Thomas Hackl

Dr. Thomas Hackl is an Assistant Professor in Eco-Evolutionary Bioinformatics at the University of Groningen's Faculty of Science and Engineering, affiliated with the Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences. His research investigates how organisms adapt and diversify through genomic mechanisms, studying processes like horizontal gene transfer in viruses, fungi, and marine microbes. He develops computational tools for genomics data analysis and visualization.

Research focuses on:

• Genomic plasticity in marine cyanobacteria and eukaryotic hosts
• Viral integration mechanisms and virophage evolution
• Endophytic fungal biosynthetic pathways
• Bioinformatics workflow development

Publications demonstrate innovations in detecting endogenous viral elements, characterizing marine microbial communities, and fungal secondary metabolism. Recent work reveals virophage retrotransposon colonization, Prochlorococcus genomic diversity, and horizontal gene transfer dynamics.

He teaches Ecological & Evolutionary Genomics, Microbiome, and Practical Computing for Biologists, while supervising BSc/MSc research projects and leading the 'Teaching coding effectively' educational initiative.