Tali Reiner Brodetzki, Ph.D.

The primary research goal of Dr. Reiner Brodetzki is to understand what mechanisms determine behavior and how individual behaviors affect populations and evolutionary processes. Her research of behavior and evolution includes a multiscale and multidimensional aspect from the molecular level to the organismal & societal level.

Dr. Reiner Brodetzki’s main research question are:

• What is the role of epigenetics on ant species diversification?
• What are the epigenetic changes caused by thermal and nutritional stress in urban ants?

Before coming to La Salle University, Dr. Reiner Brodetzki was an EMBO postdoctoral fellow, working with Prof. Amy Savage in the Biology Department and the Center for Computational and Integrative Biology at Rutgers University, Camden. She there worked on the interplay between thermal and nutritional stress in ants. Prior to that, Dr. Reiner was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, Cell and Developmental Biology, Perelman School of Medicine, working with Prof. Roberto Bonasio and Prof. Tim Linksvayer on epigenetic regulation of social life in ants.

Areas of Expertise

• Behavioral Ecology
• Evolution
• Epigenetics
• Population Genetics
• Chemical Ecology
• Urban Ecology
• Social Insects
• Bioinformatics

Education

• Ph.D. in Zoology. Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
• M.Sc. in Zoology. Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
• B.Sc.Arg. in Animal Science. The Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel.

Teaching

• ISBT 104/BIO 250 – Phage Hunting II
• ISBT/BIO 311 – Bioinformatics
• ISBT 474– Integrated Animal Behavior & Technology
• ISBT 431/BIO 471– Regulatory Affairs
• ISBT 372 – Scientific Writing
• ISBT/BIO 241 – Product Development & Validation
• Bio 204 – Antibiotic Discovery

Publications

Reiner Brodetzki, T., Lotem, A., Safran, R. J., & Hauber, M. E. (2021). Lack of subspecies-recognition in breeding Barn Swallows (Hirundo rustica transitiva). Behavioural Processes 189, 104422.

Reiner Brodetzki, T., Brodetzki, G., Feinerman, O., & Hefetz, A. (2019) Worker demography and behavior of a supercolonial ant colony: the case of the desert ant Cataglyphis niger. Ethology 126 (1), 59-67.

Reiner Brodetzki, T., Inbar, S., Cohen, P., Aron, S., Privman, E., & Hefetz, A. (2019). The Interplay between Incipient Species and Social Polymorphism in the Desert Ant Cataglyphis. Scientific Reports 9(1), 9495.

Reiner Brodetzki, T., Hefetz A. (2018) Determining social and population structures requires multiple approaches: A case study of the desert ant Cataglyphis israelensis. Ecol Evol., 8 (24), 12365-12374.

Eyer, P. A., Seltzer, R., Reiner-Brodetzki, T., & Hefetz, A. (2017) An integrative approach to untangling species delimitation in the Cataglyphis bicolor desert ant complex in Israel. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 115, 128-139.

Vortman, Y., Safran, R.J., Reiner Brodetzki, T., Dor, R., Lotem, A. (2015) Expression of Multiple Sexual Signals by Fathers and Sons in the East-Mediterranean Barn Swallow: Are Advertising Strategies Heritable? PLoS ONE 10(2): e0118054.