Thomas Brazier

Post-doc in Genomic and Evolution

University of Rennes 1 - ECOBIO Lab UMR 6553

Biography

I am an evolutionary biologist broadly interested in genome evolution and patterns of genetic diversity. I primarily use large genomic datasets (based on already published studies) to re-analyse them in a novel comparative genomic framework and discover global patterns of molecular evolution. During my PhD (ANR HotRec) I used meta-analytic approaches and advanced statistics to describe and quantify the diversity and determinants of evolutionary processes (e.g. recombination, GC-biased gene conversion) among a large set of species.

Though I am still a young researcher (PhD defended in late 2022), I was rapidly involved in a wide range of thematics spanning molecular evolution, population genomics and evolutionary biology at a broad sense. My first post-doc is actually about testing an original theory of evolution of gene expression (the runaway process proposed by Thomas Lenormand, ANR CisTransEvol), while I am at the same time involved in the newly arising field of pangenomic and structural variation within genomes (ERC funded, supervised by Claire Mérot). Among these very different topics I find it very interesting to study evolution at many levels of organisation, including genes, genomes, populations and species. I am interested in integrative approaches reconciling different levels of organisation under a more general and synthetic model (e.g. how patterns at the scale of genes could influence global genome evolution, how both are co-evolving).

Alternatively, I am also involved in the development of bio-informatic pipelines as well as modern statistical methods for population genomics, especially Artificial Intelligence. As Deep Learning is getting more and more applications, I believe it is a powerful versatile approach for population genomics. Deep Learning, especially Neural Networks, has proven to be “unreasonably effective” for inferences and predictions on large scale genomic data and almost any problem can be adressed successfuly with Neural Networks.

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Interests
  • meiotic recombination and genetic shuffling
  • genomic patterns of genetic diversity
  • evolution of gene expression
  • genomic structural variation
Education
  • PhD in Ecology & Evolution, 2022

    University of Rennes 1

  • Master's Degree in Ecology & Evolution with a major in Modelling, with honors, first of the year, 2019

    University of Rennes 1

  • BSc in Life Sciences and Biology of Organisms, with honors, first of the year, 2017

    Pierre and Marie Curie Paris 6 University and Aix-Marseille University

Skills

Bio-informatic

Advanced

Population genomics

Advanced

Scientific writing

Advanced

Statistics

Advanced

Machine Learning

Initiated

Linux

Initiated

R

Advanced

Python

Initiated

Docker

Initiated

Experience

 
 
 
 
 
Post Doc
CNRS
Nov 2022 – Present Rennes, France

Evolution of cis-regulatory regions and gene expression in diploid species

  • RNA-seq
  • Allele-specific expression
  • Purging of deleterious mutations
  • Signatures of selection
 
 
 
 
 
PhD Student
University of Rennes 1
Oct 2019 – Oct 2022 Rennes, France

Recombination landscapes and genome evolution in Angiosperms

  • Comparative genomics
  • Meiosis and crossovers
  • Genetic shuffling
  • Linkage disequilibrium
  • GC biased gene conversion

Responsibilities include:

  • Data Analysis
  • Bioinformatics
  • Scientific Writing
 
 
 
 
 
Master Student
INRAE
Jan 2019 – Jun 2019 Rennes
A population genetic approach to study the biological invasion by the topmouth gudgeon fish.
 
 
 
 
 
Master Student
INRAE
Apr 2018 – Jul 2018 Rennes
Genetic-based dispersal distances in a small flying mammal, the lesser horseshoe bat.
 
 
 
 
 
Grip & Key Grip
Movies and TV Shows
Jun 2010 – Dec 2017 France
Making movies.
 
 
 
 
 
Master of Cinema - Specialization in Image Shooting
Sep 2007 – Jul 2010 France
A great public school dedicated to cinema, photography and sound.
 
 
 
 
 
Bachelor Degree of Art and Cinema
Sep 2004 – Jul 2007 France
This degree provides theoretical, historical, and practical instruction as an introduction to the history of the performing arts, particularly theater and other performing arts, cinema, and audiovisual arts, as well as to current artistic approaches in these two fields.
 
 
 
 
 
High School Diploma in Science - option Physics and Informatics
Lycée Prieur de la Côte d’Or - Auxonne
Jul 2001 – Jul 2004 France

Accomplish­ments

99% of success
See certificate
Research Ethics
96% of success
See certificate

Recent Publications

Quickly discover relevant content by filtering publications.
(2022). Diversity and determinants of recombination landscapes in flowering plants. PLOS Genetics.

DOI

(2022). The influence of native populations’ genetic history on the reconstruction of invasion routes: the case of a highly invasive aquatic species. Biological Invasions.

DOI

(2020). Drivers of longitudinal telomere dynamics in the long‐lived bat species, Myotis myotis. Molecular Ecology.

DOI

Recent & Upcoming Talks

Evolution 2021
The 2021 Evolution Conference.

Contact