Despite the remarkable unity of the basic components of the living world (DNA, RNA, the genetic code), we are probably still not aware of the diversity of genome structures nor of the diversity of means genomes use to evolve. In addition to local mutations affecting genome sequences, various global mutations also affect their overall gene order and content: rearrangements, horizontal gene transfer, hybridization, losses, duplications ranging from single genes to the whole genome.

My research interests focus on the development of metaheuristics, such as tabu search and genetic algorithms, for solving discrete optimization problems in the transportation domain. I am particularly interested in vehicle routing problems with different side constraints, like service time windows at customer locations. These problems can model many real-world applications such as distribution of goods by commercial vehicles, courier services, para-transit services, etc. I also study dynamic variants of these problems when customer requests dynamically occur over time and must be integrated in real-time into the current routes.