The Polly Lab

Biography

Steve was an evolutionary biologist who studied spatial patterns in biology, notably in epidemiology and invasive species biology, and mathematical and computer models of molecular evolution.  Much of his work focused on applications of geographic profiling, a statistical technique originally developed in criminology to prioritise large lists of suspects in cases of serial crime, to biology in areas such as animal foraging, epidemiology, and invasive species biology.  His research on molecular evolution was in the field of genetic code evolution and polyploidy. He pointed out for the first time that the apparently deleterious occurrence of multiple stop codons has compensatory benefits.  As a postdoc with the Polly Lab he worked on patterns of morphological and molecular evolution in European vespertilionid bats.  Steve was a Lecturer and Senior Lecturer at the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary, University of London from 2006 until his death in 2019.

Obituary by Chris Faulkes and Sally Faulkner