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My research interests are rooted in evolutionary biology but span multiple disciplines in biology. At the heart of my research program is the use of flies in the genus Drosophila to understand the evolutionary genomics of host-parasite interactions. Much of my research is focused on endoparasitoid wasps, which are readily observed infecting Drosophila in nature and can be very specialized to particular host species. These wasps lay single eggs in Drosophila larvae and consume flies from the inside out. Flies mount cellular and behavioral defense responses against wasps, but wasps have adaptations for finding host fly larvae, suppressing host cellular immunity, and manipulating host behavior. I use a variety of "omics" tools to understand the molecular genetics of fly cellular immunity and wasp virulence, as well as patterns of host immunity and pathogen virulence coevolution across fly and wasp phylogenies. For example, I am sequencing a number of parasitic wasp genomes to understand how wasp virulence genes are recruited from the normal wasp gene pool and repeatedly replaced by newer gene duplicates. I am also making inroads into the evolution, genetics, and neurobiology of behaviors that flies use to avoid being infected by the wasps and to cure themselves once they are infected, including various self-medication behaviors. 

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Courses
  • MIS
    Methods in Insect Science

  • CI
    Comparative Immunology

  • IC
    Insects and Culture

  • BBFFHISHH
    Busy Bees and Fancy Fleas: How Insects Shaped Human History

Grants
  • Funding agency logo
    EAGER: Development Of Functional Genetic Tools For Endoparasitoid Wasps

    Principal Investigator (PI)

    2020

    $350.0K
    Active
  • Funding agency logo
    A Model System for Host Pathogen Interaction: Drosophila and Its Parasitic Wasps

    Principal Investigator (PI)

    2016

    $1.1M
  • Funding agency logo
    Evolution Of Behavioral Immune Responses In Fruit Flies: Tradeoffs, Mechanisms, And Genetics

    Principal Investigator (PI)

    2016

    $136.6K
News
  • What Mutant Flies Can Teach Us About Autoimmune Disorders

    2021

Publications (40)
Recent
  • Behavioral defenses against parasitoids: Genetic and neuronal mechanisms

    2022

  • Extracellular matrix protein N-glycosylation mediates immune self-tolerance in Drosophila melanogaster

    2021

  • DROP: Molecular voucher database for identification of Drosophila parasitoids

    2021

  • A hymenopteran odorant alerts flies to bury eggs

    2021

  • Characterization of a cell death‐inducing endonuclease‐like venom protein from the parasitoid wasp Pteromalus puparum (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae)

    2021

  • Characterization of a cell death-inducing endonuclease-like venom protein from Pteromalus puparum (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae)

    2020

  • Lipidomics reveals how the endoparasitoid wasp Pteromalus puparum manipulates host energy stores for its young

    2020

  • Hemomucin as a key determinant of host-parasitoid interactions

    2019

  • Drosophila defenses against parasitoid wasps

    2019

  • The mechanistic basis of a Drosophila defense behavior against parasitoid wasps

    2019

  • Behavioral defenses flies use against parasitoids

    2018

  • Member Symposium: Evolutionary Ecology of Drosophila-parasitoid Food Webs: From Molecules to Ecosystems

    2018

  • Host JAK/Stat activity is a target of endoparasitoid wasp virulence strategies

    2018

  • Ethanol confers differential protection against generalist and specialist parasitoids of Drosophila melanogaster

    2017

  • An'omics' approach for dissecting a behavioral immune defense in Drosophila melanogaster

    2016

  • Characterizing the genetic basis of behavioral immunity in fruit flies

    2016

  • Transcriptional response of Drosophila melanogaster to infection by ten different species of parasitic wasps

    2016

  • Evolution of behavioural and cellular defences against parasitoid wasps in the Drosophila melanogaster subgroup

    2016

  • Fruit flies diversify their offspring in response to parasite infection

    2015

  • EVOLUTION. Fruit flies diversify their offspring in response to parasite infection.

    2015

  • A role for nematocytes in the cellular immune response of the Drosophilid Zaprionus indianus

    2014

  • Insights from natural host–parasite interactions: The Drosophila model

    2014

  • Drosophila suzukii: The Genetic Footprint of a Recent, Worldwide Invasion

    2014

  • Fruit flies medicate offspring after seeing parasites

    2013

  • Parasitoid wasp venom SERCA regulates Drosophila calcium levels and inhibits cellular immunity

    2013

  • Integrative Approach Reveals Composition of Endoparasitoid Wasp Venoms

    2013

  • Defence strategies against a parasitoid wasp in Drosophila: fight or flight?

    2012

  • Alcohol consumption as self-medication against blood-borne parasites in the fruit fly

    2012

  • Adaptive evolution of a novel Drosophila lectin induced by parasitic wasp attack

    2012

  • High hemocyte load is associated with increased resistance against parasitoids in Drosophila suzukii, a relative of D. melanogaster

    2012

  • Mgat1-dependent N-glycosylation of Membrane Components Primes Drosophila melanogaster Blood Cells for the Cellular Encapsulation Response

    2012

  • Fruit flies like a (rotten) banana

    2008

  • Evolution of genes and genomes on the Drosophila phylogeny.

    2007

  • Contrasting Infection Strategies in Generalist and Specialist Wasp Parasitoids of Drosophila melanogaster

    2007

  • Dynamic evolution of the innate immune system in Drosophila

    2007

  • A role for alcohol dehydrogenase in the Drosophila immune response?

    2005

  • Linkage Disequilibrium and Recent Selection at Three Immunity Receptor Loci in Drosophila simulans

    2005

  • Strong selective sweep associated with a transposon insertion in Drosophila simulans

    2004

  • Natural selection drives Drosophila immune system evolution

    2003

  • Molecular population genetics of innate immune system genes in Drosophila simulans

    2001

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