My research focuses on the evolution of biological complexity– particularly the origins of multicellularity, life cycles, syntrophy, and organizational scales. I am interested in how simple organisms evolve into complex ones. This topic is not only fascinating but it is fundamental to understanding the evolution and ecology of life– both on earth and elsewhere in the “verse”.
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Eric joined Umeå University at the end of 2017 and splits his time between the Mathematics Department and the interdisciplinary research environment IceLab. He is captivated by the diverse spectrum of life and seeks general principles and fundamental theory that explain its emergence and evolution. He likes cooking, hiking, and connecting with nature.
Hanna started her PhD in Fall 2019. She is based at Icelab and the Umeå University Mathematics Department. Her studies focus on understanding the evolution of multicellular life cycles and in particular how their early structure influences adaptation. She enjoys playing the organ and bird-watching among other things.
Josephine got her PhD in mechanobiology at the University of Surrey, UK. Now, she uses metabolic models to explore how the environment shapes microbial cooperation. She enjoys swing dancing, hiking, and drinking endless cups of tea. She is excited for the Swedish winters and all the magic they hold.
Lucas is an evolutionary biologist who uses mathematical models and computer simulations to study social evolution across biological scales. He completed his PhD at the University of Tennessee, USA. Now, he focuses on a key event during the evolution of life, endosymbiosis. He loves coffee and sweets, making him a fan of Swedish Fika.
Rebecka joined Umeå University’s Mathematics Department for her PhD in April 2020, based at the interdisciplinary IceLab. Her project will tackle the origins of eukaryotic endosymbiosis using mathematical models that connect physiological cell constraints with ecological population structures. She likes to go swing dancing in her spare time.
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How can we detect life elsewhere in the universe if it does not resemble life on earth?
Publications
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(2023).
Emergence and maintenance of stable coexistence during a long-term multicellular evolution experiment.
bioRxiv.
(2022).
Analysis of Agnostic Biosignatures from Nextgen Chemometrics Data.
2022 Astrobiology Science Conference.
(2022).
Clonal development, not aggregation, drives the transition to multicellularity in an isogenic model system.
bioRxiv.
(2022).
Evolutionary consequences of nascent multicellular life cycles.
bioRxiv.
(2022).
Metabolic compatibility and the rarity of prokaryote endosymbioses.
BioRxiv.
