Tom van der Valk, one of CPG’s PIs, has been awarded a European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant for his project GENOMICIDE: The genomic impact of ancient structural variants on species extinction. The project will re-construct and study structural variants among the genomes of extinct animals, in order to understand their effects on the diversity, adaptation and extinction of these species. Based on ancient DNA from the most well-preserved samples of extinct megafauna, the project will use novel approaches and cutting edge technology to gain insights into this architecture of lost genomes . Tom is currently a DDLS Fellow based at the Department for Bioinformatics and Genetics at the Swedish Museum of Natural History. Congratulations Tom!
