For our 'mini session' this month Scott Famous will tell us about his the background and lineage of the queens and how he chooses them for the queen cell program.

For our main program we will have Dr. Arián Avalos discuss "Varied strategies in honey bee breeding towards resistance to Varroosis"

Dr. Avalos is a Research Geneticist at the USDA-ARS Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics, and Physiology Research (HBBGPR) Laboratory in Baton Rouge, LA. His interests are honey bee genetics and its implementation into breeding for a variety of traits. He has previously conducted research furthering our understanding of genetic architecture mediating honey bee colony defensiveness and has participated in studies examining the scope of genetic variation across important honey bee populations including key research stocks such as Varroa resistant lines maintained at the HBBGPR laboratory. He is currently involved in research examining the genetic structure of key traits such as Varroa Sensitive Hygiene in honey bees and is part of a collaborative team assessing Amitraz resistance in Varroa populations. Dr. Avalos also works to incorporate modern genetic approaches and concepts in current honey bee breeding practices towards enhancing the HBBGPR mission of breeding better bees.