Genetics

The Genetics discipline spans plant, animal, and microbial genetics at the intersection of molecular biology, evolutionary biology, and biomedicine. Several groups investigate how plants interact with their microbial environment — from the molecular basis of root symbioses and receptor kinase signalling, to plant immunity and the epigenetic mechanisms underlying plant–plant competition. Plant molecular biology further addresses how chloroplast function and gene regulation are integrated with the wider cellular environment. Evolutionary and functional genomics approaches reveal how gene regulation and DNA sequence variation evolve under natural selection, while research in sensory neuroscience, ocular gene therapy, and experimental parasitology applies genetic tools to questions of direct biomedical relevance. Mitochondrial biology and proteomics round out the discipline's scope. Together, the groups are united by a shared commitment to understanding how genomes are organised, expressed, and shaped by evolution.