2009, PhD Mathematical & Natural Sciences

2003, MSc Applied Mathematics                                          CV

1999, Biologist & minor in Physics

From the major transitions to the micro-evolutionary changes, selection creates and encodes information in the genes. In my research I apply theoretical methods to understand the origins and evolution of genetic systems partly in terms of information. Currently I am  focusing my research efforts in two main projects. 

1. There is an analogy between statistical mechanics and the evolution of quantitative traits. Taking advantage of it, I study the long-term response to the joint action of selection, mutation and drift, over a polygenic trait. (More info)

   Another aspect of this analogy allows to study the limits of how much information per generation can selection transduce from the phenotype into the genes.

   The amount of encoded information can, in principle, be tuned by canalizing the genetic effects. However if canalization is linear these limits are broad, compared to canalizations that are non-linear.

2. There are several theories on the origins of the genetic code. Although we might think that because it was established eons ago we have no evidence of the initial processes leading to it, that is not true. The enzymatic machinery of protein synthesis -and the code itself- hides many molecular fossils that point to ancient sequences and molecular structures of prebiotic RNA's. The analysis of such genetic and structural data allows to discern distinct prebiotic scenarios for the origins of the code.

Other interests I have are: the evolution of microsatellite repeats when selection acts against their size, the typical assumption is that these genetic elements evolve in a neutral fashion, but there are examples -like regulatory regions- where the microsatellites are under selection. Here, I want to understand the maintenance of polymorphisms and its pleiotropic effects. Population dynamics, studying how natural selection can affect the patterns of population growth. This subject is a meeting point for several aspects of the evolutionary theory, since it involves several fields -in particular population genetics, life history theory, and evolutionary games. In this respect I am interested in developing sound hypotheses on the determinants of growth patterns, and ways to verify these. Particularly useful is the application to the MacArthur's theory of island biogeography, since it allows a rigourous comparative framework. I also apply the study of population dynamics to diseases  (malaria & cancer), as a contribution to the understanding of factors that cause much human suffering.