I am a theoretical biologist interested in the evolution of novelty. Since 2021, I am a research associate at the Sainsbury Laboratory, University of Cambridge (UK).
I like to think of life as organised into many interconnected levels: complex reaction networks make cells, many cells make organisms, organisms interact and form ecosystems. My main research question is: How did this multi-level complexity evolve?
Chris N. Micklem and James C. W. Locke. 2021. "Cut the noise or couple up: Coordinating circadian and synthetic clocks." iScience 24 (9): 103051. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2021.103051.
I am fascinated by how microorganisms can use their seemly simple and limited gene sets to thrive in almost every corner of the planet Earth, no matter how harsh or fluctuating the environment is.