals evolutionary origins of autoimmune diseases
Nature Reviews Immunology 24, 85–86. Read DOI -
100 ancient genomes show repeated population turnovers in Neolithic Denmark
Nature 625, 329–337. Read DOI -
The evolutionary origins of multiple sclerosis
Revue Neurologique. DOI
Preprints & under review
- Steppe ancestry in western Eurasia and the spread of the Germanic languages bioRxiv
- Tracing the spread of Celtic languages using ancient genomics bioRxiv
- Converging evidence of positive selection at height-associated loci in Europe bioRxiv
In preparation
- Title tbc Available upon request.
- Title tbc
§ denotes joint first authorship.
Selected talks.
- Jun 2026 Annual Meeting of the French Neurology Society Keynote Paris
- Apr 2026 Workshop on Zoonoses in Prehistory All Souls College, Oxford
- Aug 2025 Ancient DNA Summer Course University of Copenhagen
- May 2025 Genetics & Epidemiology Seminar Department of Statistics, Oxford
- Feb 2025 Sindem4Juniors Italy
- Jul 2024 Ancient DNA Seminar The Francis Crick Institute, London
- Jun 2024 Departmental Seminar International Laboratory for Human Genome Research (LIIGH-UNAM), Mexico
- May 2024 The Tizard Discourse Westminster School, London
- Mar 2024 Neurogenomics Seminar UK Dementia Research Institute
- Dec 2022 Departmental Seminar Danish Multiple Sclerosis Centre, Copenhagen
- Oct 2022 Department of Integrative Biology UC Berkeley
- Apr 2022 Lundbeck Foundation Copenhagen
- Mar 2022 Industry Seminar Illumina, Cambridge
- Oct 2021 GeoGenetics Conference Lundbeck Foundation, Copenhagen
Selected coverage.
The 2024 Nature papers were covered in over 700 pieces of international media. A representative selection below.
Broadcast
- BBC One Six O'Clock News (television)
- BBC Radio 4 PM, Six O'Clock News
- BBC World Service News at 6, & Science in Action
- BBC Radio Scotland News & current affairs
- ITV Anglia News at 6 (television)
Print & online
- The New York Times Ancient skeletons give clues to modern medical mysteries
- The Washington Post Ancient DNA helps trace multiple sclerosis origins in European descendants
- The Guardian Ancient steppe herders brought higher risk of MS to northern Europe
- BBC News Scientists crack mystery of how MS gene spread
- The Times Ancient gene shows why Britons are more likely to have multiple sclerosis
- Reuters DNA from ancient Europeans reveals surprising multiple sclerosis origins
- Financial Times Ancient European migration patterns linked to modern-day disease risks
- CNN Gene that protected humans 5,000 years ago may be linked to debilitating modern disease
- CBS News Ancient human DNA helps explain why northern Europeans have higher MS risk
- NBC News Why MS affects so many people of northern European ancestry
- ABC News Ancient human DNA hints at why a modern disease affects so many northern Europeans
- The Independent Ancient DNA reveals reason for high MS and Alzheimer's rates in Europe
- Newsweek MS is more prevalent in America due to ancient sheep farming
- Daily Mail The 'startling' origin of MS
- Evening Standard Ancient DNA reveals reason for high MS and Alzheimer's rates
- ITV News A huge leap forward in our understanding of the evolution of MS
- Science (AAAS) A higher risk of MS in descendants of ancient herders
- Science News How ancient herders rewrote northern Europeans' genetic story
- Nature News Ancient DNA reveals origins of multiple sclerosis in Europe
- Le Figaro / FAZ / NZZ Major coverage in French, German, Swiss, Spanish, Italian, Korean and Brazilian press
Coverage spanned more than 700 pieces in 30+ countries.
Scholarships & awards.
- 2024–2027 Neville Junior Research Fellowship · Magdalene College, Cambridge
- 2019–2022 Hanne & Torkel Weis-Fogh Studentship · Department of Zoology, Cambridge
- 2018 Horne Prize for Physical Sciences · Clare College, Cambridge
- 2018 Honorary Scholarship · Clare College, Cambridge
Get in touch.
For research enquiries, collaborations, or media requests please write to the address below.
- wb275@cam.ac.uk
- Department
- Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge
- College
- Magdalene College, Cambridge CB3 0AG