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photo credit: Prof. Pablo Tsukayama
I am an evolutionary biologist investigating fundamental evolutionary questions regarding life's invention of novel structures and functions. I work as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, Cambridge. Previous research positions were at KIT and TUM, Germany. My PhD in experimental evolution is from the University of Auckland, New Zealand.
I have an interdisciplinary undergraduate education (BA|BSc majoring in philosophy, economics, & biology) and diverse related interests. I can be available to speak for schools and other groups on scientific topics such as the intricacy and practical uses of molecular evolution.
Research
An overview of key previously published papers is here. My work is mostly computational analysis of gene expression, genome, and proteome data. The main strands of my research cover the evolutionary invention of genetic novelty, theory concerning embedded overlapping (alternative frame) genes in bacteria and viruses, and cutting edge methods for inferring gene function.
Editing and Reviewing
I have very recently been appointed an academic editor at PLOS Computational Biology. I enjoy reading new science and helping the publishing process; I regularly review manuscripts and welcome opportunities to peer-review papers on microbial evolutionary genomics, de novo gene origins, experimental evolution, ribosome profiling or prokaryotic gene annotation, as well as grant applications.
Postgraduate Teaching and Supervision
At the University of Cambridge I co-lead the Infection Genomics module for the MPhil in Genomic Medicine. I also teach in the Bioinformatics Training Centre.
I currently help to supervise a Wellcome Sanger / Cambridge PhD project on SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) evolution, and a PhD project at KIT, Germany, on the functions of uncharacterised genes in E. coli. I have previously supervised PhD projects on ribosome profiling and the structure of the standard genetic code at TUM in Germany. I have supervised or co-supervised Cambridge MPhil projects on bacteriophage genomics and evolutionary constraint in E. coli.
Undergraduate Teaching
At the University of Cambridge I have supervised sections within the course Mathematical and Computational Biology (NatSci part IB). While a postgraduate student at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, I taught for a number of molecular biology and philosophy courses.
Science & Theology
In my own time I also write and speak on various aspects of the complex history of interaction between science, philosophy, and theology. I was awarded the Oliver Barclay Lecture from Christians in Science in 2022 for related public communication, and I was appointed a Fellow of the International Society for Science and Religion in 2024. My work on these topics has been translated into other languages including Finnish, French, Czech, Polish, and Farsi. I recently spoke for the Faraday Institute of Science and Religion on the relationship between protein evolution and long-term directionality. More of my writing on these topics is here.
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