Blog Post

Dr. Ina Anreiter is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Toronto Scarborough. Her lab investigates how gene-regulatory processes shape behavioural diversity, plasticity, and health across the lifespan. Using Drosophila, her group integrates genetics, molecular biology, behavioural assays, transcriptomics, and computational biology to understand how genes, experience, and environmental conditions converge to influence behaviour.

A major focus of the Anreiter lab is behavioural epitranscriptomics: how RNA modifications, particularly N6-methyladenosine (m6A), regulate brain function, metabolism, stress resilience, and behaviour. The group has developed a suite of genetic tools to manipulate m6A pathways with spatial and temporal precision and is using these tools to investigate m6A’s roles in feeding behaviour, learning and memory, sleep, aging, and neurodegeneration. In parallel, the lab is developing Oxford Nanopore direct-RNA sequencing approaches to map m6A across the transcriptome and connect RNA-modification dynamics to functional outcomes in vivo.

Ina completed her undergraduate and master’s training in Lisbon, followed by a PhD at the University of Toronto, where she studied genetic and epigenetic regulation of feeding behaviour. She subsequently trained in computational genomics and epitranscriptomic sequencing, followed by neurogenetics research at Stanford University. Her current program brings these experiences together to define how dynamic RNA regulation helps organisms adapt to internal and external change.

Having to spend most of her work time at the bench—or, these days, at the computer—Ina enjoys spending her free time outdoors, hiking, running, exploring new places and foods, or working on a new home-improvement project.

If you’d like to learn more about Ina’s work, her lab website can be accessed here.