About Me

I am an evolutionary biologist driven by a fascination for population genetics, genomics, and phylogenetics. Using bioinformatics tools, I explore molecular evolution to understand how life changes at its most fundamental level.

My academic journey began at the University of Padua, where I earned my Master’s in Evolutionary Biology. During that time, I moved to the Max Planck Institute in Plön to work with Prof. Julien Dutheil on a thesis exploring the relationship between compensatory mutations and population size across mammalian lineages.

I am now based at CEFE (CNRS) in Montpellier. Working with Thomas Lenormand and Christoph Haag, I am currently investigating how sex chromosomes differentiate, using Daphnia magna as a genomic model.

I find my greatest motivation in the “big data” aspect of modern biology: the ability to uncover the hidden history of species within the massive datasets produced by high-throughput sequencing.

When I’m not in front of a computer (which, admittedly, is where most of my time is spent), I’m usually outdoors photographing insects, spiders, and other small creatures. It’s a hobby that keeps me grounded in the very biodiversity I study. Feel free to check out my shots on Flickr.