The McInerney Research group at School of Life Sciences, University of Nottingham is an evolutionary biology group that is interested in answering fundamental questions about the evolution of life on the planet.

What do we work on?

Unseen to the naked eye is a vast network of life – a network where genetic material is shared, not only between parents and their offspring, but between organisms that might not even be particularly closely related. We know this network exists, but we are less sure of what structures it and what roles it has played in the recent and distant evolutionary history of life on earth.

Why now?

We are living in the golden age of data and in particular genomic data is being generated at a faster rate than most could have imagined a few years ago. In our research group we are using high performance computing, comparative genomics, phylogenetics, statistics, simulations and machine learning in order to turn data into knowledge.

What will we know in 10 years time?

The elements of life – protein domains, genes, gene clusters, genomes, communities, the global ecosystem – are inextricably linked in a complex, dynamic network. We will have uncovered some of that network. We will unearth the forces that influence its shape and structure. We will develop methods that predict what happens when it is perturbed (say, by Global Warming or the increased presence of antibiotics).

If you wish to join our group, please get in touch via the contact page.