Ellegren Group

Research in our laboratory addresses some key questions in evolutionary biology mainly using genomic and bioinformatic approaches. An underlying theme of this research is the analysis of biodiversity and the evolution of genetic diversity. We are interested in understanding how genomes diverge as populations and species differentiate, and we also study how mutation, selection and recombination mould DNA sequence evolution. Moreover, we are interested in sex chromosome evolution and sex-biased gene expression. Our main study system for these questions is birds, with a particular focus on Ficedula flycatcher, which has become a model organism for molecular ecology. Finally, we have a long-term interest in conservation genetics that translates into providing management agencies with genetic based monitoring service but also involves basic genomic studies of inbreeding.