Endocrine regulation of reproductive physiology and behavior during stress

The Grmai Lab aims to understand the diverse mechanisms that drive metabolic changes to alter reproductive output during stress. Successful reproduction requires multiple neuronal outputs, including courtship, feeding, and ovulation/sperm transfer. The lab employs genetic, biochemical, and imaging-based techniques to explore how systemic crosstalk mechanisms adapt during physiological stress to prioritize survival while protecting reproductive capacity. To do this, they utilize the model organism Drosophila melanogaster, a powerful discovery platform for identifying inter-organ molecular cues that drive fertility and stress adaptation. They are also interested in how these adaptive mechanisms are influenced by (or drive) the metabolic changes associated with age.

Methods

biochemistry ;  metabolomics ;  proteomics ;  sequencing ;  transcriptomics ;  two-photon imaging ;  optical imaging  

Topics

aging ;  circuits ;  genetics ;  gut-brain signaling ;  physiology ;  stress ;  systems neuroscience  

Biography

Lydia Grmai is an Assistant Professor and NIH MOSAIC Scholar (K99/R00) in the Department of Comparative Medicine and a member of the Center for Neurodevelopment and Plasticity at the Wu Tsai Institute. She joined the Yale faculty in 2025 from the University of Pittsburgh in the Department of Cell Biology. Lydia earned her PhD at NYU School of Medicine as a UNCF-Merck Science Initiative Predoctoral Fellow. She received a BS from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where she was a Meyerhoff Scholar. Outside of her lab, Lydia is a member of the Yale Camerata and a fiber artist.