
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
Media contact
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Research interests
I study the early evolution of life using phylogenetic and comparative genomic methods (that is, with bioinfomatics, on a computer). The key questions relate to the nature of early life, the phylogeny of prokaryotes, the processes of microbial/genome evolution, and the origin of eukaryotic cells.
Current group members include:
- Dr. Paul O. Sheridan (NERC PDRA, with Cecile Gubry-Rangin, Aberdeen): genome evolution of Thaumarchaeota
- Dr. Christopher Kay (BBSRC PDRA, with Wendy Gibson, Bristol): trypanosome genomics
- Dr. James Clark (Leverhulme PDRA, with Alistair Hetherington, Bristol): plant phylogeny
- Edmund Moody (Royal Society PhD student): early evolution and the "tree of life"
- Brogan Harris (PhD student, with Alistair Hetherington, Bristol): gene family evolution in land plants
- Matt Tarnowski (PhD student, with Tom Gorochowski, Bristol): using evolutionary information in synthetic biology
- Erika Griss Pascuali (MSc Res student): eukaryote evolution
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
07/02/2022An estimate of the deepest branches of the tree of life from ancient vertically-evolving genes
eLife
Signatures of hybridization in Trypanosoma brucei
PLoS Pathogens
SNX27–Retromer directly binds ESCPE-1 to transfer cargo proteins during endosomal recycling
PLoS Biology
SpeciesRax
Molecular Biology and Evolution
A methylotrophic origin of methanogenesis and early divergence of anaerobic multicarbon alkane metabolism
Science Advances