Associate Professor Mike Garratt

Research

Our research is interested in how reproduction influences life-history, health and ageing. This includes physiological effects of gonadal-derived hormones, consequences of mating, and even impacts of social pheromone perception on life-history trajectory. A related research theme explores how sex-specific aspects of reproduction cause sexual-dimorphism in lifespan, and influence the effectiveness of interventions developed to improve healthy ageing.

Most experimental work is conducted in mice, which provides access to molecular-genetic techniques to directly manipulate physiology controlling development, reproduction and ageing. We also use comparative approaches to identify evolutionary and mechanistic drivers of diversification in life history on an interspecies scale, and have several collaborative projects that probe links between reproduction and ageing in wild animals.