Anna Dewar

Dr. Anna Dewar is a Career Development Research Fellow at the University of Oxford's Department of Biology and St John's College. She also holds an honorary position as a Research Fellow in the Department of Genetics, Evolution & Environment at University College London. Her research focuses on comparative genomics, horizontal gene transfer (HGT), and the evolution of social behavior in bacteria. She develops genomic tools like SOCfinder to identify cooperative genes and employs phylogenetic methods to analyze large-scale genomic datasets. Key themes include bacterial plasmid dynamics, kin selection in natural populations, and the evolutionary implications of HGT.

Her work bridges theoretical evolutionary biology with empirical genomic analysis, addressing questions such as how HGT shapes genome structure and drives social trait evolution. Notable contributions include demonstrating that bacterial lifestyle primarily influences pangenome fluidity and that plasmids do not universally favor cooperative genes. She collaborates with the West Group and Griffin Lab, and her research is supported by grants focused on microbial evolution and genomic tools.

Publications highlight her focus on cooperative gene localization, bacterial social behavior, and evolutionary theory applications. Her PhD thesis (2021) at the University of Oxford further establishes her foundational work on HGT and bacterial cooperation. She actively engages in academic discourse via Google Scholar and maintains a research website through Oxford Mosaic.