Antoine Lecocq

Short presentation

Honey bees form dense colonies of related workers in constant interaction with one another, for communication, hygienic or nutritional purposes. This being ideal for the transmission of pathogens, I am investigating whether infected honey bee workers have the ability to decrease their disease transmission potential by refusing to interact and/or exchange food with nest mates (altruistic self-removal, avoidance behaviour). I have also been involved in multivariate analyses of large scale monitoring data being collected from Danish apiaries to identify regional and environmental patterns across Scandinavia and the potential for various year to year predictions based on factors such as within hive temperature /colony weight/winter status etc.

The aim of my PhD was to increase our understanding of the factors involved in disease transmission and well-being (development and productivity) in Honey Bees and their wild counterparts.

As a postdoc in the InVALUABLE project, I am developing in vitro and in vivo bioassays to investigate the potential for selected gut bacterial species to influence several immune system-related and fitness traits in mealworms. I am also involved in teaching for various insect taxonomy, animal science and sustainable development courses.