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Comparative and Evolutionary Genomics (CEG)

The Comparative and Evolutionary Genomics (CEG) research group consists of an international team that often applies genomic methods and covers a wide variety of expertise such as systematics, bioinformatics, ecology, and evolutionary biology, predominantly in zoological systems.

snail on wooden log crawling towards camera with vegetation in the background

Torsten Struck, UiO

Introduction

Due to the rapid advances in sequencing technology, biology is experiencing a transformation to a big-data science. This allows us to obtain genome-level information for almost any species on Earth now at an unprecedented quality level of completeness and continuity. This opens entire new opportunities for biodiversity research and CEG is at the forefront of this development being part of different international and national collaborations employing genomics.

Key research questions of CEG focus on biodiversity and systematics of mainly invertebrate groups using comparative approaches in an evolutionary and/or ecological context. Emphasis is usually on the marine realm, but also on terrestrial insects.

CEG members are interested in the evolution of populations and species differentiation with a particular interest in understanding cryptic species and the phenomenon of stasis. We also interested in a better understanding of genome evolution for these understudied groups. The main applications comprise of molecular biology, phylogenomics, and comparative genomics methods. We also develop new bioinformatics tools aiming at minimizing the impact of artificial signals on analytical procedures.

CEG news

Once in a while, we have something new to present. Please check out our news page.

White flatworm with black stripes — Torsten Struck, UiO

CEG blog

We also present more detail and information in our blog (external link). We describe our recent papers, fieldwork, projects and other research related topics in a general manner. We also present each month a new group (external link), which we find very interesting and we want you to learn more about. At the end of the year, we write an advent calendar (external link) summarizing the year for us. The blog also provides the most comprehensive and update overview of what we are doing. Please check out our blogs and enjoy reading them.

Jellyfish in a dark aquarium — Torsten Struck, UiO

CEG publications

Selected publication from our group can be found at this page. We also provide an overview of our popular science publications besides the blog here. More information on publications can also be found on Cristin (external link) as well as on the webpage of each group member (see the list of group members with links).

Different marine invertebrates: anemone, segmented worm and tunciate — Torsten Struck, UiO; Mael Grosse, UiO; Torsten Struck, UiO

CEG journal club

We also have a very active journal club where discuss different scientific papers and topics. Check out the link above to see more details.

Our journal club is open to everyone at NHM. For example, we have regularly members from the research groups Evolution and Paleobiology (EPA) and Sex and Evolution (SERG) participating. Please get in contact with Torsten if you want to learn more about it and how to participate.

Feather duster worm with large tentacles — Torsten Struck, UiO

Teaching

CEG members are actively involved in academic teaching and training of next-generation biologists at different levels. We are responsible for the organization of different courses at UiO and ForBio School in Biosystematics (external link) as well as participation in international workshops and the UiO Life Science Summer projects. Check out the link above for details on our teaching actives.