It is becoming increasingly difficult to reconcile the observed extent of horizontal gene transfers with the central metaphor of a great tree uniting all evolving entities on the planet.
In our latest work on the origin of eukaryotes published in a special issue of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B (link to full issue) compiled and edited by Professor Martin Embley and Dr Tom Williams, we advocate a ‘domain-free’ view of the history of life. Debates about whether there should be two domains…
More support for Atlantogenata. This week an international collaborative effort has tackled a major challenge in phylogenetics – the interrelationships amongst placental mammals. The paper has just been published in Genome Biology and Evolution (please click here to see the paper). In work led by Dr James Tarver and Dr Davide Pisani (with contributions from…
Super treat in the lab this week. The journal Science decided to feature one of our publications in its “Editor’s Choice” section. The author of the little piece is Laura Zahn and she chose to feature the work, which was published in Molecular Biology and Evolution. It is always a real thrill to have work…
Save the date: 21st June for the launch of Leeds Omics. You are invited to the launch of Leeds Omics on Tuesday morning (21st June) at 10.00am. Please register for this event using the following link: http://leedsomicslaunch.eventbrite.co.uk Leeds Omics is a cross faculty initiative between the Faculty of Biological Sciences and the Faculty of Medicine…
It was freezing and there was a northerly wind whipping through DCU campus but that wasn’t going to keep us from smiling ! We had a double celebration in our group today with the graduation of Dr Andrew Webb and Dr Kathryn McRae photographed here with our president Prof Brian Mac Craith. Kathryn was supervised…
This week the genome and transcriptome of the Bowhead whale was published in the journal Cell reports. For more please see our publications page for the pdf or click here This work was carried out by Dr Andrew Webb (first author) and Dr Mary O’Connell in collaboration with an international team of experts and was led by…
Myeloperoxidase (MPO) is a member of the mammalian heme peroxidase (MHP) multigene family. Whereas all MHPs oxidize specific halides to generate the corresponding hypohalous acid, MPO is unique in its capacity to oxidize chloride at physiologic pH to produce hypochlorous acid (HOCl), a potent microbicide that contributes to neutrophil-mediated host defense against infection.
I had the tremendous pleasure of teaching a very talented and motivated bunch of students on an EMBO (European Molecular Biology Organisation) funded course. The course was delivered in the amazon jungle city of Iquitos Peru, the largest jungle city in the world unconnected by road to the rest of the world. It was…