Blaxter Group
Evolutionary Genomics

We work within the Tree of Life Programme to generate high-quality genome assemblies for a wide array of species, from across the diversity of life. While our main interets are in the evolution of animals, we also work on plants, fungi and protists, and on the bacterial cobionts that live on and in these species.
Using these high quality genomes we explore
the evolutionary history of genes and species, building phylogenetic trees of life
- the contrasting roles of horizontal gene transfer and introgression in shaping evolution
- the biology of symbioses, especially symbioses between eukaryotes and bacteria, and between parasites and their hosts
- the processes that drive the evolution of pattern in the structure of chromosomes
- the diversity of meiofauna, particularly tardigrades, nematodes and other Ecdysozoa
- the genomics of extremophilia
To deliver these analyses we develop new software tools for genome assembly, validation and analysis.
Core team

Dr Richard Challis
Senior Bioinformatician

Amjad Khalaf
PhD Student

Dr Erna King
Postdoctoral Fellow

Dr Witold Morek
Advanced Research Assistant

Dr Lewis Stevens
Senior Bioinformatician

Dr Jessica A Thomas Thorpe
Janet Thornton Postdoctoral Fellow

Dr Claudia Weber
Senior Bioinformatician

Charlotte Wright
PhD Student