Dr Jordi Paps Montserrat
BSc, MSc, PhD
Expertise
The history of life comprises major evolutionary transitions, like the origins of animals or plants, that changed Earth. In our lab, we aim to unravel the molecular and genomic changes underlying these evolutionary shifts.
Current positions
Senior Lecturer
School of Biological Sciences
Contact
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Biography
I am an evolutionary biologist who combines comparative genomics and phylogenetics to understand major evolutionary transitions. I did my PhD and first postdoc in Barcelona (Spain). The topic of my PhD (Dr Marta Riutort’s lab) was the molecular phylogeny of the Animal Kingdom, and my first postdoc (Dr Iñaki Ruiz-Trillo’s team) focused on the relationships between animals and their close eukaryote relatives. My second postdoc took me to the Department of Zoology (Oxford, Prof Peter W.H. Holland’s group), where I started a new research line on comparative genomics and gene family evolution to understand the origin and evolution of the Animal Kingdom.
I started my lab at the University of Essex (2015), and later I moved to the University of Bristol (2019). Now I am expanding those analyses to other major transitions, like the origin of plants, animal parasites, or the evolution of animals with bilateral symmetry. More info at https://evolution-genome.com/
Research interests
The history of life comprises major evolutionary transitions, like the origins of animals or plants, which changed dramatically the planet. We aim to unravel the molecular and genomic changes underlying these evolutionary shifts.
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
Delivering Sustainable Wheat
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of Biological SciencesDates
01/04/2023 to 31/03/2028
Thesis supervisions
Publications
Recent publications
03/03/2025The Hydractinia cell atlas reveals cellular and molecular principles of cnidarian coloniality
Nature Communications
The Hydractiniacell atlas reveals cellular and molecular principles of cnidarian coloniality
Hagfish genome elucidates vertebrate whole-genome duplication events and their evolutionary consequences
Nature Ecology and Evolution
Assembling animals
Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
Water-related innovations in land plants evolved by different patterns of gene co-option and novelty
New Phytologist
Teaching
My teaching comprises different topics that are related to the themes of genetics and evolution. These are molecular genetics, developmental biology, population genetics, genomics, and bioinformatics.