The genomic study of insect evolution and diversification.
Research Area
What are the origins of biodiversity? How can insects contribute to a sustainable future for our planet? We study insects to understand evolution at the population and species level, and to better manage insect pests and promote a sustainable food system. We like genetics, and are doing a lot of genome analysis, but also think that we need to understand development, behaviour and ecology to make sense of evolution. So our research ranges across all of these topics.
We have a strong collaboration with a research group in Brazil under Prof Alberto Soares, and with Bayer through that collaboration. We also work with Better Origin in Cambridge to study the black soldier fly. We also collaborate with Prof Florian Holfelder in the Department of Biochemistry to study enzyme evolution using high throughput microfluidic techniques.
Project Interests
- The genomics of crop pests and the role of hybridisation in pest evolution. We are currently working on Brazilian and US populations of Helicoverpa species, but have interests in other pests that threaten food security especially in Brazil.
- Genetic improvement of the black soldier fly for waste management. We are studying the genetic diversity and effects of selection on this economically important species.
- Plasticity in the chemical defences of Heliconius butterflies. We are studying how plasticity in sequestration versus synthesis of cyanogenic compounds allows Heliconius butterflies to colonise a wide variety of Passiflora host plants.
- Speciation genomics and patterns of divergence. A possible project would involve studying adaptation to altitude in Andean butterflies.
- The evolution and development of butterfly wing patterns
