Zoology Department Seminar: Ecology in Every Cell: what comparative somatic genomics can reveal about ageing, evolution, and the environment

Speaker: Dr Alex Cagan, Dept of Genetics, University of Cambridge

Title: Ecology in Every Cell: what comparative somatic genomics can reveal about ageing, evolution, and the environment

Abstract: Somatic mutations accumulate throughout life, shaping ageing, disease risk, and cellular function. Recent advances in ultra-accurate sequencing now allow us to measure these mutations directly, offering a new lens through which to study the evolution of ageing. In this talk, I will present our comparative work using laser capture microdissection and NanoSeq to quantify somatic and germline mutational processes across a wide range of vertebrate species. These data reveal striking links between mutation rates, cellular maintenance, and lifespan evolution.
Looking forward, I will discuss how these same methods could be repurposed for environmental genomics, enabling detection of harmful environmental exposures in wild populations. Being able to measure somatic mutations across species turns every cell into a potential biomonitor or environmental exposures. Such approaches open new possibilities for ecotoxicology, and understanding how social and environmental stressors influence organismal health through their effects on genome stability and clonal dynamics within organisms.

Our Departmental Seminars run weekly on Thursdays during term time. They cover recent research on a wide variety of topics from evolutionary genetics through behavioural ecology to ecology and natural history.  

Everyone in Zoology is invited, and Part II undergraduate zoologists are particularly encouraged to attend.  Please click here for a list of all of this term's seminars.