Genomic Insights and the Irish Travellers: An Interview with Professor Gianpiero Cavalleri

Abstract

Gianpiero Cavalleri is Associate Professor of Human Genetics at the Department of Molecular and Cellular Therapeutics at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and is the lead author of a 2017 study into the genetic structure of the Irish Traveller community. The study provided an estimate of when Irish Travellers split from the ‘settled' population in Ireland. This population-based genetic research project involved researchers from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, University College Dublin, the University of Edinburgh and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and looked into the history and structure of the Traveller population in the context of ‘settled' Irish as well as neighbouring European and Roma Gypsy groups. A full-text version of the study first published in the journal Scientific Reports can be accessed at https://epubs.rcsi.ie/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.ie/&httpsredir=1&article=1100&context=mctart. This interview took place at RCSI on Tuesday 21st November 2017.