Research interests
I marvel at life diversity, and this entails an even higher fascination on how evolution has sculpted it. In the layered scales at which evolution occurs (at gene-, individual-, and population levels), I’m especially interested in the genomic evolution, how it translates into adaptation of organisms (or drift) but also how it can act selfishly. As a computational biologist, I approach molecular evolution as a modelling game. I tend to focus a lot on the methods, because I am as concerned about the most realistic phylogenetics procedure and model than about the actual specific answer. I have worked on macroevolution and I am more familiar with eukaryotes, especially vertebrate animals; I have also experience with microevolution and intra-population genomic diversity. I would like to understand general processes that shape genome content and how to infer them. This includes the substitution process through mutation, selection and drift, the gene duplications, losses and transfers, the dynamics of transposons, the number of chromosomes or the size of the genome, etc.
Personal interests include ultimate frisbee, hiking, running, repairing old bicycles, bicycle touring, science-fiction, programming…