I am currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Holmes Lab at the University of Toronto and in the Reproductive Sciences group at the Toronto Zoo. In the Holmes lab, I study eusocial naked mole-rats and the endocrine/neurobiological underpinnings of their reproductive and social roles within the colony. In the Toronto Zoo repro group, I work with endangered species in the captive breeding program to investigate the endocrine and behavioral differences that separate successful and unsuccessful breeders. ​

​Dr.  Phoebe Edwards 
Email: phoebe.edwards (at) mail.utoronto.ca 

I am a biologist studying the impact of factors like population density, social status, and early life environmental experience on animal physiology, reproduction, and behavior. 

​I completed my Ph.D. in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department at the University of Toronto in 2019. My thesis work in the Boonstra Lab focused on vole population cycles and the underlying changes in reproductivity, hormone levels, candidate gene expression, and DNA methylation at different population densities.

I also studied endocrine changes in arctic ground squirrels across their highly competitive breeding season in the Yukon, where males fight (to the point of mutilation or death) for access to females, and females have only a narrow window to produce and rear young. 

 I completed my B.A. in 2013 at Case Western Reserve University where I worked in the Benard Lab and in the Physical Anthropology Department at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History . ​