Evolutionary Genomics Lab

Our laboratory is using the tools and concepts of population genetics and molecular evolution to address two main questions:

  1. Why do vertebrate genomes differ so much in size and structure?
  2.  What are the genetic bases of adaptation to extreme environments?
  • Our research focuses on one of the most intimate coevolutionary interactions: the interaction between a genome and its intra-genomic parasites, transposable elements (TEs). TEs have considerably affected the size, function, and structure of the genome in all eukaryote lineages. Far from the common assumption that TEs are useless components of genomes, they have been a significant source of evolutionary novelties. It is thus important to understand the evolutionary processes that are affecting their dynamics in natural populations. Our research in this area revolves around two main questions: (1) what is the nature of the interactions between TEs and their hosts? and (2) Why does the diversity and abundance of TEs differ so much among organisms?


Researchers

Name Title
Yann Bourgeois Postdoctoral Associate  
Jacobo Reyes-Velasco Postdoctoral Associate
Neelu Begum Postdoctoral Associate
Sandra Goutte Postdoctoral Associate
Sebastian Kirchhof Postdoctoral Associate
Imtiyaz Hariyani Undergraduate Researcher