We invite you to participate in the seminar of Dr Sudhir Kumar, which will take place online today, February 11th at 15.00.

Dr. Sudhir Kumar is a leading researcher in evolutionary biology who has made significant contributions to the field of phytomedicine. He is currently Laura H. Carnell Professor at the Department of Biology and Director of the Institute of Genomics and Evolutionary Medicine at Temple University in Philadelphia. PA.

His laboratory develops advanced algorithms, software, and databases for the analysis of modern and ancient mutations responsible for species diversity, genetic diseases, viral epidemics, and cancer progression. His influential achievements include MEGA software (www.megasoftware.net) for molecular evolution analysis, and TimeTree knowledge data base (www.timetere.org) for the study of species' divergence times.

Dr. Sudhir Kumar came to Poland at the invitation of Prof. Dr Hab. Eng. Joanna Polańska from the Silesian University of Technology and Taras Oleksyk, an American Fulbright scholar.

The seminar will be held on the Zoom platform. Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6232255230?pwd=OGExUWdKZmdGTitNYlI2c2MrUkZPQT09

The title of the lecture is: The use of ancient and personal mutations for biodiversity and biomedicine.

Abstract :
Molecular evolution studies, which play a key role in functional genomics, systematics, and genomic medicine, have developed dynamically over the past three decades. Scientists who used to work with several sequences now face huge datasets involving thousands of genes, entire genomes, and somatic cells. This paradigm shift allowed for comparative analysis of variants of different pathogens, cancers, populations, and species, but also required innovative methods, algorithms, and tools. During the seminar, Dr Kumar will discuss the development of new computational techniques and machine learning algorithms for the reconstruction of molecular phylogeny, estimation of divergence times and analysis of genetic variation in humans, cancers, and pathogens. He will emphasize that his team is focused on ecological calculations, which will make big data analysis more widely available. Their achievements, including the construction of the largest time-tree of life and the development of predictive models of blood cancer risk, exemplify the transformative potential of integrating molecular phylogenetics, genomics, and medicine — an approach called philomedicine. These findings were disseminated through commonly used tools and databases, including MEGA software and TimeTree Knowledge Base, which increased the value of evolutionary methods in global scientific ventures.