Dr. Laura Weyrich is an Associate Professor of Anthropology and Bioethics at Penn State and is the Director of the Penn State Ancient Biomolecules Research Environment. The cornerstone of her research is using calcified dental plaque to reconstruct ancient human oral microbiomes. Her team was the first to reconstruct the microbiome of an extinct species – Neandertals – and has reassembled one of the oldest microbial genomes to date at 48,000 years old. Her team’s research has been featured by the BBC, NPR, Science, Nature, New Scientist, NY Times, Smithsonian Magazine, National Geographic, and many others, and has even had a Buzz Feed quiz written about it. Her team is now reconstructing the evolutionary history of the human oral microbiome on six continents, leveraging the information from our ancestors to develop new biotechnologies to transform our health today.