Rate My Professor Joel Levine

Joel Levine is Professor and Chair of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Toronto, with appointments in the Department of Cell and Systems Biology and as Chair of Biology at University of Toronto Mississauga. He earned his PhD in Anatomy and Structural Biology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1993 and completed postdoctoral fellowships at Brandeis University. Levine holds the Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Mechanisms and Features of Social Behaviour and serves as a Senior Fellow in the CIFAR program on Child and Brain Development.

His research employs Drosophila melanogaster to elucidate the interplay between genes, individual behaviour, and the social environment, with a focus on neurogenetics of social groups, circadian timing systems, pheromone-mediated communication, and the formation of social networks. Key contributions include demonstrations of how social experience modifies pheromone expression and mating behaviour, and identification of genetic regulators of social network structure, such as the 'degrees of kevin bacon' gene. In 2025, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada for groundbreaking research revealing how fruit flies communicate, recognize one another, respond to social cues, and form complex networks, providing insights into social dynamics across species. Prominent publications encompass 'Specialized cells tag sexual and species identity in Drosophila melanogaster' (Nature, 2009), 'Social structures depend on innate determinants and chemosensory processing in Drosophila' (PNAS, 2012), 'The Gene “degrees of kevin bacon” (dokb) Regulates a Social Network Behaviour in Drosophila melanogaster' (Nature Communications, 2024), and 'Chemical signals and social structures strengthen sexual isolation in Drosophila pseudoobscura' (Communications Biology, 2025). Levine's work has significantly influenced understanding of biological determinants of social behaviour and group-level phenomena.