• Fire ants on their genetic code
  • Larva of Owenia fusiformis (Image credit: Allan Carrillo)
  • Common starfish

Welcome to The Centre for Evolutionary and Functional Genomics

The Centre for Evolutionary and Functional Genomics (CEFG) is home to 28 active research groups who use cutting-edge technology to further our understanding of complex biological systems and processes. The Centre for Evolutionary and Functional Genomics is at the forefront of research on non-model organisms studying gene-regulation underpinning development and behaviour, evolution of adaptive phenotypes, social organisation, and biological complexity.

Specifically, we build on traditional model systems to transpose multi-omics approaches to non-model organisms. Our interdisciplinary approach combines molecular biology, microscopy, computational biology, and in vivo experiments to study biological processes from the molecular level to a macroevolutionary scale.

Collectively, we seek to gain a functional understanding of how genomes generate the complexity of life on Earth. With this knowledge, we tackle the global challenges of biodiversity loss, climate change, food security, disease prevention and healthy aging.

Research in the Centre for Evolutionary and Functional Genomics is highly collaborative maintaining partnerships with leading institutions worldwide, fostering a global network of researchers to advance our understanding of genomics and biology. The centre benefits from access to state-of-the-art imaging, genomic and animal facilities. Our genome research is also an important component of our postgraduate education, being central to the “Bioinformatics”, “AI in the Biosciences”, and “Biodiversity and Conservation” MSc programmes at QMUL.

News

Recent Publications

  • Reconstructing the last common ancestor of all eukaryotes.
    Richards TA, Eme L, Archibald JM, Leonard G, Coelho SM, de Mendoza A, Dessimoz C, Dolezal P, Fritz-Laylin LK, Gabaldón T, Hampl V, Kops GJPL, Leger MM, Lopez-Garcia P, McInerney JO, Moreira D, Muñoz-Gómez SA, Richter DJ, Ruiz-Trillo I, Santoro AE, et al.
    Plos Biology, Public Library of Science (Plos) vol. 22 (11), e3002917-e3002917.  
    25-11-2024
  • Bayesian Selection of Relaxed-Clock Models: Distinguishing between Independent and Autocorrelated Rates
    Panchaksaram M, Freitas L and dos Reis M
    Systematic Biology, Oxford University Press (Oup) 
    21-11-2024
  • The emergence of Sox and POU transcription factors predates the origins of animal stem cells
    Gao Y, Tan DS, Girbig M, Hu H, Zhou X, Xie Q, Yeung SW, Lee KS, Ho SY, Cojocaru V, Yan J, Hochberg GKA, de Mendoza A and Jauch R
    Nature Communications, Springer Nature vol. 15 (1) 
    14-11-2024

View more publications »

Recent Grants

  • Exploring the cooperativity of the POU-SOX stemness regulators during early animal evolution
    Alexandre De Mendoza Soler
    £3,000 Royal Society
    01-02-2025 - 01-02-2026
  • Synthetic clinical data for underrepresented populations: a UK-France alliance
    Matteo Fumagalli, Moneeza Kalhan Siddiqui and Venet Osmani
    £9,500 DSIT Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
    01-01-2025 - 31-03-2025
  • Efficient computational technologies to resolve the Timetree of Life: from ancient DNA to species-rich phylogenies
    Mario dos Reis
    £460,301 BBSRC Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
    29-11-2024 - 28-11-2027

View more grants »