Principal Investigator

Albrecht Haase

I am interested in fundamental processes underlying reception, information coding, processing, and learning. Being a physicist by formation, I am especially attracted by two aspects in these fields: exploring the overlap between neuroscience and physics, where functional processes can be tested regarding possible underlying fundamental mechanisms (e.g. proposed by quantum biology) and the application of experimental techniques which go beyond standard neuroscience approaches (nonlinear microscopy, optogenetics). My team is formed by neuroscientists, biologists, engineers, and physicists that like to work in an interdisciplinary environment on a variety of questions to be tested in small brain models.

albrecht.haase [at] unitn.it

PostDocs

Amelie Cabirol

I am interested in the relationship between brain structure, function, and learning capacities. I also want to understand how variability in these parameters can affect the group success in social insects, in particular in honey bees. During my PhD, I focused on experience-dependent plasticity in brain structure and olfactory learning capacities. In my current research, I investigate the sublethal effects of neonicotinoids on olfactory processing and learning using in-vivo calcium imaging. These effects might be responsible for the decline observed in bee populations as they rely on sophisticated cognitive skills to collect food in the environment.

amelie.cabirol [at] unitn.it Download CV

Ettore Tiraboschi

I'm a biologist with experience in the field of biology and pharmacology of psychiatric disorders, neuronal plasticity, and Epilepsy. I'm interested in shifting my point of view from the biological aspects of neuroscience towards the study of the mechanisms underlying cognitive functions of the brain.

ettore.tiraboschi [at] unitn.it Download CV

Florencia Scarano

I am interested in perception, in how neural circuits process sensory information and govern behaviours. I like to study how behaviours are shaped by ecological and evolutionary factors, and how stimuli in the environment affect sensory capabilities and neural circuits of different animals. In my previous research, I did behavioural experiments, electrophysiological intracellular recordings and morphological reconstruction of neurons in order to study visual processing of movements in crabs. Currently, I am studying ant-plant interactions. By using optical neuro-imaging methods I study the influence of plant-derived neuroactive chemicals on the olfactory pathway in the ant’s brain.

florencia.scarano [at] unitn.it Download CV

PhD students

Mirko Zanon

I have a physics background, oriented to biological applications and imaging techniques in living samples. I am developing methods to study neural network dynamics in Apis mellifera via optogenetics.

mirko.zanon [at] unitn.it Download CV

Luca Del Torre

I got to Neuroscience after a Master in Experimental Physics discovering, that a quantitative and technological background can be very useful in this field. I like interdisciplinary environments because they offer continuous opportunities to discover new things collaborating with other people. I’m fascinated by the complexity of neuronal mechanisms and convinced that it is of high value to study them in relatively simple organisms, like insects, and with good control of the input variables of the sensory systems. I’m developing a setup to study the honeybee visual system and magnetoreception.

luca.deltorre [at] unitn.it Download CV