In the current genomic era, one of the most interesting challenges in biology is mapping genotype to phenotype. I am particularly interested in molecular adaptation and how it relates to phenotypic traits. In Greg Wray’s lab, I have taken an interdisciplinary approach to investigate molecular adaptation that includes both computing and empirical aspects to study human evolution.

    Differences in cognitive abilities and the relatively large size of our brain as compared to body mass are among the most striking differences between us and our closest primate relatives. But with an increasing brain size comes a non-negligible metabolic cost. My aim is to better understand what molecular changes allowed for the development and maintenance of a larger brain on the human linage.

   I have studied cis-regulatory adaptation through genome wide scans for positive selection on non-coding sequences, pointing at the key role of gene regulation and energy metabolism in human evolution. I also extended this study gene per gene with in vitro and in vivo expression assays (i.e. qPCR, EMSA, reporter assay) and genome wide with expression profilings (i.e. DGE).

  I am also interested in understanding the cause of misleading phylogenetic signal and the effect of various biases on estimating phylogenies.