McMaster University Media Release — Genome of the Black Death

• Researchers reconstruct genome of the Black Death

• A skull from the East Smithfield plague pits in London, located under what is now the Royal Mint (photo credit: Museum of London) (.jpg)
• Close-up of teeth from a plague victim (photo credit: Museum of London) (.jpg)
• John Norden's map of London 1593 (.jpg)
• Five skeletal remains from East Smithfield site (photo credit: Museum of London) (.jpg)
• The jawbone from a victim of the Black Death (photo credit: Museum of London) (.jpg)
• Cross-comparison of 10 genomes of 10 modern pathogen strains (.pdf)
• Mapping millions of small DNA fragments to the genome of modern plague pestis bacteria (.jpg)
• Photo of McMaster researcher Hendrik Poinar (.jpg)

Interview with Hendrik Poinar, associate professor and director of the McMaster Ancient DNA Centre and an investigator with the Michael G. DeGroote Insitute of Infectious Disease

In short clips, he answers the following questions:

What makes this research significant?

What do your findings reveal?

Why is it important to understand diseases of the past?

What new methods did you use to reach these conclusions?

Where will this research lead scientists in future?

• Low bitrate file (.mp4 - 1080p @ 30mpbs)
• High bitrate file (.mfx - 1080p @ 50mbps, 4:2:2)

Note: To download file to your local hard drive, right click and select Save Link As.

The b-roll includes footage of Hendrik Poinar on the McMaster University campus.  Additional footage is of graduate student Kirsten Bos, in one of the labs of the McMaster Ancient DNA Centre.  She is drilling ancient teeth from victims of the Black Death and then extracting DNA samples.

• Low bitrate file (.mp4 - 1080p @ 30mpbs)
• High bitrate file (.mfx - 1080p @ 50mbps, 4:2:2)

Note: To download file to your local hard drive, right click and select Save Link As.