Julien Goebel

First, I’m sensitive to biodiversity as well as passionate by the various evolution theories and their applications in ecology and population genetics in purpose of conservation biology. With computer skills as a background, I have also developed a taste for modelling and biostatistics which I think to be paramount tools for wildlife survey.

During my PhD, I work on multigene family genes, which are similar genetic sequences being derived from the duplication of a single ancestral gene. This kind of multigene family gene has the advantage of requiring only one copy of it to maintain the original functions encoded by the primary gene while others copies are allowed to diverge and may assume new instances. The contribution of genetic drift and selection on the evolution of multigene families is relatively unknown and finding this, is one part of my PhD aims.

Several molecular characteristics and the well-known avian ecology coupled with our advanced researches, position the avian major histocompatibility complex class IIB (MHCIIB) as a great way to explore these issues . Compact but also intraspecifically varied, the avian MHCIIB allows a high power in comparative studies and identification of potential selective agents. I try to cover the stories of gene duplication in owls (Strigiformes) to finally extend my research to the entire avian phylogeny. As a result, we would know past events of recombination and selection. Thus, we expect to provide deeper insights in evolutionary processes that act on the avian immune system but also to extent our new acquired knowledge to whole multigene families.