Brandon Latorre

Brandon E. Latorre
Biology Major
Mellon Mays Fellow

blatorr000@citymail.cuny.edu

Brandon Latorre was born and raised in Bronx, NY. Always having an innate fondness for nature, it was an easy decision to enter the High School for Environmental Studies. He established his career goals when he worked with The Nature Conservancy, and his fondness transformed into passion. This love for nature made it an inevitable option to study Biology in the college level. After completing his combined B.S./M.S. degree in Biology at City College, Brandon plans to pursue a PhD in habitat restoration to combat habitat loss. He is currently working in the Lohman Lab, helping to determine the geographical mosaic of the endosymbiont Wolbachia in the butterfly Melinitis leda in Old World countries. These bacteria have different relationships with their hosts, ranging from parasitism (which may act as a force of extinction) to mutualism (creating the essential symbiosis for butterfly reproduction).

Brandon feels that to understand humanity (and our role on Earth), it is necessary to understand theology. Minoring in Jewish studies will provide him the tools needed to understand religious texts as literature. He enjoys expressing himself and his ideas through narrative and decided to minor in English.