Yannick Wurm

Prof. Yannick Wurm is a Professor of Evolutionary Genomics and Bioinformatics at Queen Mary University of London, affiliated with the School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences. His work focuses on genome evolution, bioinformatics, and the biology of ants and pollinators. He leads the Wurm Lab, developing tools like SequenceServer (BLAST analysis) and Sensibee (pollinator monitoring). His research integrates AI/ML and transcriptomics to study pollinator health, pesticide impacts, and social insect genetics. He collaborates with the Centre for Biodiversity and Sustainability, Centre for Brain and Behaviour, and Centre for Evolutionary and Functional Genomics. Key interests include supergene evolution in ants and molecular responses to environmental stressors.

• Education: PhD in Biology, postdoctoral work in genomics
• Research Themes: Social insect genomics, pollinator conservation, bioinformatics tool development

His lab explores how genetic architectures underpin social behaviors, such as supergenes controlling queen number in fire ants. Recent work highlights tissue-specific pesticide effects in bees and transcriptomic responses to learning in honeybees. He advocates for genomic approaches to biodiversity conservation and collaborates internationally on ant genomics projects.

Grants and funding support his work on pollinator health and genomic tools. He advises students on bioinformatics and conservation genomics. The Wurm Lab hosts annual workshops on genomic pipelines and collaborates on projects like the Global Ant Genomics Alliance (GAGA).

He is active on Bluesky, discussing topics like AI in science and ant research. His team’s tools are widely used in ecological and genomic studies.