Erin Munro Allen

Dr. Allen received her PhD in molecular biology and behavioural genetics from the University of Toronto. Working under the supervision of Prof. Marla Sokolowski, this work focused on the molecular genetics of feeding behaviour in the invertebrate genetic model system Drosophila melanogaster, decoding the cis-regulatory elements of the foraging gene underlying its pleiotropy.  Since then, Dr. Allen has been a postdoctoral fellow at the Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour at the University of Oxford, working with Prof. Stephen Goodwin. Dr. Allen’s primary research focus is on the fundamental biological processes that drive sex differences in the development and maintenance of the brain in Drosophila melanogaster. Even though sexual dimorphism is a common feature in many organisms, research into these differences is often overlooked. Dr. Allen uses state-of-the-art techniques, such as single-cell transcriptomics and neuroconnectomics, to answer questions about sex differences in the neurobiology and behaviour of the fly at single-cell resolution.