News
September 2025
Dr de Mendoza secures a Wellcome Trust Discovery Award
Centre for Evolutionary and Functional Genomics
25 September 2025Dr 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! [more]
August 2025
The genomics of arrow worms decoded!
Centre for Evolutionary and Functional Genomics
13 August 2025An 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 ... [more]
July 2025
The Centre supports the UK EvoDevo meeting
Centre for Evolutionary and Functional Genomics
11 July 2025The 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 ... [more]
Centre Away Day at the Linnean Society
Centre for Evolutionary and Functional Genomics
9 July 2025The 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 ... [more]
June 2025
UK Ash Trees Evolve to Resist Dieback
Centre for Biodiversity and Sustainability
27 June 2025Research (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 ... [more]
Queen Mary presence at the International Meeting of the Society of Molecular Biology and Evolution (SMBE) in China
Faculty of Science and Engineering
10 June 2025The 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 ... [more]
May 2025
Jingcheng Wei visits Clark University with a Company of Biologists collaboration grant
Centre for Evolutionary and Functional Genomics
18 May 2025Jingcheng 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! [more]
Centre PDRAs participate in the annual SBBS PDRA summer symposium
Centre for Evolutionary and Functional Genomics
8 May 2025PDRAs 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! [more]
April 2025
Dr de Mendoza visits University of Hong Kong as a Royal Society Kan Tong Po Fellow
Centre for Evolutionary and Functional Genomics
20 April 2025Dr 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 ... [more]
March 2025
Allan wins the first runner-up prize for the Node-FocalPlane image competition
Centre for Evolutionary and Functional Genomics
27 March 2025Dr 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, ... [more]
February 2025
A Night of Science and Engineering: exploring Tomorrow's World at Queen Mary
Faculty of Science and Engineering
24 February 2025Queen Mary University of London's third annual Night of Science and Engineering brought together leading industry partners, researchers, academics, policymakers, and the public for an evening of discovery, innovation, and collaboration. Held in the historic Octagon venue on 20 Feb, this year's event, themed 'Tomorrow's World', showcased groundbreaking research that is ... [more]