Vanderbilt biologist receives early career development award to study tree of life

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By Vanderbilt University
October 8, 2009

Antonis Rokas is a member of a small cadre of scientists who are applying the growing power of genomics to untangle and correctly arrange the branches of the tree of life.

In the world of science, the "tree of life" refers to the evolutionary relationship among all the species on earth. The information it contains is the central organizing principle of biology. It originated from the only illustration in Darwin’s On the Origin of Species: a branched diagram that looks remarkably like a tree.

Rokas, an assistant professor of biological sciences, has received a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation. The Faculty Early Career Development award is considered NSF's most prestigious honor for junior faculty members. Rokas will receive $688,000 in Recovery Act funding for five years to develop new statistical methods that make it easier to accurately determine the relationships between various species.