Janna Fierst

Research Areas

• Genome evolution
• Evolutionary theory
• Comparative computational genomics
• Computational modeling
• Effective practices for mentoring and training early career researchers in computational biology

Research in the Fierst lab focuses around computational approaches to studying evolution of the genome in different organisms. We study how life is organized, structured, and changes and how we can use theory, computational models and bioinformatic analyses to understand it.

Current projects include:

• Inferring and modeling the biological networks underlying cold tolerance in bumblebees
• Developing bioinformatic methods to decontaminate genome sequences
• Analyzing the influence of reproductive mode on horizontal gene transfer in nematode worms
• Developing mathematical models of structural variant mutations
• Studying mutation size and frequency across different organisms