QMUL Centre for Evolutionary and Functional Genomics News

Alex de Mendoza is awarded an ERC consolidator

Mon, 01 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Dr Alex de Mendoza has been awarded a prestigious ERC Consolidator grant by the European Research Council to study the evolution and endogenisation of giant viruses in eukaryotic cells. Visit Dr de Mendoza's website to learn more and check out their latest publication on the topic.

'Project Psyche' aims to sequence the genomes of all 11,665 European butterfly and moth species

Sun, 30 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT

A team from Queen Mary University of London - School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences has been taking part in a global project that aims to sequence the genomes of all 11,665 European butterfly and moth species. 'Project Psyche' involves researchers, taxonomists, policymakers and citizen scientists from all over the world, and has already sequenced 1,000 genomes. The dataset, freely available to all, will help scientists investigate evolution, climate change resilience and food security issues. Queen Mary PhD students Marcus H. and Jenny Stewart, from the lab of Dr Vicencio Oostra are participating in the Project Psyche consortium, representing early career researchers and working on media and communications respectively. Meanwhile, PhD student Yuqian (Arina) Huang and Post-Doc Dr Madeleine Carruthers have also contributed to sample collection for the project in Cambridgeshire. Marcus Hicks said: "We are incredibly excited to be involved in the scientific discoveries that are made possible with the resources created by Project Psyche, and hope that it inspires similar initiatives across other continents." He also noted that diversity has been a key strength of the project. "Project Psyche has stood out to me as an international consortium committed to listening to and incorporating ideas from a truly diverse range of people," he went on. "With women in key leadership roles, members from across Europe, and individuals at various stages of their scientific careers, the project fosters inclusivity at every level. Its rapid success and growth are a testament to how an accepting and inclusive working environment can drive ground-breaking scientific progress." Butterflies and moths, collectively known as Lepidoptera, are major players in ecosystems all around the world. They also act as biodiversity and climate change indicators as they react quickly to environmental changes or habitat degradation. This means that a decline in butterfly numbers can serve as an early warning for wider losses in wildlife. Comparing the genomes of species that have disappeared, are declining, or are stable or growing can help us understand how environmental changes and human activities affect insect diversity and distribution. The project published a new white paper in Trends in Ecology & Evolution called 'Project Psyche: reference genomes for all Lepidoptera in Europe'. It details how the genomes of all butterflies and moths can aid nature conservation, transform our understanding of evolution and uncover new ways of tackling agricultural pests.

Dr de Mendoza secures a Wellcome Trust Discovery Award

Wed, 24 Sep 2025 23:00:00 GMT

Dr de Mendoza, Reader in Bioinformatics, has been granted a Wellcome Trust Discovery Award to investigate the role of 6mA DNA methylation in eukaryotes and its potential biotechnological implications. Combining mammalian with unicellular eukaryotes, the project promises to transform our views on the evolution of genome regulation. Congrats, Alex!

The genomics of arrow worms decoded!

Tue, 12 Aug 2025 23:00:00 GMT

An international group of researchers lead by Dr Piovani and Dr Marlétaz at UCL, in collaboration with Dr de Mendoza and Dr Martin-Duran from QMUL, has generated the first chromosome-level genome assembly for a chaetognath (arrow worm), an enigmatic animal group. Combining multiple functional genomic approaches, the researchers identified that chaetognath-specific genomic innovation underpins the evolution of many of the unique morphological and genomic traits of these fascinating worms.

The Centre supports the UK EvoDevo meeting

Thu, 10 Jul 2025 23:00:00 GMT

The Centre for Evolutionary and Functional Genomics has proudly sponsored the organisation of the UK EvoDevo meeting. This national one-day meeting drew around 170 participants from across the UK and internationally. With two keynote speakers, 12 oral contributions and nearly 40 posters, the UK EvoDevo brought together a diverse research community working on understanding how animals and plants form and change through evolutionary history.

Centre Away Day at the Linnean Society

Tue, 08 Jul 2025 23:00:00 GMT

The Centre for Evolutionary and Functional Genomics has had its first Away Day at the Linnean Society of London. We have used this day to discuss our strengths and future, as well as the steps and strategies we need to pursue to continue growing the Centre into a renowned hub for genomic research.

UK Ash Trees Evolve to Resist Dieback

Thu, 26 Jun 2025 23:00:00 GMT

Research (published in Science) led by Profs Richard Nichols and Richard Buggs has uncovered early-stage signs of natural resistance to ash dieback—a fungal disease expected to kill half of the UK's 80 million ash trees. By comparing the DNA of older trees, present before the fungus arrived in 2012, with younger saplings, the team identified subtle genetic shifts across thousands of locations around the ash genome. These shifts suggest that the natural selection is favouring variants that confer greater disease resistance in young trees regenerating on the woodland flour under the dying mature trees. This adaptive response offers hope that future generations will be able to enjoy ash woodlands, and the research will be used to design human interventions to accelerate the adaptation, including avoiding unnecessary felling to maintain the populations' genetic diversity. The Guardian and the BBC reported on this story.

Queen Mary presence at the International Meeting of the Society of Molecular Biology and ...

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 23:00:00 GMT

The project on diversifying the curriculum in SBBS has been presented at this year international meeting of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution (SMBE) in China. Matteo Fumagalli, who co-leads the project together with Sally Faulkner, has also taken part in a roundtable on inclusion, equality and diversity in molecular evolution, and in academia and science in general. This activity is in the remit of CAISE and our Faculty EDI strategy.

Jingcheng Wei visits Clark University with a Company of Biologists collaboration grant

Sat, 17 May 2025 23:00:00 GMT

Jingcheng Wei, a second-year PhD in the Martin-Duran lab funded with a CSC scholarship, is visiting Prof Meyer's lab at Clark University in the US. He will spend four weeks there, learning how to microinject the oocytes of marine annelids to apply genome editing tools to investigate invertebrate development. Exciting!

Centre PDRAs participate in the annual SBBS PDRA summer symposium

Wed, 07 May 2025 23:00:00 GMT

PDRAs in the Centre have had a prominent role in this year's SBBS PDRA research symposium, with oral presentations by Nayeli Escudero, Lan Xu, Madeleine Carruthers, and Angelica Miglioli, and posters by Richard Heery, Allan Carrillo and Lokdeep Teekas. Well done!

Dr de Mendoza visits University of Hong Kong as a Royal Society Kan Tong Po Fellow

Sat, 19 Apr 2025 23:00:00 GMT

Dr Alexandre de Mendoza visited the School of Biomedical Sciences, LKS Faculty of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong (HKUMed) as a Royal Society Kan Tong Po Fellow to expand his collaborative research with Associate Professor Dr Ralf Jauch. Recently, a collaboration between the two labs and the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology unearthed the ancient evolutionary origins of genes critical to stem cell biology, dating back over 700 million years. Drawing on insights from evolutionary processes, this discovery reveals that tools borrowed from ancient single-celled organisms—and even recreated proteins from life's earliest days—can transform mouse somatic cells into pluripotent stem cells capable of developing into any cell type in multicellular animals. This breakthrough challenges the longstanding belief that only animal genes possess this transformative ability, paving the way for new protein designs in novel therapies for regenerative medicine and disease studies to combat ageing and related health issues. The findings were recently published in Nature Communications.

Allan wins the first runner-up prize for the Node-FocalPlane image competition

Thu, 27 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Dr Allan Carrillo-Baltodano, a postdoctoral researcher in Chema Martín-Durán's lab, was named the first runner-up in the Node–FocalPlane image competition, held alongside the Biologists @ 100 conference. His striking confocal image of a phoronid worm larva, highlighting its vibrant ciliary structures, captivated audiences online and in person. Well done, Allan!