Prof Richard Nichols

Richard Nichols
BSc PhD FLS

Professor of Evolutionary Genetics

School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences
Queen Mary University of London
www.qmul.ac.uk/sbbs/staff/richardnichols.html
Centre for Evolutionary and Functional Genomics
Centre for Biodiversity and Sustainability
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Research

Population Genetics, Evolutionary Genomics, Bayesian Analysis, Conservation, Range Expansion, Invasive Species

Interests

My work combines the collection of genetic data with the development of new analytical methods. I interpret genetic patterns to ask how populations have spread or contracted, merged or been fragmented and how they have been shaped by natural selection.

I apply this approach to a wide diversity of organisms:

Trees: I work with colleagues at Kew to counteract threats to British trees, encompassing projects to identify the genetic basis of resistance to invasive diseases of Ash trees (with Richard Buggs) and exploiting phylogenetic information to anticipate threats from invasive beetles (with Laura Kelly).

Viruses: with Trent Garner (Institute of Zoology) I study the spread of wildlife viruses affecting fish, reptiles, and amphibians. I ask why they have recently appeared in new locations & species.

Human cancer cells: I work with Trevor Graham (Barts Cancer Institute) using experiments on cancer cell lines to ask if we can identify strategies to retard resistance to chemotherapy, by exploiting evolutionary insights.

Model organisms: conducting experimental evolution, for example on Drosophila fruit flies (with Bill Sherwin in UNSW), I ask if there are flaws or omissions in our current evolutionary models.

Crops: I am a member of a project with (The Natural Resources Institute and Kew) to identify crop varieties that will be resilient to climate change in Ethiopia.