Hello! I am a postdoc/molecular biologist at the United States Department of Agriculture - Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) in the Invasive Insect Biocontrol and Behavior Laboratory studying insect-specific viruses in the family Baculoviridae. These viruses can be applied as biological pesticides against insect pests. Previously, I was a NSF postdoctoral fellow in the Khadempour Lab at Rutgers University - Newark where I studied the microbiome of honeypot ants (pictured below). I received my PhD in 2022 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where I worked in the Currie lab studying the microbes associated with fungus-growing ants.

Photo by Lily Khadempour