Research

Evolution is the fundamental principle of living system. Evolutionary biology research aims to explain phenomena of the living system at various levels from macromolecules and cells to populations and species, by qualitative or quantitative evolution rules, and hence discover further patterns of evolution. Using computational approaches, our group is mainly interested in studying interesting questions on the frontiers of molecular evolution.

1. Evolutionary patterns of molecular sequences.

Molecular evolution models describe the evolution process of DNA or protein sequences and are one of the core tools in bioinformatic analyses. In recent years, accumulation of sequence data allows us to recognize more patterns in sequence evolution. For example, prevalent heterogeneity of features such as evolutionary rate among species or between genomic loci, and the non-independence between loci in the sequence, i.e. epistasis. Based on available comparative genomics data, we are interested in finding the biological mechanisms and driving factors of such patterns, and how to combine these factors into molecular evolution analyses, so that we can better model the process of sequence evolution, adaptation, etc.

2. Application of deep learning in evolution analyses.

Deep learning is a fast-advancing field of computational tools, suitable for pattern extraction and prediction from large, complex and diverse datasets. Based on biological data types with complex factors and heterogeneities, we want to apply deep learning on tasks in phylogenetics, taxonomics etc.

3. Evolutionary patterns and mechanisms of development.

Differentiation of cell types realizes the complex functions of multi-cellular organisms, which is the basis of biodiversity and adaptation. Single-cell sequencing techniques have generated large amount of data in different species. From an angle of molecular evolution and phylogenetics, we are interested in exploring the evolutionary principles and regulatory mechanisms of the developmental process at the level beyond molecular sequences.

Besides, we are broadly interested in the topics of adaptation, convergent evolution, comparative genomics, phenotypic evolution, phylogenetics, etc.