Profile

I grew up in Ireland, which is where I carried out my Bachelor of Science in Genetics and Cell Biology. I moved to the UK to do my PhD in University of Nottingham. My current research as part of the Darwin Tree of Life project involves analyzing the genes and genomes of animals to detect changes that may have led to the incredible diversity we see in animals today. I have a keen interest in insects in particular, and I also love seeking out these bugs outside in the wild! I also love hiking, running, and watching sports of all kind. I’m currently living in Nottingham with my partner who is also a scientist, but I hope to move down to Oxford soon. My pronouns are he/him.

I am a bioinformatician, which means I mix computer science with biology. When a genome of a species is sequenced, the code of its DNA is stored in computers like any other file you find on a computer. I then use a wide variety of tools to look at and analyze the DNA code to try and find patterns that may give insights into how the genome and species has evolved. In particular I’m interested in the protein coding genes found within the genomes, as these are the markers that combine to produce the proteins that make and organism what it is.