JOEL LEVINE - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Professor of Biology at UTM
- Professor, Department of Biology
Dr. Joel Levine is a Professor of Biology at UTM, co-appointed in Graduate Departments of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB) and Cell and Systems Biology (CSB), Tier-I Canada Research Chair in Mechanisms and Features of Social Behaviour, Senior Fellow in Canadian Institute for Advanced Research Program on Child and Brain Development.
Dr. Joshua Krupp's research interests are broadly focused on the role of the circadian timing system in the regulation of physiology and behaviour.
Farheen is currently a PhD Candidate in the Cell and Systems Biology program at the University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM). She also completed her BSc Hon. at UTM, specializing in Molecular Biology with a minor in Chemistry. Her thesis aims to identify novel genes and molecular pathways involved in regulating communication between flies, specifically those related to reproductive behaviours such as courtship and mating in Drosophila melanogaster.
Job Titles:
- Post - Doctoral Researcher
- Postdoctoral Fellow
Jon is a Post-Doctoral researcher interested in how the social environment changes how an individual behaves. He got his PhD at the University of Toronto studying how Drosophila‘s interactions within a group have robust, non-random properties that seem to be governed by taste, touch and smell. He is interested in how computational approaches can provide objective assistance in learning more about the fly, and sociality in general.
Nawar is a MSc candidate in the Levine lab. She joined in 2014 and completed a Biology thesis program with Dr. Joel Levine. She completed her BSc degree in Biology at the University of Toronto in June 2016.
D. melanogaster display an array of social behavioral interactions. When placed in groups, they form complex and non-random social interaction networks (SINs). However, little is known about the genes that affect social network structure. The foraging (for) gene encodes a signalling molecule called cGMP dependent Protein Kinase G (PKG) which plays an important role in food-related behavior. The for gene is located on the second chromosome and has two naturally occurring alleles: the rovers and the sitters. In the presence of food, rovers have been characterized with higher PKG activity and mobility. Nawar's project investigates the role of the for gene on the formation of SINs in D. melanogaster.
Outside of the lab, Nawar spends a lot of time reading, watching movies and listening to music.