Evolution and Genomics Workshop

Dr Craig Anderson is most excited by DNA damage, mutational processes and their evolutionary potential. After attaining a PhD in earthworm ecotoxicology from Cardiff University, Craig was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship from the CSIRO in Canberra, working to understand pesticide resistance in insects. To supercharge his research, he moved into cancer genomics, taking a postdoc in Martin Taylor’s lab at the MRC Human Genetics Unit. As part of the Liver Cancer Evolution consortium, they discovered that DNA damage is inherited and can lead to a previously unrealised source of genetic variation in cancer, called multiallelism. Craig has gone on to reveal the dynamism of a wide range of mutational processes that occur during tumourigenesis, following exposure to mutagens. Craig is moving forward with his research to profile the heterogeneity from inherited DNA damage to better understand the long term consequences of mutagen exposure. 

Lucy completed both their undergraduate and master's degrees at the University of York, where they developed a strong appreciation for plant genetics. They later transitioned into industry at Tropical Biosciences in Norwich, focusing on the development of novel biotechnological plant defence strategies. Now in the final year of their PhD, Lucy is investigating leaf evolution using both biotechnological and genomic techniques.

Dr Juliane Friedrich completed her PhD on the genetics of temperament in cattle and its interaction with milk performance at the Leibniz Institute for Farm Animal Biology in Dummerstorf. In 2016, she moved to Scotland for her first postdoctoral position in Pam Wiener’s lab, where she investigated the genetics of behavior in dogs.

Juliane became a Core Scientist at the Roslin Institute in 2018 and since her focus on behaviour genetics has gradually shifted to address questions from Population and Evolutionary Genetics, with particular interest in native livestock breeds that are adapted to challenging environments, such as African cattle or locally adapted populations of European, UK and Caribbean sheep. To identify the genetic regions underlying various adaptive traits, Juliane uses genomic cline analyses, landscape genomics approaches, and selective sweep detection methods. Recently, she has also started to explore the integration of aDNA into her work, e.g. by estimating selection on ancestral backgrounds. 

Dr Ewen Calder received his PhD in Chemistry from the University of Glasgow in 2015. After carrying out postdoctoral work at the University of Oxford, on hypoxia-activated pro-drugs, he moved to the Francis Crick Institute, for further postdoctoral work developing an advanced form of mRNA display. In 2024 he moved to the University of Edinburgh to take up his current position as a Chancellor's Fellow (Health and Life) in the School of Chemistry, based at the Institute for Regeneration and Repair. His research uses the mRNA display (or in vitro virus) method to evolve peptides and proteins for use as molecular tools to answer questions in biologic systems.

Dr Susan Johnston is a Royal Society University Research Fellow and Senior Lecturer using genomics to understand evolutionary puzzles in natural populations and livestock. At present, her main interests are the evolution of recombination rate variation and understanding the genetic architecture of ongoing sexual conflict. She did her undergrad in St Andrews (UK), PhD in Sheffield (UK), and postdocs in Turku (Finland) and Edinburgh.”