Profile of the supervisor
Prof. dr. Bregje Wertheim did her undergraduate Biology studies at Leiden University and obtained a PhD at Wageningen University. She then did two postdocs, at University College London and Imperial College London, where she learned novel genomic technologies to investigate evolution in Drosophila environmental stress responses. She acquired a skill set in molecular genetics, genomics, and bioinformatics, which now enables her to employ these technologies to address longstanding and new questions in evolution. In 2009, she was awarded a Rosalind Franklin Fellowship to start her independent research group at the University of Groningen. With her team, she has been studying the genetic mechanisms that underlie the adaptive capacity of life, with the aim to get mechanistic insight into the evolvability of traits. The molecular mechanisms of evolution matter, as the genetic underpinnings by which traits arise may constrain or facilitate the rate and scope for their emergence, as well as their potential for diversification. From September 2024, she holds the chair of the Laboratory of Entomology at Wageningen University & Research.
Expertise
Evolutionary biology, molecular genetics, genomics, bioinformatics.
Profile of the research group
The Evolutionary Genetics, Development & Behaviour (EGDB) group, within the Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, investigates the mechanisms underlying phenotypic diversity, as well as the ecological and evolutionary processes that drive diversification. This phenotypic diversity emerges from the interplay between genetic and non-genetic factors, internally and from the environment, that determine the adaptive capacity of organisms through evolution and through developmental plasticity. To reveal how the genome functions in generating complex organisms that can interact with their environment, how the genome evolves, and how it can enable both adaptation and flexibility when the world changes, we integrate molecular, genomic and genetic approaches with physiological and behavioural experimentation, both in the laboratory and in the field.
