People

Current Stoy Lab Members

Kayla Stoy, PI

Dr. Stoy received her PhD in Population Biology, Ecology, and Evolution from Emory University as an NSF Graduate Research Fellow. She was an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Biology at Georgia Institute of Technology. Her research focuses on understanding the coevolutionary dynamics underlying mutualistic species interactions. She uses a multi-faceted approach, leveraging natural insect-symbiont systems complemented with synthetic biology and experimental evolution. When she's not studying coevolution, she enjoys running and sewing.

Michael McQueeney, Lab Manager

Michael received his Bachelor of Science from Florida State University in 2025 before joining the Stoy Lab. Michael is interested in cooperative interactions, with a particular interest in eusociality. However, he dabbles in symbiosis as a member of the Stoy Lab. His projects focus on developing an understanding of the mechanisms underpinning symbiont transmission within and across Coried insect species. In his free time, Michael enjoys art, and the lab is regularly impressed by his artistic renderings of our insect species.

Jason Chen, Postdoc

Jason received his PhD in Population Biology, Ecology, and Evolution from Emory University in 2024. Jason is interested in within-host microbial ecology and how neutral processes shape symbiont acquisition, within host distribution, and transmission. He is currently constructing a transposon-mutatgenesis library to examine whether host species impose differential selection on a shared bacterial symbiont.

Wild orchid in the Swiss Alps (photo credit, Kayla Stoy):

Jason is an avid and talented cultivator of orchids, and we have placed this image here in his honor until we capture his image.

Audrey Miller, Undergraduate

Audrey is an undergraduate student at Florida State University. She is broadly interested in ecology and evolution related research. Topics that interest her are animal behavior, ecosystem functions, predator-prey relationships, evolution, and policy implications.

Audrey is currently completing an independent study examining the costs of environmentally- derived Caballeronia isolates on insect host fitness.