The Evolutionary Genomics group, led by Mar Albà, uses comparative genomics and large-scale data analysis to understand the complexity of gene regulation and evolutionary innovation. The group develops bioinformatics methods to predict functional elements in the genome and measure the influence of natural selection in shaping gene evolution. One of the most active research lines of the group is the investigation of the mechanisms of formation of new genes in genomes. We are using high-throughput RNA sequencing to obtain complete maps of the transcriptome, and ribosome profiling techniques to characterize the translated open reading frames. Using these techniques we have identified hundreds of putative new genes in the mouse, humans and yeast. Many of them encode small proteins which are not yet annotated. We have also used deep RNA sequencing and computational methods for transcript assembly and differential gene expression analysis to understand the molecular changes that take place during hibernation in lemurs. The work has improved our understanding of the molecular mechanisms associated with the induction of torpor in primates, which may lead to future applications in human medicine.