D. Andrew Merriwether, Ph.D. Seminar, International Alpaca Odyssey

D. Andrew Merriwether, Ph.D. is currently an associate professor of anthropology and biology at Binghamton University (since 2002). He has a BA in Medical Anthropology (1988, Penn State), a BS in Biology (1988,Penn State), an MS in Genetics (1989, Penn State), a Ph.D. in Human Genetics (1993, University of Pittsburgh), and three years as a postdoctoral fellow at the Keck Center for Advanced Training in Computational Biology. He was an assistant professor in two departments and two centers at the University of Michigan from 1996-2002 (Anthropolgy, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, the Center for Statistical Genetics, and the Center for Molecular and Clinical Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases (MACEPID)). His research includes studying the origins of domestication, including camelids, as well as studies of human, animal, and plant molecular evolution and population genetics. He has also been involved in ancient DNA research since 1990, including work on ancient camelids in 1997-98. He is currently sequencing candidate genes for coat color and pattern, and conducting linkage analysis and association studies to map the genes involved in the suri phenotype, choanal atresia, wry face, and polydactyly.

He and his his wife, Ann Merriwether (Faculty in Psychology Dept. and in the School of Human Development at Binghamton University), co-own Nyala Farm Alpacas, where they currently have over 40 alpacas (39 huacayas and 2 suris). They have owned alpacas for about five years.

Dr. Merriwether has written numerous articles on alpaca genetics for various alpaca and camelid trade journals and published over 30 scientific articles and book chapters in peer reviewed journals on human and animal molecular evolution and population genetics.