Dr Lucia Campos
I completed my PhD in 2021 at the University of Edinburgh and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, where I investigated the evolutionary dynamics of Begonia—a highly diverse genus with highly dynamic genomes. Since then, my research has continued to focus on the evolution of complex and understudied plant genomes. I’ve worked on the giant genome of mistletoe—one of the largest ever assembled—as part of the Darwin Tree of Life project, and more recently on polyploid cotton. I’m currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Agricultural Genomics in Barcelona, studying how transposable elements behave following polyploidisation and what this reveals about genome structure and evolutionary processes.
I'm particularly interested in how genome architecture evolves in non-model plants, especially those with large, repetitive, or polyploid genomes. My work explores the dynamics of transposable elements and genome compartmentalisation, integrated by pangenomics and structural variant research. A key part of my approach is combining computational tools with evolutionary questions, especially in species that are genomically challenging but biologically rich. I enjoy supporting and training others in genome analysis, and I'm driven by a broader goal of uncovering the genomic mechanisms that shape plant diversity—particularly in lineages that have been historically underrepresented in genomic research.