Evolutionary biology

The Biological Design Unit investigates what determines biological forms by untangling the evolution of structural functions and organismal development in the changing climate.

Our unit focuses on understanding how environmental changes impact soil microbes, particularly those that are symbiotic with or pathogenic to plants, and drive biogeochemical cycling.

The Model-Based Evolutionary Genomics Unit works at the crossroads of computational and evolutionary biology. Our long-term goal is to achieve an integrative understanding of the evolution of Life on Earth and the origins and emergence of complexity across different biological scales, from individual proteins to ecosystems. To move towards this goal, we develop and apply model-driven evolutionary genomics methods to reconstruct the Tree of Life and the major evolutionary transitions that have occurred along its branches.

Theory-driven research on macroevolution, biodiversity, and evolutionary patterns across space and time, integrating fossils, fishes, biomechanics, phylogenies, and models.

The Evolutionary and Synthetic Biology Unit focuses on understanding how living things evolved using computation, theory, experiments and field work. Combining the understanding of evolutionary mechanisms with evolutionary theory, computational and synthetic biology approaches we design novel biological objects and further penetrate the mysteries of the evolution of life.

We use the genomes of Neandertals and Denisovans, the closest evolutionary relatives of present-day humans, to identify genomic variants that are unique to modern humans.

The Biodiversity and Biocomplexity Unit explores how ecological and evolutionary processes generate and sustain biodiversity, and how those processes are being altered by human activities.

The ECBS unit studies the effects of symbiotic interactions on the origin and evolution of cellular life.

The CSE Unit analyzes the dynamics of complex adaptive systems, focusing on behavioral dynamics shaping social systems, eco-evolutionary dynamics shaping ecosystems, and their interactions.

Our unit employs theory-informed experiments, genetics, and mathematical models to identify how species interactions vary over time and space to influence ecosystem dynamics and functioning.

Research projects of the Evolutionary Neurobiology Unit include (1) anatomical and physiological dissections of the nervous systems of basal metazoans, mainly on diffused and regionally cond...

We work in experimental nonlinear, non-equilibrium and soft matter physics. Our current research focuses on fluids, granular media, fluctuations in renewables and quantitative life sciences.

The Genomics and Regulatory Systems Unit combines computational and experimental methods to study principles of gene regulation during early organismal development, using Oikopleura dioica as a model organism.

Exploring marine genomic diversity helps understanding organism responses to environmental change in the past and future, both in terms of large-scale evolution and within their ecosystems.

The Marine Climate Change Unit aims to understand how coral reef fish respond to human society driven environmental changes such as climate change, heatwaves, overfishing, and urbanization.

The Evolutionary Genomics Unit studies the evolution of insects and their associated symbionts.

Most coral reef fishes have an incredible colors but why and how do they appear ? We use clownfish as a model we decipher the origins of the colors and how the fish are using them.