9/13/2025
New students
A number of new undergrad students have joined the lab. Welcome to Moriah, Erenne, Lauryn, Joshua, Marissa, and Kaitlyn. Moreover, Ashwitha officially started her PhD project on Aggression and social networks in Drosophila.
8/20/2025
Award
Philip has received the Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence.
05/26/2025
New paper
Our new review paper titled “Chemosensory and behavioral effects of Methoprene, a commonly used Juvenile Hormone analog and insect pesticide” has now been accepted for publication in Current Opinion in Insect Science.
05/25/2025
New grant
Undergrad student Daja has been awarded a Sigma Xi Aid of Research grant to work on mating behavior of flies in the field.
05/21/2025
Community Recruitment
We were at the Orange Mound Community Center today to recruit citizens for our community based insect monitoring project named MEM-FLY
05/09/2025
Presentation Award
Lacy won the first prize at the 2025 TAS Collegiate Meeting for her oral presentation on our recent paper on Chemical Mate Choice Copying
05/06/2025
Early Career Research Award
Philip has been awarded the 2025 CAS Early Career Research Award!
04/24/2025
Poster presentation / Paper out
Mira presented our recent work on ant communication during a poster presentation at the National Conference of Undergraduate Research in Pittsburgh, PA.
Our paper on “Chemical Mate Choice Copying in Drosophila melanogaster” is now out in The American Naturalist
04/03/2025
Undergraduate award
Congratulations to Allie who has been awarded with the 2025 Biology Faculty Award which recognizes one undergraduate student who has made the most significant contribution to our department.
04/02/2025
Poster presentation
Mira presented our recent work on ant communication during a poster presentation at the Capitol in Nashville.
04/01/2025
Honors Summer Research Fellowship
Congratulations to Ashlee who has been awarded a Summer Research Fellowship from the Honors college worth app. $5.000!
03/14/2025
Huyck grant awarded
The lab has been awarded another Huyck Research Grant ($1.975) securing another field season collecting T. longispinosus ants
03/13/2025
Student presentation and paper accepted
Undergraduate student Allie Abbott gave an awesome presentation at the ASB 2025 conference in Myrtle Beach today.
In addition, our paper on chemical mate choice copying in D. melanogaster has been accepted for publication in American Naturalist!
02/20/2025
New paper out
Our paper on urban populations of Zaprionus indianus and how they impact locally adapted fruit fly communities is now out in Florida Entomologist.
11/15/2024
ACRE grant
My lab won a seed grant from the The Institute for Agricultural and Conservation Research and Education. This grant will be used to test whether levels of urban development impact insect physiology, behavior, and biodiversity in Memphis.
11/11/2024
Student presentations
Osa and Mira presented their work on flies and ants, respectively, at this year’s Work in Progress Symposium. Mira made the 2nd place in the Life & Health Sciences section!
11/02/2024
New paper
Our new paper “A non-overwintering urban population of the African fig fly (Diptera: Drosophilidae) impacts the reproductive output of locally adapted fruit flies” has been accepted for publication in Florida Entomologist.
09/05/2024
New paper
Our review on “The social life of Drosophila melanogaster” is now published in Insectes Sociaux
08/15/2024
New paper
Our paper “Cryptic female choice in response to male pheromones in Drosophila melanogaster” has now been accepted for publication in Current Biology!
More funding for students
06/12/2024
Grad student Bloo has been awarded a $1,500 seed grant from the CBio for their conference travel to the SSE/ESEB joint conference in Montreal this summer. Congrats!
08/05/2024
Back at the Huyck Preserve!
We are back the Huyck Preserve near Albany, NY to collect Temnothorax colonies for this year’s summer labwork. This year’s team consisted of Philip, Allie, and Mira.
04/04/2024
And more great news: Mira was awarded and honors summer research fellowship to work on larval effects on worker response thresholds in Temnothorax ants this summer!
04/04/2024
Huge news: PhD student Bloo has been awarded an NSF GRFP grant to continue their work on the epigenetic mechanisms of transgenerational effects in flies!
03/25/2024
Undergraduate student Mira presented her work on the neuronal mechanisms that control maternal effects in flies at the ASB 2024 conference in Chattanooga, TN which she financed via a UofM CAS Travel grant
03/12/2024
Huyck Research grant
The lab has received another Huyck research grant securing another season of collect ants in the beautiful state of New York.
03/08/2024
New paper accepted.
Our study “Larval chemical cues induce rapid changes in foraging preferences of ant workers (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)” has been accepted for publication in Myrmecological News.
02/23/2024
Collaboration with the University of Memphis Middle schoole
Together with a science class of the University of Memphis Middle Schoole we studied courtship behavior of Drosophila males and explored how pheromones can be used in agriculture and pest control.
12/22/2023
New preprint out
We got a new preprint out on bioRxiv. Using Drosophila, we demonstrate the existence of cryptic female choice and unravel the underlying neurogenetic mechanism.
11/22/2023
Undergraduate student Mira Umarova receives travel grant
Mira received a travel grant from the College of Science and Arts. She will use the grant to join the conference of the Association of Southeastern Biologists in Chattanooga in spring 2024. Congratulations!
11/13/2023
Undergraduate student Mira Umarova presents her work
Mira gave a talk at the Work in progress symposium at which undergraduate students can present their ongoing research projects. Mira rocked the stage and presented her work on the role of thermosensory neurons in the female’s ability to induce plastic cold adaptations in their offspring.
07/07/2023
Our Biology Letters paper is out
We used a combination of colony manipulations, pharmacological treatments, and behavioral observations to test how epigenetic reprogramming and colony demands influence task switching in Temnothorax longispinosus workers. Our data show that epigenetic reprogramming impacts task switching only if an external demand to switch is percieved in simultaneously.
Click here for the pdf.
06/26/2023
Our Current Biology paper is out
We demonstrate that female flies adjust the onset of oogenesis and ovipositioning not only to the light conditions but also to the social enviroment, most likely to avoid larval competition. All that is modulated by changes in JH titers. One more challenge to the idea that Drosophila is a solitary species.
06/05/2023
Two papers accepted
We got two papers accepted:
- Kohlmeier, Feldmeyer, Foitzik: Histone acetyltransferases and external demands influence task switching in Temnothorax ants. Biology Letters
- Bailly, Kohlmeier, Etienne, Wertheim, Billeter: Social modulation of oogenesis and egglaying in Drosophila melanogaster. Current Biology
04/27/2023
Ant collections at the Huyck preserve
We arrived at the Huyck preserve today to collect some Temnothorax longispinosus colonies.
04/11/2023
New students in the lab
Four undergrad students, Anna, Jalen, Alix and Mira, have joined the lab to study the mechanisms and evolution of behavior and maternal effects. See People for more details.
03/21/2023
Huyck grant
The lab was awarded a research grant of the Huyck Preserve for collecting ants and conducing a research project on the social regulation of foraging preferences.
02/24/2023
First grant
The Kohlmeier lab won its first grant. With the support of a seed grant provided by the Center for Biodiversity Research, we will investigate the behavioral and physiological function of Juvenile Hormone in solitary bees.
11/03/2022
The Kohlmeier lab has started
The Kohlmeier lab has now officially opened its doors! Although still very empty at the moment, we will soon start working on exciting projects on the mechanisms of division of labor and transgenerational effects using bees, ants, and flies. Drop me a line if you want to get involved. I am looking for undergrads and grad students!
10/14/2022
New paper out
Our new review entitled „Genetic mechanisms modulating behaviour through plastic chemosensory responses in insects“ is now out in Molecular Ecology. Interesting for everybody who studies gene expression in sensory organs to dissect the mechanisms regulating behavioral plasticity.
07/05/2022
Paper award
Our 2021 paper „Mating increases Drosophila melanogaster females’ choosiness by reducing olfactory sensitivity to a male pheromone“ published in Nature Ecology and Evolution has been awared the 2021 Netherlands Evolutionary Biology Prize.
06/04/2022
New book chapter released
Our new book chapter entitled „Bioassaying the function of pheromones in Drosophila melanogaster’s social behavior“ has now been published in Behavioral Neurogenetics. In this chapter we provide a set of hands-on manuals for assessing the function of complete CHC profiles in modulating a (social) behavior of interest and how to identify individual pheromones that drive those effects.
kohlmeierlab.com 