I am a researcher at institute ECOBIO, located at University of Rennes (France) where I am leading research about the implication of genome structure in adaptation and the evolution of biological diversity. My group and I are interested in biodiversity, speciation and evolution.
My research integrates ecology, experiments, molecular biology, bioinformatics and genomics to understand evolution. My current projects are largely focused on a fascinating aspects of genetic variation: variation in the structure of the genome.
As a citizen and a scientist, I am concerned by recent changes in biodiversity and impact of humans. Nowadays, protection of biodiversity is a major issue and I believe that involving the whole society in the responsible management of nature requires a better knowledge of living beings. That's why I am taking part in teaching, scientific popularisation and naturalist discovery activities.
Jana completed her PhD in New Zealand and joined us with the support of the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions programme for a project in conservation genomics about "Elucidating the genomic architecture of genetic load". She is our queen of pangenomes and knitting.
Read here the Cordis summary of her project
Personal websitecontact: jana.wold[a]univ-rennes.fr
After diving the waters of Australia for a PhD on octopus, Qiaz obtained a post-doc fellowship with from Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions to investigate the population genomics of Octopus in the waters of Brittany. She joined us in 2025 and brought some marine vibes in the team!
Read here the Cordis summary of her project
Personal websitecontact: qiaz.hua[a]univ-rennes.fr
Andréa's project focuses on species range shift, studying both the European Coelopa pilipes and Coelopa frigida. She is assessing biological traits related to temperature, and will investigate genetic consequences of range expansion. She is co-supervised by Dr Hervé Colinet (CNRS, ECOBIO) (see photo!) and Dr Pierre de Wit (University of Gothenburg)
Personal websitecontact: andrea.clouard[a]univ-rennes.fr
I'm a PhD student at ECOBIO, University of Rennes, in Ecology, Evolution, and Bioinformatics. My research focuses on understanding the impact of structural variants (SVs) on species' local adaptation.
Using a pilot dataset of Coelopa frigida, I optimize bioinformatics methods for detecting SVs, with long reads ( Oxford Nanopore Technologies, PacBio) and linked reads (haplotagging). These methods will then be applied to explore the distribution of SVs across populations along parallel thermal gradients, as well as in experimental populations.
By linking SV, SNPs properties to patterns of genetic diversity and thermal adaptation, my work tries to shed a light on how SVs contribute to local adaptation in natural populations.I'm co-supervised by Dr Sylvain Glémin.
Personal websitecontact: fantine.benoit[a]univ-rennes.fr
Mélody is doing her PhD at the informatic institute INRIA/IRISA with our collaborator
You can find her methods and software on her Personal github
contact: melody.temperville[a]univ-rennes.fr
Manon rules our molecular lab and no DNA can escape her hands. We are very lucky to have her skills for the most complex library preparations before sequencing, and her talent to get the longest high-molecular weight DNA.
Personal websitecontact: manon.norest[a]univ-rennes.fr
I'm a PhD student at the University of Rennes, interested in evolutionary ecology, population genetics and population genomics. I'm co-supervised by Dr Sylvain Glémin. I am passionate about integrating multiple approaches - experimental, genomic, theoretical - to answer complex biological questions.
My research focuses on exploring the role of chromosomal inversions in the adaptive diversity of the seaweed fly Coelopa frigida. Specifically, I investigate whether natural selection is involved in the maintenance of cross-continental parallel clines of an inversion frequency. To address this, I'm experimentally testing the combined effects of the inversion and temperature on key fitness components.
In collaboration with researchers from University of Göteborg, I also use genomics to study the sequence content of two large inversions in Coelopa frigida. Using short-read and long-read sequencing data, I aim to analyze the demographic history of these inversions and to understand to what extent their structure is conserved across continents.
Finally, through a theoretical framework and in collaboration with Dr Vitor Sudbrack, I examined the interplay between the dynamics of these polymorphic supergenes and the evolution of their sequence through the accumulation of deleterious mutations.
Personal websitecontact: lea.nicolas[a]univ-rennes.fr
Thomas is an evolutionary biologist and population geneticist broadly interested in genome evolution and patterns of genetic diversity across genomes, populations, and species. Thomas is particularly skilled in bioinformatics and he has developped important pipelines for our research. During his postdoc in our group, he has been gathering publicly-available genomes to investigate the distribution of structural genetic diversity. You can find out more about Thomas' interests and skills on his personal website
During her last year at ENS Lyon, Dominique did a long internship (9 months) between our group and Maren Wellenreuther's team (Plant and Food Research, New Zealand) to investigate the evolution of a supergene in Coelopidae, assessing the phylogenetic relationships, genetic vairation and phenotypic polymorphism. She is interested in genome evolution and ecological adaptation.
She stayed with us for several contracts as assistant engineer, contributing both to experiments on flies in the project EVOL-SV and to molecular biology for the project BalanSE. We are happy to see her continuing her career as a PhD student at Université de Lyon (LBBE) on the project BalanSE, in co-supervision with Claire.
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Christine was our molecular fairy, performing as well at the bench as at cake making. We wish her a good continuation in her PhD at IRSET
Clare is doing her master thesis in Canada, at Concordia University (Montréal) under the supervision of Dr Dylan Fraser. She is studying very small populations of brook trout living in tiny streams of Newfoundland. Since part of her work aims at targeting structural variants in her system, we collaborate together and got the chance to welcome her in Rennes for 2 months at Fall 2026.
Marta visited us for one month with the support of Ambassade de France. With her, we heard about seastars and dive into the Mediterranean spirit from Barcelona. She is doing her PhD under the supervision of Dr Pérez-Portela and Dr Carlos Leiva.
Xavier was a PhD student at Université Laval in Québec, under the supervision of
2026 Marie Féret, M2, U. Rennes (Co-supervision J. Wold 6 mois)
2026 Lucas Bernard, M2, U. Rennes (Co-supervision F. Benoit 6 mois)
2026 Virgile Le Gal, M1, U. Rennes (Co-supervision T. Brazier 2 mois)
2026 Aurélien Daviet, M1, U. Rennes (Co-supervision F. Benoit 2 mois)
2026 Mariia Paldina, M1, U. Rennes (Co-supervision J. Wold 2 mois)
2025 Andréa Clouard, M2, U. Rennes (Co-supervision P. de Wit 6 mois)
2025 Dominique Hicks, stage long post-master, ENS Lyon (5 mois)
2024 Fantine Benoit, M2, U. Rennes (Co-supervision C. Lemaître - 6 mois)
2024 Andréa Clouard, M1, U. Rennes (co-supervision L. Nicolas 2 mois)
2024 Mélodie Temperville, M2, U. Rennes (Co-supervision C. Lemaître - 6 mois)
2023 Léa Nicolas, M2, Université Rennes (Co-supervision H. Colinet - 6 mois)
2023 Lune Angevin, M1, Université Rennes (Co-supervision C. Lemaître & T. Brazier - 3 mois)
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