Dr. Adi Domer

I am a physiological ecologist fascinated by how animals push the limits of metabolism to survive. My path into this question began with fieldwork on migratory birds crossing the desert, and has since led me into the lab, where I combine whole-organism physiology with cellular and genomic tools to ask how birds have adapted to such extreme physiological demands.

Education

2011–2014 BSc, Department of Life Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

2014–2016 MSc, Department of Life Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

2016–2021 PhD, Department of Life Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Academic Appointments

2021–2022 Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Zoology, Tel Aviv University

2022–2026 Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley

My research explores the physiological basis of hyperglycemia and insulin insensitivity in birds, and how these traits relate to the extreme demands of migration. I study how birds regulate body mass and select mitochondrial fuel sources to meet these demands, how this regulation shifts seasonally across the annual cycle, how the gut microbiome contributes to these physiological adaptations and more.

Domer, A., Misraje, T.R., Xing, D., Arango, B.G., Selleghin-Veiga, G., Corl, A., Bowie, R.C.K., McGuire, J.A., Sweazea, K.L., Vázquez-Medina, J.P. and Dudley, R. (2025). Myo-inositol is a key regulator of avian metabolism: From mechanisms to seasonal behavior. Science Advances, 11(36), eadv2794.

Domer, A., Jansinska, W., Rosental, L., Shochat, E., Brotman, Y. and Ovadia, O. (2024). Comparative analysis of the plasma metabolome of migrating passerines: Novel insights into stopover metabolism. Journal of Avian Biology, e03331.

Domer, A., Vinepinskey, E., Bouskila, A., Shochat, E. and Ovadia, O. (2021). Optimal stopover model: A state-dependent habitat selection model for staging passerines. Journal of Animal Ecology, 90(12), pp. 2793–2805.

Domer, A., Korine, C., Slack, M., Rojas, I., Mathieu, D., Mayo, A. and Russo, D. (2021). Adverse effects of noise pollution on foraging and drinking behaviour of insectivorous desert bats. Mammalian Biology, 101, pp. 497–501.

Domer, A., Ovadia, O. and Shochat, E. (2018). Energy for the road: Influence of carbohydrate and water availability on fueling processes in autumn-migrating passerines. The Auk: Ornithological Advances, 135(3), pp. 534–546.