Decoding the animal "operating system"
We study the closest unicellular relatives of animals to understand how complex multicellularity emerged — not by inventing new parts, but by reorganizing pre-existing biological systems
We want to unravel how unicellular organisms gave rise to the first multicellular animals.
Join our journey to uncover the foundations of animal life. We use genomics, cell biology, phylogenetics and microbial methods.
By studying our closest unicellular relatives—filastereans, ichthyosporeans, corallochytreans and the missing 'Magnificent 8'—we aim to reconstruct the animal "operating system" that make that leap possible. We also aim to eventually re-create the transition to animal life.
