Dr Tom Williams
PhD(Dub.), BA(Dub.)
Expertise
I'm a computational evolutionary biologist. My work uses computational methods (mostly phylogenetics and bioinformatics) to study how molecules, genomes and microbes evolve, and to learn about the evolutionary history of life.
Current positions
Associate Professor in Molecular Evolution
School of Biological Sciences
Contact
Press and media
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Research interests
I study the early evolution of life using bioinformatics, phylogenetics and comparative genomics. The key questions relate to the nature of early life, the phylogeny of prokaryotes, the processes of microbial/genome evolution, the evolution of metabolism and the origin of eukaryotic cells.
Current group members include:
- Dr. Sandra Alvarez-Carretero (with Phil Donoghue and Davide Pisani): microbial phylogeny.
- Dr. Alex Bowles (with Chris Williamson and Phil Donoghue): algal genome evolution and phylogeny.
- Dr. James Clark (with Alistair Hetherington, Bristol): plant phylogeny.
- Dr. Christopher Kay (with Phil Donoghue): eukaryote origins.
- Dr. Edmund Moody: early evolution and the tree of life.
- Dr. Anna Nenarokova (with Phil Donoghue and Davide Pisani): eukaryote origins.
- Dr. Sam Williams: evolution of polyketide biosynthesis.
- Amy Russell: evolution of CPR Bacteria.
- Ollie Jarvis: eukaryote origins.
Get in touch if you are interested in joining, particularly if you want to work on "deep time" phylogenetics of prokaryotes or microbial eukaryotes.
You can find more information at Google Scholar, on Twitter (@tweethinking), or on Github (Tancata).
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
PDRA funding on RS Enhancement Award
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of Biological SciencesDates
01/04/2021 to 31/03/2023
PDRA funding on RS Enhancement Award
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of Biological SciencesDates
17/10/2020 to 31/10/2023
URF Renewal: Assembling Complex Life
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of Biological SciencesDates
17/10/2020 to 16/10/2023
Modelling lateral gene transfer on a new bacterial tree
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of Biological SciencesDates
05/03/2018 to 04/03/2020
Evolution-guided tuning of enzyme temperature optima
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of Biological SciencesDates
22/01/2018 to 31/01/2019
Publications
Recent publications
11/08/2023An evolutionary timescale for Bacteria calibrated using the Great Oxidation Event
Asteroid: a new algorithm to infer species trees from gene trees under high proportions of missing data
Bioinformatics
Defining eukaryotes to dissect eukaryogenesis
Current Biology
Discovery and biosynthetic assessment of 'Streptomyces ortus' sp. nov. isolated from a deep-sea sponge
Microbial Genomics
On the origin and evolution of microbial mercury methylation
Genome Biology and Evolution
Related people
Professor Philip Donoghue
Professor of Palaeobiology
School of Earth Sciences
Professor Alistair Hetherington
Melville Wills Chair in Botany
School of Biological Sciences
Dr James Clark
Research Associate
School of Biological Sciences
Dr Celine Petitjean
Lecturer
School of Biological Sciences
Dr Edmund Moody
Research Associate
School of Earth Sciences