Yehuda Ben-Shahar, associate professor of biology in Arts & Sciences, has been awarded $770,000 by the National Science Foundation to investigate how insects produce and perceive mating pheromones as species diversify.
The study combines behavioral, chemo-analytical, and genome editing approaches to better understand the mechanics of how pheromones regulate mating behaviors and how mating signals evolve. Ben-Shahar and his collaborators plan to use some of the funds from this grant to increase STEM participation by organizing opportunities for underrepresented minorities and/or first-generation college students at University of California, Riverside, to participate in summer research on the Danforth Campus.
