BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Where do we stand on the origin of eukaryotic cells? - Dr Tom Will
 iams from Bristol Palaeobiology Research Group\, University of Bristol
DTSTART:20260212T130000Z
DTEND:20260212T140000Z
UID:TALK231121@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Caroline Newnham
DESCRIPTION:The origin of eukaryotic cells - complex cells with a nucleus 
 and mitochondrion\, shared by all of the most familiar forms of life - has
  long been a fascinating and hotly debated topic in evolutionary biology. 
 While the debate has raged for decades\, there have been some interesting 
 recent and semi-recent developments in the field\, driven both by the disc
 overy of new\, evolutionarily-relevant lineages in nature\, and by the dev
 elopment of new computational methods for inferring evolutionary history f
 rom genomes. In this talk\, I will give a brief historical overview of som
 e aspects of the debate\, and discuss recent developments in the field\, b
 oth from my lab and the broader community. I will attempt to address where
  eukaryotes branch in the tree of life\, identify the main genetic contrib
 utors to the first eukaryotic cells\, and establish the sequence of key ev
 ents during the evolution of eukaryotic cell complexity from (at least ult
 rastructurally) simpler prokaryotic starting points. Although I will prima
 rily peddle my own wares\, I will try to take a broader perspective such t
 hat the seminar may also be of some interest to non-specialists who are cu
 rious about evolution in deep time.
LOCATION:Biffen Lecture theatre and Zoom
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR