Abhilesh Dhawanjewar

Evolutionary Geneticist & Bioinformatician
MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit
University of Cambridge

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Room 2.2

The Keith Peters Building

Cambridge Biomedical Campus

Cambridge, UK - CB2 0XY

I am an Evolutionary biologist passionate about understanding the mechanistic processes that produced the diversity of Life on Earth. I specialize in integrating empirical and computational approaches towards developing a holistic understanding of evolutionary processes.

Currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Genetics, Evolution and Environment department at University College London with Prof. Max Reuter and Dr. Aida Andres, my research focuses on how sex-specific traits evolve despite sharing a common genome. We use a combination of experimental evolution, genomics, and statistical modelling to understand the genetic basis of sexual antagonism.

Prior to this, I received my Ph.D. in Evolutionary Biology from the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. I worked with Dr. Kristi Montooth and Dr. Colin Meiklejohn on the co-evolution between mitochondrial and nuclear genomes. Through phenotypic assays with Drosophila hybrids, I characterized the effects of incompatible mitochondrial-nuclear interactions on the thermal senstivity of male reproduction. Combining phylogenetic, biological sequence and protein structure analysis, I also characterized disease-causing mutations in proteins of the electron transport chain.

I recieved my Integrated BS-MS Dual Degree in Bioinformatics from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune, where I worked on research projects in Ecology, Evolutionary Biology and Structural Biology. For my Masters thesis, I developed statistical methods to assess the stability of higher-order protein-protein interactions. This work is implemented as a webserver called Protein Interaction Z-Score Assessment (PIZSA).

News

Jun 10, 2024 Participated in the EMBO Population Genomics: Background and Tools Course in Naples, Italy. Presented a poster on the use of Approximate Bayesian Computation in detecting sexually antagonistic selection. Lots of in-depth discussions on the use of population genomic tools in understanding complex evolutionary processes.
Dec 22, 2023 Selected for participation in the Genetics Society of America’s Peer Review Training Program. I will be serving as a reviewer for the journals Genetics and G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics.
Jun 02, 2023 Published a miniReview on Multilevel Selection on mtDNA in Current Opinion in Genetics & Development
Sep 05, 2022 Joined University College London’s GEE department as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow to work with Prof. Max Reuter and Dr. Aida Andres on Sexual Antagonistic Variation in Drosophila melanogaster.

Latest Posts

Apr 27, 2018 Beats of Stress

Selected Publications

  1. bioinfo2020.jpeg
    A Knowledge-Based Scoring Function to Assess Quaternary Associations of Proteins
    Abhilesh S DhawanjewarAnkit A Roy, and Mallur S Madhusudhan
    Bioinformatics, Jun 2020
  2. icbiol2019.jpeg
    Temperature-Sensitive Reproduction and the Physiological and Evolutionary Potential for Mother’s Curse
    Kristi L MontoothAbhilesh S Dhawanjewar, and Colin D Meiklejohn
    Integrative and Comparative Biology, Jun 2019
  3. nar2019.jpeg
    Protein Interaction Z Score Assessment (PIZSA): An Empirical Scoring Scheme for Evaluation of Protein–Protein Interactions
    Ankit A RoyAbhilesh S DhawanjewarParichit Sharma, and 2 more authors
    Nucleic Acids Research, Jul 2019