Dr Miguel Brun-Usan

Postdoctoral fellow

Contact

Email: Miguel Brun-Usan
Phone: +44 23 8059 5000

Biosketch

Miguel Brun-Usan is a postdoctoral research fellow working with Richard Watson at the University of Southampton. He achieved his PhD at the Autonomous University of Barcelona under the supervision of Isaac Salazar-Ciudad, after doing a master in Evolutionary Biology in the Complutense University of Madrid. Miguel’s research interests are Evolutionary-Developmental Biology (Evo-Devo), theoretical biology, complex systems and systems biology. Through computer simulations and mathematical models, he addresses how the inherent structure of development (which in turn arises from a complex interplay between genetic, environmental and physical processes) affects long-term evolutionary dynamics. During his PhD, he participated in the creation of a general modelling platform for developmental biology in collaboration with the University of Helsinki. This platform, called EmbryoMaker, implements all developmental mechanisms known in animal cells, fully tunable gene-regulatory networks (GRN) and realistic cell biomechanics in a 3D environment. He used this computational model to better understand the early developmental stages of many invertebrate groups. Now, within the EES, he is trying to disentangle: (i) how evolution can learn from previous experiences by modifying the genotype-phenotype mapping of the organisms, and (ii) how coevolutionary dynamics and major evolutionary transitions are affected by the developmental properties of the coevolving agents.

Further information

University of Southampton School of Electronics and Computer Science