Michelle Arbeitman
Interest
The Arbeitman lab studies the molecular-genetic specification of behaviors, with a focus on reproductive behaviors in fruit flies and mice. The goal is to understand how genes specify the potential for behavior in these well-studied model systems that allow for rapid progress as models for human disease analyses. The lab uses genomic, molecular-genetic, biochemical, developmental and computational approaches to address the genetic specification of behavior.
Current Research
Understanding how complex behaviors are specified at a molecular-genetic level is a major unsolved question in biology, for which we have very little understanding in any organism. The lab focuses on unlocking the molecular mechanisms used to specify sexual dimorphism in the nervous system that underlies differences in male and female reproductive behaviors using fruit flies and mice as a model.