I'm a research group leader in the Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment at UCL.  

My research focuses on the evolution and ecology of bacterial pathogens. Bacteria have an extraordinary ability to rapidly adapt to environmental changes, allowing them to infect new hosts, evade vaccines, and develop resistance to antibiotic treatments. This adaptability not only makes controlling bacterial pathogens challenging but also offers an ideal system for studying adaptive evolution over observable timescales. My research seeks to better understand these processes and apply that knowledge to inform public health strategies.

My approach to studying pathogens considers their broader evolutionary and ecological context. Disease-causing bacteria represent only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to bacterial diversity. My research explores how and why pathogens have diverged from their closest non-pathogenic or less-pathogenic relatives, as well as their ongoing interactions with these relatives across different host populations

I seek to answer questions such as:

• Why do bacteria evolve to cause disease in their hosts?

• How do the closest relatives of bacterial pathogens influence their evolution, whether through competition for resources or horizontal gene transfer?

• How do ecological shifts impact the adaptive potential of bacteria?

More broadly, my research involves analysing genomic variation across various taxonomic groups using population genetic and phylogenetic models to learn about populations, their histories, and the evolutionary forces that have shaped them.

gemma.gr.murray@ucl.ac.uk

@gemmamurray