LeBoeuf Lab
Socially exchanged fluids like milk and seminal fluid are hotbeds of evolutionary innovation. They provide a private communication channel to influence members of the same species!
The Social Fluids Lab works to disentangle the black box of ant larval development, collective control of colony development and explore the implications for other types of long-term decisions made by groups.
Approach
Our lab takes an integrative approach to understanding how socially exchanged fluids evolve and how they can be co-opted by evolution to influence physiology and behaviour.
We use social insects as a model system because many (but not all!) social insects engage in the mouth-to-mouth fluid exchange behaviour, trophallaxis. In species that do engage in this behavior, every individual in the colony is connected through this network of fluid exchange. The exchanged fluid is full of growth proteins, hormones, RNA and small molecules. Some of these components, when fed to larvae by trophallaxis, can influence development!
This provides a means for how social insect communities can collectively decide on the colony’s developmental progression by transmitted cues and signals over the social circulatory system.
Postgraduate students:
If you are interested in what we do and don’t see an explicit open position, write to Adria! There may be ways.