Team

Claudia Bank

• Principal investigator, Head of Division
• Contact: evoldynamics [at] gmail.com
• GoogleScholar, PubMed, ORCID

I study evolution – and in particular, the population genetics of adaptation and speciation – at the interface of theoretical and empirical biology. The approaches I use involve theoretical modeling, computational methods, and statistical data analysis.

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André Amado

• Postdoctoral fellow
• Contact: andre.amado [at] iee.unibe.ch
• GoogleScholar, ORCID

I am very interested in evolution in general. Currently, I am developing models for the way fitness landscapes vary across different environments. Before joining the Evolutionary Dynamics group, I investigated the role tradeoffs play in evolution.

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Juan Li

• Postdoctoral fellow
• Contact: juan.li [at] iee.unibe.ch
• ORCID

I am interested in speciation and polygenic traits evolution in general. Currently, I am working on detecting hybrid incompatibilities in population genomes, and also on the question how standing variation contribute the population adaptation under a sudden selection.

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Davide Cusseddu

• Postdoctoral fellow
• Contact: davide.cusseddu [@] gmail.com

I study models of mutation and selection, especially analytical solutions to mechanisms of adaptation, e.g. for the probabilities of evolutionary rescue in mutational meltdown. This can help us to better understand how viruses may escape the effects of mutagenic drugs.

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Ana Y. Morales-Arce

• Postdoctoral fellow
• Contact: ana.moralesarce [at] iee.unibe.ch
• web-site, GoogleScholar

I use experimental evolution in combination with simulations to understand the adaptation of the Influenza A virus to mutagenic drugs. My research explores the relative roles of different evolutionary processes in shaping pathogen variation and evolution, including progeny skew, infection dynamics, as well as direct and linked selection effects.

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Loïc Marrec

• Postdoctoral fellow
• Contact: loic.marrec [at] iee.unibe.ch
• GoogleScholar, PubMed, ORCID

My general interest is in theoretical evolution and population genetics. My aim is to understand how evolutionary and ecological dynamics shape microbial communities. More specifically, I study the biodiversity and stability of these communities using analytical methods and stochastic simulations, as well as data.

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David McLeod

• Postdoctoral fellow
• Contact: david.mcleod [at] iee.unibe.ch
• GoogleScholar

My research interests are in evolutionary theory and mathematical biology. I have previously worked on a variety of topics, including: social evolution, host-pathogen (co)-evolution, the resolution of evolutionary conflict, and the role of demographic stochasticity in evolutionary processes. More recently, I have been focused upon evolutionary epidemiology, with an emphasis upon the evolutionary consequences of public health interventions for pathogen dynamics. As a member of THEE, I will work on developing eco-evolutionary models of speciation and hybridization.

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Ana-Hermina Ghenu

• PhD student (co-supervised by Isabel Gordo)
• Contact: ahghenu [at] igc.gulbenkian.pt

My general interest is in understanding how evolutionary processes shape genomes. I am particularly fascinated by the selective forces that different environments exert on a given genome. My Ph.D. research integrates fitness landscapes theory with bacterial experimental evolution in order to understand antibiotic resistance across environments.

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Marco Louro

• PhD student (co-supervised by Mónica Bettencourt Dias)
• Contact: mlouro [at] igc.gulbenkian.pt

My main research interests are evolution and cell biology. For my PhD, I am studying how the number of tiny subcellular structures called centrioles evolves during cancer development. Specifically, I want to understand how centriole number heterogeneity in cancer cells is generated, and what are its consequences for somatic cell evolution.

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Adamandia Kapopoulou

• Bioinformatician
• Contact: adamantia.kapopoulou [at] iee.unibe.ch
• GoogleScholar, PubMed

My background is both genetics and bioinformatics, and I am interested about genomics in general. In the past, I have been working mainly with NGS datasets focusing on cancer genomics, epigenetics, demography, and the evolution of transcription factors and endogenous retroviruses. I am currently working on human Ancient DNA and population genetics of bacterial communities.

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Associated members

Massimo Amicone

• Associated PhD student (Gordo lab)
• Contact: mamicone [at] igc.gulbenkian.pt

I’m generally interested in the interplay between ecological and evolutionary processes. My current goal is to understand how eco-evolutionary dynamics can shape the diversity of microbial communities. Inspired by empirical observations, I build ecology-driven models of adaptation to generate new hypotheses regarding the evolution of bacteria within the gut microbiota and to answer general questions about biodiversity.