Evolutionary genomics lab
Understanding the origins and functions of novel genes
The evolutionary genomics lab was established in October 2022 in the Institute for Fundamental Biomedical Research at BSRC “Alexander Fleming”. Our research mostly focuses on evolutionarily novel genes, aiming to understand how they originate, how they evolve, how they function and how to detect them. Little is known about novel genes, also known as “orphans” or species-specific genes. Yet they are found in the genome of nearly every species known to science. This makes their study one of the most exciting research areas in evolution and genomics. As a purely “dry” lab, we explore and implement existing cutting-edge computational molecular evolution, comparative ‘omics, phylogenetics and machine learning methods, but also innovate to produce new ones. We are currently involved in multiple international collaborations and we are seeking motivated candidates to apply for PhD and postdoctoral fellowships. Interested candidates should get in contact with Dr. Vakirlis via email at vakirlis [at] fleming.gr or Twitter (@vakirlis).