Christian Huber

Christian Huber

School of Biological Sciences

Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.

I am a computational biologist with a track record of combing theoretical and empirical analyses to quantify and understand natural selection in the genome. I studied with Ines Hellmann, Joachim Hermisson, and Magnus Nordborg at the University of Vienna, Austria while pursuing my PhD, and did three years of postdoctoral research with Kirk E. Lohmueller at the University of California, Los Angeles. Recently, I was awarded the prestigious Discovery Early Career Research Award for the project “Palaeo-population genomics: studying adaptation using ancient human DNA” that I started as a Principal Investigator at the University of Adelaide in Australia.

During my graduate work, I used population genetic methods to investigate local adaptation within subpopulations of Swedish A. thaliana. Further, I developed a powerful new method for detecting signatures of positive selection in the genome to identified novel candidate regions in humans. During my postdoctoral position, I worked on characterizing and interpreting fitness effects of deleterious mutations in different species, developing a novel comparative population-genomic framework. I am currently working on new approaches for detecting and interpreting adaption in recent human history using ancient DNA, integrating selection scans with prior biological knowledge of molecular pathways and networks.

  • Journals
    Year Citation
    2024 Johnson, O. L., Tobler, R., Schmidt, J. M., & Huber, C. D. (2024). Population genetic simulation: Benchmarking frameworks for non-standard models of natural selection. Molecular Ecology Resources, 24(3), 13 pages.
    DOI
    2024 Brandt, D. Y. C., Huber, C. D., Chiang, C. W. K., & Vecchyo, D. O. D. (2024). The Promise of Inferring the Past Using the Ancestral Recombination Graph. Genome Biology and Evolution, 16(2), 9 pages.
    DOI Europe PMC2
    2023 Johnson, O. L., Tobler, R., Schmidt, J. M., & Huber, C. D. (2023). Fluctuating selection and the determinants of genetic variation. Trends in Genetics, 39(6), 491-504.
    DOI Scopus4 WoS1 Europe PMC3
    2023 Kersten, S., Chang, J., Huber, C. D., Voichek, Y., Lanz, C., Hagmaier, T., . . . Rabanal, F. A. (2023). Standing genetic variation fuels rapid evolution of herbicide resistance in blackgrass. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 120(16), e2206808120.
    DOI Scopus5 Europe PMC3
    2023 Tobler, R., Souilmi, Y., Huber, C. D., Bean, N., Turney, C. S. M., Grey, S. T., & Cooper, A. (2023). The role of genetic selection and climatic factors in the dispersal of anatomically modern humans out of Africa.. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 120(22), e2213061120.
    DOI Scopus3 Europe PMC2
    2023 Perera, D., Reisenhofer, E., Hussein, S., Higgins, E., Huber, C. D., & Long, Q. (2023). CATE: A fast and scalable CUDA implementation to conduct highly parallelized evolutionary tests on large scale genomic data. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 14(8), 2095-2109.
    DOI
    2023 Makova, K. D., Pickett, B. D., Harris, R. S., Hartley, G. A., Cechova, M., Pal, K., . . . Phillippy, A. M. (2023). The Complete Sequence and Comparative Analysis of Ape Sex Chromosomes.. bioRxiv.
    DOI
    2022 Souilmi, Y., Tobler, R., Johar, A., Williams, M., Grey, S. T., Schmidt, J., . . . Huber, C. D. (2022). Admixture has obscured signals of historical hard sweeps in humans. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 6(12), 2003-2015.
    DOI Scopus8 WoS3 Europe PMC12
    2021 Zhen, Y., Huber, C. D., Davies, R. W., & Lohmueller, K. E. (2021). Greater strength of selection and higher proportion of beneficial amino acid changing mutations in humans compared with mice and Drosophila melanogaster. Genome Research, 31(1), 110-120.
    DOI Scopus9 WoS6 Europe PMC10
    2021 Teixeira, J. C., & Huber, C. D. (2021). The inflated significance of neutral genetic diversity in conservation genetics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(10), e2015096118.
    DOI Scopus194 WoS158 Europe PMC90
    2021 Souilmi, Y., Lauterbur, M. E., Tobler, R., Huber, C. D., Johar, A. S., Moradi, S. V., . . . Enard, D. (2021). An ancient viral epidemic involving host coronavirus interacting genes more than 20,000 years ago in East Asia. Current Biology, 31(16), 3504-3514.
    DOI Scopus49 WoS42 Europe PMC41
    2021 Teixeira, J. C., & Huber, C. D. (2021). Authors’ Reply to Letter to the Editor: Neutral genetic diversity as a useful tool for conservation biology. Conservation Genetics, 22(4), 547-549.
    DOI Scopus1 WoS1
    2021 Herrando-Pérez, S., Tobler, R., & Huber, C. D. (2021). smartsnp, an r package for fast multivariate analyses of big genomic data. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 12(11), 2084-2093.
    DOI Scopus8 WoS4
    2021 Souilmi, Y., Lauterbur, M. E., Tobler, R., Huber, C. D., Johar, A. S., Moradi, S. V., . . . Enard, D. (2021). An ancient viral epidemic involving host coronavirus interacting genes more than 20,000 years ago in East Asia.. Curr Biol, 31(16), 3704.
    DOI Scopus4 WoS2 Europe PMC4
    2021 Chiam, S. L., Dror, I. E., Huber, C. D., & Higgins, D. (2021). The biasing impact of irrelevant contextual information on forensic odontology radiograph matching decisions. Forensic Science International, 327, 1-8.
    DOI Scopus7 WoS3 Europe PMC4
    2021 Dai, L., Du, Y., Qi, H., Huber, C. D., Chen, D., Zhang, T. H., . . . Sun, R. (2021). Quantifying the evolutionary constraints and potential of hepatitis c virus ns5a protein. mSystems, 6(2), 15 pages.
    DOI Scopus3
    2020 Tobler, R., Johar, A., Huber, C., & Souilmi, Y. (2020). PolyLinkR: A linkage-sensitive gene set enrichment R package.
    2020 Popitsch, N., Huber, C. D., Buchumenski, I., Eisenberg, E., Jantsch, M., von Haeseler, A., & Gallach, M. (2020). A-to-I RNA Editing Uncovers Hidden Signals of Adaptive Genome Evolution in Animals. Genome biology and evolution, 12(4), 345-357.
    DOI Scopus14 Europe PMC12
    2020 Huber, C. D., Kim, B. Y., & Lohmueller, K. E. (2020). Population genetic models of GERP scores suggest pervasive turnover of constrained sites across mammalian evolution.. PLoS genetics, 16(5), e1008827.
    DOI Scopus44 Europe PMC37
    2020 Teixeira, J. C., & Huber, C. D. (2020). Dismantling a dogma: the inflated significance of neutral genetic
    diversity in conservation genetics.
    2020 Souilmi, Y., Tobler, R., Johar, A., Williams, M., Grey, S., Schmidt, J., . . . Cooper, A. (2020). Ancient human genomes reveal a hidden history of strong selection in Eurasia.
    DOI
    2018 vonHoldt, B. M., Kartzinel, R. Y., Huber, C. D., Le Underwood, V., Zhen, Y., Ruegg, K., . . . Smith, T. B. (2018). Growth factor gene IGF1 is associated with bill size in the black-bellied seedcracker Pyrenestes ostrinus. Nature Communications, 9(1), 4855.
    DOI Scopus16 Europe PMC6
    2018 Mooney, J. A., Huber, C. D., Service, S., Sul, J. H., Marsden, C. D., Zhang, Z., . . . Lohmueller, K. E. (2018). Understanding the Hidden Complexity of Latin American Population Isolates. American Journal of Human Genetics, 103(5), 707-726.
    DOI Scopus33 Europe PMC29
    2018 Huber, C. D., Durvasula, A., Hancock, A. M., & Lohmueller, K. E. (2018). Gene expression drives the evolution of dominance. Nature Communications, 9(1), 1-11.
    DOI Scopus60 Europe PMC48
    2018 Kim, B. Y., Huber, C. D., & Lohmueller, K. E. (2018). Deleterious variation shapes the genomic landscape of introgression. PLoS Genetics, 14(10), e1007741-1-e1007741-30.
    DOI Scopus58 Europe PMC50
    2017 Kim, B. Y., Huber, C. D., & Lohmueller, K. E. (2017). Inference of the distribution of selection coefficients for new nonsynonymous mutations using large samples. Genetics, 206(1), 345-361.
    DOI Scopus97 Europe PMC98
    2017 Popitsch, N., Huber, C. D., Buchumenski, I., Eisenberg, E., Jantsch, M., von Haeseler, A., & Gallach, M. (2017). A-to-I RNA editing uncovers hidden signals of adaptive genome evolution in animals. bioRxiv, 228734.
    DOI
    2017 Kim, B. Y., Huber, C. D., & Lohmueller, K. (2017). Deleterious variation mimics signatures of genomic incompatibility and adaptive introgression. bioRxiv, 221705.
    DOI
    2017 Huber, C. D., Kim, B. Y., Marsden, C. D., & Lohmueller, K. E. (2017). Determining the factors driving selective effects of new nonsynonymous mutations. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(17), 4465-4470.
    DOI Scopus72 Europe PMC68
    2016 Phung, T. N., Huber, C. D., & Lohmueller, K. E. (2016). Determining the effect of natural selection on linked neutral divergence across species. PLoS genetics, 12(8), 1-27.
    DOI Scopus30 Europe PMC24
    2016 Degiorgio, M., Huber, C. D., Hubisz, M. J., Hellmann, I., & Nielsen, R. (2016). SweepFinder2: Increased sensitivity, robustness and flexibility. Bioinformatics, 32(12), 1895-1897.
    DOI Scopus154 Europe PMC127
    2016 DeGiorgio, M., Huber, C. D., Hubisz, M. J., Hellmann, I., & Nielsen, R. (2016). User Manual for SweepFinder2.
    2016 Reich, K. M., Huber, C. D., Heimel, P., Ulm, C., Redl, H., & Tangl, S. (2016). A quantification of regenerated bone tissue in human sinus biopsies: influences of anatomical region, age and sex. Clinical Oral Implants Research, 27(5), 583-590.
    DOI Scopus13 Europe PMC10
    2016 Huber, C. D., DeGiorgio, M., Hellmann, I., & Nielsen, R. (2016). Detecting recent selective sweeps while controlling for mutation rate and background selection. Molecular Ecology, 25(1), 142-156.
    DOI Scopus87 Europe PMC70
    2015 Vasak, C., Strbac, G. D., Huber, C. D., Lettner, S., Gahleitner, A., & Zechner, W. (2015). Evaluation of Three Different Validation Procedures regarding the Accuracy of Template-Guided Implant Placement: An In Vitro Study. Clinical implant dentistry and related research, 17(1), 142-149.
    DOI Scopus13 Europe PMC8
    2015 Phung, T., Huber, C., & Lohmueller, K. (2015). Natural selection reduces linked neutral divergence between distantly related species. bioRxiv, 031740.
    DOI
    2014 Huber, C. D., Nordborg, M., Hermisson, J., & Hellmann, I. (2014). Keeping it local: evidence for positive selection in Swedish Arabidopsis thaliana. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 31(11), 3026-3039.
    DOI Scopus47 Europe PMC42
    2014 Klepsatel, P., Gáliková, M., Huber, C. D., & Flatt, T. (2014). Similarities and differences in altitudinal versus latitudinal variation for morphological traits in Drosophila melanogaster. Evolution, 68(5), 1385-1398.
    DOI Scopus53 Europe PMC35
    2013 Long, Q., Rabanal, F. A., Meng, D., Huber, C. D., Farlow, A., Platzer, A., . . . Nordborg, M. (2013). Massive genomic variation and strong selection in Arabidopsis thaliana lines from Sweden. Nature Genetics, 45(8), 884-890.
    DOI Scopus272 Europe PMC231
    2013 Klepsatel, P., Gáliková, M., De Maio, N., Huber, C. D., Schlötterer, C., & Flatt, T. (2013). Variation in thermal performance and reaction norms among populations of drosophila melanogaster. Evolution, 67(12), 3573-3587.
    DOI Scopus65 Europe PMC38
    2013 Arnhart, C., Dvorak, G., Trefil, C., Huber, C., Watzek, G., & Zechner, W. (2013). Impact of implant surface topography: A clinical study with a mean functional loading time of 85 months. Clinical Oral Implants Research, 24(9), 1049-1054.
    DOI Scopus14 Europe PMC9
    2013 Vasak, C., Strbac, G. D., Huber, C. D., Lettner, S., Vorauer, M., Gahleitner, A., & Zechner, W. (2013). evaluation of three different validation procedures regarding the accuracy of templateguided implant placement: an: 362in vitro: 362study: 362. Clinical Oral Implants Research, 24, 177.
    2012 Wiehart, C., Wallner, B., Rohrer, M., Huber, C., Plenk, H., & König, H. E. (2012). Microhardness measurements of teeth from German Shepherd dogs as an alternative method for age estimation. Wiener Tierarztliche Monatsschrift, 99(3-4), 91-100.
    2012 Wiehart, C., Wallner, B., Rohrer, M., Huber, C., Plenk Jr, H., & König, H. E. (2012). Mikrohärtemessungen als alternative Methode zur Altersschätzung an den Zähnen von Deutschen Schäferhunden. Wiener Tierarztliche Monatsschrift, 99, 91.
    2012 Zhang, Y., Tangl, S., Huber, C. D., Lin, Y., Qiu, L., & Rausch-Fan, X. (2012). Effects of Choukroun's platelet-rich fibrin on bone regeneration in combination with deproteinized bovine bone mineral in maxillary sinus augmentation: A histological and histomorphometric study. Journal of Cranio-Maxillofacial Surgery, 40(4), 321-328.
    DOI Scopus134 Europe PMC70
    2011 Reich, K. M., Huber, C. D., Lippnig, W. R., Ulm, C., Watzek, G., & Tangl, S. (2011). Atrophy of the residual alveolar ridge following tooth loss in an historical population. Oral Diseases, 17(1), 33-44.
    DOI Scopus63 Europe PMC31
    2011 Dvorak, G., Arnhart, C., Heuberer, S., Huber, C. D., Watzek, G., & Gruber, R. (2011). Peri-implantitis and late implant failures in postmenopausal women: A cross-sectional study. Journal of Clinical Periodontology, 38(10), 950-955.
    DOI Scopus74
    2010 Hoke, M., Koppensteiner, R., Schillinger, M., Haumer, M., Minar, E., Wiesbauer, F., . . . Mlekusch, W. (2010). D-dimer testing in the diagnosis of transfemoral pseudoaneurysm after percutaneous transluminal procedures. Journal of Vascular Surgery, 52(2), 383-387.
    DOI Scopus17 Europe PMC10
    2010 Meinl, A., Rottensteiner, G. M., Huber, C. D., Tangl, S., Watzak, G., & Watzek, G. (2010). Caries frequency and distribution in an early medieval Avar population from Austria. Oral Diseases, 16(1), 108-116.
    DOI Scopus20 Europe PMC7
    2010 Dvorak, G., Heuberer, S., Arnhart, C., Huber, C., Watzek, G., & Gruber, R. (2010). Osteoporosis and clinical features of peri-implantitis: 102. Clinical Oral Implants Research, 21, 1031.
    2009 Arnhart, C., Pommer, B., Unger, E., Cepic, L., Huber, C., Watzak, G., & Watzek, G. (2009). Heat progression in human bone caused by trephine osteotomies: influence of irrigation mode concerning drilling depth, drill diameter and drill wear out: 392 Poster-Topic Material Research. Clinical Oral Implants Research, 20, 1032-1033.
    2009 Busenlechner, D., Huber, C. D., Vasak, C., Dobsak, A., Gruber, R., & Watzek, G. (2009). Sinus augmentation analysis revised: The gradient of graft consolidation. Clinical Oral Implants Research, 20(10), 1078-1083.
    DOI Scopus81 Europe PMC51
    2008 Dvorak, G., Gruber, R., Huber, C. D., Goldhahn, J., Zanoni, G., Salaberger, D., . . . Haas, R. (2008). Trabecular bone structures in the edentulous diastema of osteoporotic sheep. Journal of Dental Research, 87(9), 866-870.
    DOI Scopus6 Europe PMC6
    2008 Meinl, A., Huber, C. D., Tangl, S., Gruber, G. M., Teschler-Nicola, M., & Watzek, G. (2008). Comparison of the validity of three dental methods for the estimation of age at death. Forensic Science International, 178(2-3), 96-105.
    DOI Scopus76 Europe PMC28
    2007 Meinl, A., Tangl, S., Huber, C., Maurer, B., & Watzek, G. (2007). The chronology of third molar mineralization in the Austrian population-a contribution to forensic age estimation. Forensic Science International, 169(2-3), 161-167.
    DOI Scopus89 Europe PMC45

  • Book Chapters
    Year Citation
    2016 Huber, C. D., & Lohmueller, K. E. (2016). Neutral Evolution, Population Genetic Tests of. In R. M. Kilman (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Biology (Vol. 3, pp. 112-118). Academic Press.
    DOI Scopus1

  • Conference Papers
    Year Citation
    2022 Arakawa, A., Huber, C. D., Kendziora, B., & Prinz, J. C. (2022). <i>HLA-C*06:02</i> of Denisovan origin causes autoimmunity by evolutionary and functional mismatch with Neanderthal-derived <i>ERAP1</i> in psoriasis. In BRITISH JOURNAL OF DERMATOLOGY Vol. 186 (pp. E49). WILEY.
    2021 Arakawa, A., Kendziora, B., Huber, C. D., & Prinz, J. C. (2021). Introgression of HLA-class I alleles from Neanderthals and Denisovans causes autoimmunity in psoriasis and other HLA-class I associated immune-mediated diseases. In EXPERIMENTAL DERMATOLOGY Vol. 30 (pp. E75). WILEY.
    2010 Dvorak, G., Movsissian, I., Arnhart, C., Huber, C., Watzek, G., & Gruber, R. (2010). OSTEOPOROSIS AND CLINICAL FEATURES OF ORAL PERI-IMPLANTITIS. In OSTEOPOROSIS INTERNATIONAL Vol. 21 (pp. 89). SPRINGER LONDON LTD 236 GRAYS INN RD, 6TH FLOOR, LONDON WC1X 8HL, ENGLAND.
    2007 Huber, C. D., Bookstein, F. L., & Weber, G. W. (2007). Tooth shape and enamel thickness variation in primate teeth: An approach using topographic thickness maps.. In American Journal of Physical Anthropology (pp. 132). WILEY-LISS DIV JOHN WILEY & SONS INC, 111 RIVER ST, HOBOKEN, NJ 07030 USA.

  • Conference Items
    Year Citation
    2021 Souilmi, Y., Lauterbur, E., Tobler, R., Huber, C., Johar, A. S., & Enard, D. (2021). An ancient coronavirus-like epidemic 25,000 years in ancestral populations from East Asia. Poster session presented at the meeting of AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY. WILEY.

  • Theses
    Year Citation
    2014 Huber, C. D. (2014). Detecting selective sweeps on top of complex demographies and background selection. (PhD Thesis).

  • Past Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)
    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2020 - 2022 Co-Supervisor The effect of task-irrelevant contextual information on judgement, decision-making, and opinion in forensic odontology identification. Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Dr Sher-Lin Chiam
    2020 - 2024 Principal Supervisor Fluctuating Selection and its Effects on Neutral Genetic Variation Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Olivia Lenore Johnson
    2019 - 2021 Co-Supervisor A Machine Learning Approach for Detecting Selective Sweeps using Ancient DNA Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Mr Shing Yan Kwong
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