I'm interested in phylogenetics and genome evolution, and particularly in the interface of the two: how to use phylogenetic methods to understand genomes and their evolution, and what genomic data teaches us about how we should build phylogenetic trees using molecular data. These topics are central to making sense of the large amounts of data coming from genome sequencing projects, by placing this information in its evolutionary context. For example, molecular clocks and diversification models can give us information about the process of gene duplication, which is the central way that novel genes, with novel functions, originate, and so is central to evolutionary innovation. Other phylogenetic methods developed to study host-parasite systems, seem ideal for analysing lateral gene transfer, which is crucial to the enormous adaptability of bacterial populations, such as the spread of antibiotic resistance in pathogens.

At present, particular research involves using genomic data to understand how the origins of different eukaryotic genes might relate to their function, and developing models of gene duplication and loss and applying these models to understand vertebrate gene and genome duplication. I'm also working on phylogenetic theory, particularly consensus and supertree methods, with Mark Wilkinson at the Natural History Museum and other collaborators.