Joachim Hermisson

Joachim Hermisson studied Physics and Philosophy in Tübingen and Göttingen and did a PhD on Quantum Phase Transitions before he switched to modeling Real Life. He worked with Günter Wagner at Yale and started his own group in Munich in 2002 with the help of an Emmy Noether research grant from the German Research Foundation (DFG). In October 2007, he started his position as a Professor of Mathematics and Biosciences at the University of Vienna. Hermisson's work is on theoretical population genetics, where he combines molecular and phenotypic approaches. He is particularly interested in the evolutionary conditions for adaptation and speciation. Recent projects range from the evolution of assortative mating under frequency-dependent disruptive selection to the study of selective sweeps and the footprint of selection in molecular adaptation. A special research focus is on the effects of gene-gene and gene-environment interactions on genetic variation and the adaptive process (epistatis and evolvability) and on the evolution of the genotype-phenotype map (robustness, canalization and modularity).