Post by University of Zurich

Congratulations to UZH evolutionary biologist Andreas Wagner on receiving an ERC Advanced Grant! 👏 Thanks to this grant, he will investigate a paradox at the heart of Darwinian evolution: If genetic evolution often encounters dead ends, why does it readily produce remarkably well-adapted organisms? 🔎 The project, titled “Fitness Seascapes and the Role of Weak Selection in Adaptive Evolution”, will examine how evolution overcomes these apparent barriers. 🧬 Supported by €2.5 million, Wagner and his team will use cutting-edge experimental technology to analyze up to 100 trillion genetic variants. Their goal is to understand how environmental change or weakly selected mutations may help evolution navigate around obstacles. 💡 The findings could fundamentally transform our understanding of evolution and resonate in fields as different as medicine and protein engineering. 👉 Read more here: https://lnkd.in/eQfx699T #UZH #UniversityofZurich #ERCAdvancedGrant European Research Council (ERC)