As I grew up in a small village in the mountains of Lebanon, I was always amazed by the area’s diversity and how every species has adapted to its environment. This fueled my curiosity to study biology and adaptation. Before learning about the theory of evolution, it was all unexplainable to me. Thus, I decided to study biology at the Lebanese University. I then pursued a Master's degree in plant protection at the Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, with my thesis focusing on unveiling the genetic background of resistance against the PVY virus in a specific potato cultivar.

However, my studies drew my attention to more sophisticated unanswered questions, such as what are the forces creating the enormous complexities at the genomic and phenotypic levels of different organisms. My passion for more theoretical, challenging, and evolutionary biology-focused studies led me to apply to the PhD program at the Vienna Graduate School of Population Genetics.

Currently, I have joined the group of Robert Kofler, and during my PhD, we will conduct experimental evolution studies to understand the genetic and adaptive architecture of body size variation under truncating selection in Drosophila simulans.