Tom van der Valk

Tom van der Valk is a researcher in the department of Bio-informatics and Genetics.

His scientific interests are primarily on the study of endangered and extinct animal populations using genomic data.

— The work I am doing at the National Museum of Natural History is aimed at the development of computational methods to analyse complex samples, with a priority on identifying the presence of species from minute amounts of DNA. I focus on ancient DNA from material such as old sediment layers or species remains, as well as modern DNA obtained from environmental samples such as lake and river water, air, snow, feces and soil.

His fascination by evolution originated from reading the books of Richard Dawkins, and his current role models in science are his PhD and postdoctoral supervisors (Katerina Guschanski and Love Dalén).

— I first worked at the Natural history museum as a postdoctoral researcher in the group of Professor Love Dalén. After which I got a position as researcher funded by the Wallenberg and SciLifeLab Data-driven-life-science program, he continues.

Together with a large team of collaborators, he was involved in the sequencing of the oldest DNA known (over one million-year-old).

— For me, doing research is all about having fun and the freedom to explore those ideas that interest me the most. My aim is to study those scientific questions that bring me the most joy.