Hello,
I’m Vitor Sudbrack, a Brazilian theoretician and modeller. I am currently a PhD student at the University of Lausanne, working in the Theoretical Evolutionary Ecology Lab with Charles Mullon.
Broadly, I’m a theoretical population geneticist with a background in physics. My research aims to better understand the evolutionary and genetic basis of complex traits influenced by multiple loci. I investigate how ecological factors, such as limited dispersal or resource variation, leave signatures in genomes and shape the genetic architecture of traits. My PhD projects have taken me from exploring the diffusion approximation in population genetics to running individual-based simulations in SLiM.
My scientific interests
I’m fascinated by how complex polymorphic traits emerge and persist in natural populations, and how they are encoded in a structure as simple as a DNA string (only four letters for the whole diversity we see!). At the end of the day, my work is about connecting the dots between ecological processes and evolutionary outcomes, and discovering hidden patterns that link DNA to the rich variety of forms we see out there.
For that, I use models of population dynamics, population genetics, and, more recently, quantitative genetics. When it comes to simulations, I like to think I create universes on a computer screen…, but 95% of the job is programming and looking at data on that same computer screen.
Studying and researching have introduced me to many wonderful people, fascinating places, and exciting problems of this universe, and I am grateful for all of it.
My studies
I have a Master’s degree in Theoretical Physics (2021) from the Institute of Theoretical Physics (IFT - Unesp) in São Paulo, Brazil, with a sandwich period at the Institute for Cross-Disciplinary Physics and Complex Systems (IFISC - UiB) in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. In my Master’s thesis, I studied population dynamics in highly fragmented landscapes. During the COVID-19 pandemic, I joined an Observatory, a collective of scientists from diverse backgrounds aiming to understand and analyse COVID-19 data in Brazil. We performed nowcasting and developed models to keep the population (and sometimes even authorities) informed.
Before that, I graduated Bachelor’s in Physics with honours (2019) from the Institute of Physics at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) in Porto Alegre, southern Brazil. During my undergraduate years, I worked at the Fluid Lab - IMPA with Professor Alexei Mailybaev in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where we studied fully developed bidimensional turbulence in the case of Kelvin–Helmholtz instability. I also worked at the Laboratory for Cellular Structure (LabCel - UFRGS), where I described the statistical time evolution of a mathematical model for protein interaction using graphs.
Off-science me: accordion, coffee, hikes & orchids
Aside from science, I’ve been really enjoying playing the accordion and reading about music theory lately. I find the symmetries of the button accordion perfect for connecting to theory. I’m also a huge barista wannabe. I’m always eager to learn new things about coffee and practise my skills with V60 extraction, French press, and espressos (and the best coffee in the world is Brazilian, of course!). I’ve recently developed a fascination with orchids, and now I have a dozen of different species at home. On weekends, I love going on hikes in the Swiss mountains, exploring new trails and enjoying the scenery.
About this homepage
This is a personal portfolio theme created with Jekyll by Grape Academic Theme. Much of the additional coding is my own. Many images are created by artificial intelligence.