Ophélie Lebrasseur is a postdoctoral research assistant at the Palaeogenomics & Bio-Archaeology Research Network at the University of Oxford, under the direction of Prof. Greger Larson. She is a zooarchaeologist specialising in ancient and modern DNA. Her main research interest lies in the global dispersals of animals through time, and the impact human-animal relationships have had on animal genetic diversity and the environment. She is particularly interested in the last 500 years where the advent of transoceanic travel made the rapid translocation of animals across long distances possible. Her other passion lies in South American native and introduced fauna.

She is currently finalising her work on the project ‘Cultural and Scientific Perceptions of Human-Chicken Interactions’, a project looking at the introduction of chickens in Europe and their cultural history, indirectly reflecting human history. She is also involved in the project ‘Going Places: Empowering Women, Enhancing Heritage and Increasing Chicken Production in Ethiopia’. She investigates the introduction of chickens in Ethiopia and the evolution of their genetic diversity into modern times as well as the emergence of specific traits, including disease-resistant genes. She is currently employed on the project ‘Unifying Domestication and Evolution through Ancient DNA’ investigating the domestication of dogs and pigs based on genome sequencing.