EVOLUTIONARY GENETICS

Dr Zachary Ardern is an evolutionary geneticist at the world-famous Wellcome Trust Sanger Centre in Cambridge. His work investigates the

evolution and functions of young genes in pathogenic bacteria and viruses, working as a SEED fellow (Sanger Epidemiological and Evolutionary Dynamics) as part of the Thomson group. Tracing the genetic changes of organisms over time, and how genes evolved (and are evolving) is a relatively new field and helps inform work on human disease and problems such as antimicrobial resistance as well as telling us a great deal about the development of life on earth. You could consider Zach to be something of a molecular archaeologist.

Zach and I go back many years and it was wonderful to catch up with him again to talk science. I am immensely jealous that he gets to work at the Sanger, one of the homes of the Human Genome Project and my favourite science place in the world. Zach also has a background in philosophy so we have always been able to bond over that too. I hope you enjoy our discussion.

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