Evolutionary Systems

The group focuses on the study of molecular evolution using different approaches based on formal methodologies. To this end we develop theoretical studies on the genotype-phenotype map using simple models (RNA folding, toyLIFE), design evolutionary models to understand specific dynamical features in adapting populations (effect of space, role of mutations and population structure, appearance and maintenance of molecular diversity, adaptive strategies...), perform numerical computation (mainly with RNA sequences and heterogeneous populations) and collaborate with experimentalists in the area of virology to help in the interpretation and analysis of empirical results (from population responses to different selective pressures, such as antiviral drugs, to analysis of deep sequencing data). Recently, our main interest relies in the reconstruction of genotype networks from empirical data obtained from the deep sequencing of viral populations.