My PhD project is part of the study of transmissible cancers which raise many fundamental questions: How and why do they emerge? How long do they evolve? What are their ecological and evolutionary consequences on host populations? By combining genetics and evolutionary genomics, functional biology and immunology skills, I’m trying to better understand a transmissible cancer which has recently been demonstrated in populations of Mytilus sp. mussels. Through experimental and empirical approaches, we are seeking to understand the evolutionary history and dynamics of this particular parasite and its interactions with host organisms (response to cancer).
More broadly, I’m interested in multidisciplinary approaches integrating the sciences of evolution (evolutionary medicine, evolutionary ecology, phylodynamics, etc.) to better understand complex systems of interactions between organisms and their environment.