Thomas Brazier

Post-doc in Population Genomics and Evolutionary Biology

University of Rennes 1 - ECOBIO Lab UMR 6553

Biography

I am an evolutionary biologist and population geneticist broadly interested in genome evolution and patterns of genetic diversity across genomes, populations, and species. My academic background combines a PhD in population genomics focused on recombination landscapes and ongoing research in comparative genomics and genome evolution, with a focus on understanding the diversity of structural variation across the eukaryotic tree of life. My work has allowed me to gain experience with genomic data analysis, including variant calling and genotyping, estimating genetic diversity statistics, simulations under diverse frameworks (msprime, SLiM), and Python/R programming in Unix environments. I have also actively engaged in analyzing large-scale genomic and life history trait datasets to understand evolutionary processes, such as the evolution of recombination landscapes across plant species.

During my PhD (ANR HotRec), I leveraged large genomic datasets in a comparative genomic framework to understand global patterns of molecular evolution in plants. I used meta-analytic approaches and advanced statistics to describe and quantify the diversity and determinants of recombination and its associated evolutionary processes (e.g., GC-biased gene conversion) among a large set of plant species.

After defending my PhD thesis in late 2022, I was rapidly involved in a wide range of themes spanning molecular evolution, population genomics, and evolutionary biology. My first postdoctoral position focused on testing an original theory of the evolution of gene expression (the runaway process proposed by Thomas Lenormand, ANR CisTransEvol). More recently, I have involved myself in the newly arising field of pangenomics and genomic structural variation (ERC funded, supervised by Claire Mérot). Among these widespread spectrum of topics, I have taken a broad view of population genomics, studying evolution at various levels of organization, including genes, genomes, populations, and species. I am interested in integrative approaches that reconcile different levels of organization under a more general and synthetic model (e.g., how patterns at the scale of genes could influence global genome evolution, and how both are co-evolving).

I am also a continuous learner, very curious and eager to train myself in a broad range of topics and methods in evolutionary genomics. I am involved in the development of bio-informatic pipelines and packages (sv calling, recombination maps) as well as the development of modern statistical methods for population genomics, especially Bayesian inference, Machine Learning and Neural Netwrosk. In particular, I am actively developping Bayesian neural networks methods for inference of demographic parameters in an Approximate Baysian Computation framework. As Deep Learning is getting more and more applications in population genomics, I believe it is a powerful versatile approach for inferences and predictions on large scale genomic data with complex underlying models and non-linear relationships in high-dimension datasets.

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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
Aug 2024 – Present Rennes, France

Structural Variation & genetic diversity (macro-scale): How variable and how similar are structural diversity and evolutionary patterns driven by SVs across the tree of life, and why?

  • Variant calling
  • Structural variation
  • Genetic diversity
  • Macro evolution
  • Population size
 
 
 
 
 
Post Doc
CNRS
Nov 2022 – Jul 2024 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 Posts

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.

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