M. Romain Libbrecht

Mail

romain.libbrecht@univ-tours.fr

A key challenge in the life sciences is to understand how organisms adjust their reproduction, physiology and behavior in response to environmental conditions. This ability to produce several phenotypes from a single genotype, called phenotypic plasticity, is central to the functioning and evolution of social insects, such as ants, termites, social bees and wasps. Their societies show a division of labor between queens that monopolize egg production and workers that specialize in performing all the other tasks necessary to maintain the colony. In my work, I study multiple aspects of division of labor and phenotypic specialization in different species of ants. My research combines tools from the fields of evolutionay biology, behavioral ecology, molecular biology and epigenetics to study the factors and mechanisms that control, initiate and maintain division of labor in insect societies.

Research experience

• 2023-present      CNRS researcher (Chargé de Recherche), IRBI UMR7261 CNRS – University of Tours, France
• 2016-2023          Assistant professor, IOME, University of Mainz, Germany
• 2015-2016          Marie Curie postdoctoral fellow - return phase, DEE, University of Lausanne, Switzerland
• 2013-2015          Marie Curie postdoctoral fellow - outgoing phase, The Rockefeller University, New York City, USA
• 2007-2012          PhD student, DEE, University of Lausanne, Switzerland

Academic diplomas

• 2025  - HDR (Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches) in life sciences  - University of Tours, France
• 2012  - PhD in life sciences - University of Lausanne, Switzerland
• 2007  - MSc degree in Ecology, Ethology, Evolution - University of Rennes, France
• 2007  - Engineering diploma in biology and agronomy - Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Agronomie de Rennes, France