Ants live in sophisticated societies in which morphologically and behaviorally distinct types of individuals (castes) arise among members of closely-related families (colonies), and because of this, production of such castes is not genetic, but environmentally and epigenetically induced. Importantly, different castes typically exhibit often-extreme differences in behavior, physiology, and lifespan, which can be up to 20-fold longer in queens compared to workers Our lab employs two complementary ant systems as models to understand conserved and novel features governing the regulation of plasticity of behavior and lifespan. Interests: Gene regulation, hormonal signalling, molecular and cellular determinants of aging and lifespan; Mechanisms and evolution of plasticity; Arthropod genomics; Video games