Peter Keightley is an evolutionary geneticist who is deepening our understanding of the genetics and evolution of quantitative traits — characteristics that result from the combined actions of many genes — at the molecular level.

By successfully uniting several approaches — theoretical modelling, experimental work in model animal systems and bioinformatics — Peter is helping to address important contemporary problems in genetics and evolution. His current interests include explaining the evolution and perseverance of sex and genetic recombination as a means of reproduction.

Peter is best known for his work to investigate how often spontaneous mutations typically occur and how they affect an organism’s fitness — its ability to survive and reproduce. His findings have allowed researchers to more accurately estimate the deleterious, or harmful, mutation rate in a genome.