The Charles Darwin Room of the Burjassot-Paterna Campus of the University of Valencia (UV) hosts this Wednesday, the 27th of April at 1:00 p.m. the presentation Evolutionability, Robustness and Natural Selection by Andreas Wagner, within the framework of the XI Memorial Peregrí Casanova de Biodiversitat i Biologia Evolutiva.

Andreas Wagner, professor at the Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies of the University of Zurich, will try to demonstrate whether the evolutionary process can be the object of Darwinian evolution. To do this, “we need to find how natural selection can affect evolution,” he says. The research promulgated by Wagner and his team reveals an experimental progress of the species and shows how natural selection has an impact on the improvement of development.

“We have subjected the evolving population to high-throughput DNA sequencing, studied the evolutionary dynamics and examined genetic variants by means of biochemical assays,” confirms Andreas Wagner. Furthermore, the study shows that “natural selection can improve the robustness of biological systems against mutations,” he adds.

The Peregrí Casanova Memorial is being held again after 3 years due to restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic with an 11th edition. The event honors the man who was professor of Anatomy at the University, introducer of evolutionary ideas and organizer of the tribute to Darwin at the institution in 1909.

Peregrí Casanova i Ciurana (Valencia, 1848-1919) was a follower of Darwin and a rigorous evolutionist, while he managed to make Valencia a peninsular center for the dissemination of this theory. Furthermore, his work and publications covered the field of Medicine, especially Morphology. The UV Health Sciences Library bears his name.

The XI Peregrí Casanova Memorial is organized by the Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology (ICBiBE) and the Scientific Culture and Innovation Unit of the University of Valencia (UCC+i). The Ministry of Science and Innovation of the Government of Spain, the Faculty of Biological Sciences of the UV and the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECyT) also collaborate.

• 
•