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People

Principal Investigator

Albrecht Haase

Albrecht Haase

I am interested in the fundamental processes underlying sensory reception, information coding, neural processing, learning and memory. With a background in physics, I am particularly drawn to two aspects of this field. First, the intersection of neuroscience and physics, where functional processes can be investigated concerning possible underlying physical mechanisms, including those proposed by quantum biology. Second, I am interested in applying advanced experimental techniques that extend beyond standard neuroscience approaches, such as nonlinear microscopy and all-optical stimulation and readout.  My team consists of neuroscientists, biologists, engineers, and physicists who work in an interdisciplinary environment on a variety of questions to be tested in small brain models.

albrecht.haase@unitn.it

Postdocs

Maria Bortot

Maria Bortot

What can insects do, and why do they do it? These have always been questions driving my research interests in insect cognition. I am a neuroscientist and in my previous research, I studied honey bees and bumble bees cognition with a behavioural perspective, investigating their learning, numerical abilities and their sleeping behaviour, as well as the impact of different environmental stressors on the capacity of insects to interact with their environment or perform cognitively demanding tasks. Currently, I am studying the role of gut microbiota on behaviour and cognition. By using optical neuro-imaging methods, I am also investigating the link between microbiota and brain neural circuits using the honey bee as animal model.  

maria.bortot@unitn.it

PhD students

Giorgia Zilio

Giorgia Zilio

My academic training spans cognitive science and neurobiology, with a strong focus on the neural mechanisms underlying behavior and information processing. Over the years, I have combined behavioral paradigms with experimental neurobiology, gaining hands-on experience in calcium imaging and immunohistochemistry in insect and vertebrate animal models. My primary research interest lies in in vivo imaging of neural activity in both vertebrate and invertebrate systems. I am particularly interested in directly monitoring neural dynamics to better understand how information is encoded, processed, and integrated within biological systems. As part of a multidisciplinary neurophysics environment, my PhD research focuses on magnetoreception, a still underexplored sensory modality used by many animals and insects for spatial navigation. I investigate how the physical principles governing geomagnetic field interact with neural circuit dynamics. This work allows me to integrate systems neuroscience, sensory biology, and biophysical approaches. In parallel, I maintain a strong interest in genetics and molecular biology, particularly in strategies that enable the mechanistic dissection of neural circuits and hold translational potential for neuroscience and neuroimaging.

giorgia.zilio@unitn.it

Davide Liga

Davide Liga

Having a background in ethology has instilled in me a deep curiosity about the cognitive processes of non-human animals and their true potential, if only they were given the opportunity to be fully tested. My main motivation is to help bridge the perceived gap that often separates the human mind from all other minds. After years of studying birds of prey, I began working with bees, and I continue to be fascinated on a daily basis by their remarkable abilities. Following an in-depth exploration of how cerebral lateralization affects their decision-making (foraging) and motor skills (flight times), I am now investigating how global warming may impact their cognitive and memory capacities. At the same time, I am exploring how the gut microbiota influences the brain functions of these essential pollinators.

davide.liga@unitn.it

Master's students

  • Zeno Rossi - CIMeC

Master's students of all life and natural sciences are welcome to join the lab. 

Topics for theses and internships can be found here, and a list of past theses here.  Further project ideas are welcome. 

Interns

  • Arefeh Lali Dehadi - Alumna CIMeC
  • Mridul Ben Bist - University of Miami
  • Iara Peralta Siracusa - Baylor University, Waco, Texas

Interns are welcome for periods of at least 6 months.

Collaborators

Alumni

  • Alan Oesterle - PhD student 
    Methods for Investigating Magnetoreception in Honeybees: Toward Testing the Radical Pair Mechanism (2026)
  • Claire Dumenil - Postdoc (2024)
    now Postdoc at the University of Bolzano in the General and Applied Entomology group with Sergio Angeli
  • Florencia Scarano - Postdoc
  • Ettore Tiraboschi - Postdoc
  • Amélie Cabirol - Postdoc
    now PI at the Center for Integrative Biology at the University Paul Sabatier Toulouse, France
  • Marco Paoli - Postdoc
    now Junior professor at the Center for Taste and Feeding Behaviour, CNRS, Dijon, France
  • Damiano Zanini - Postdoc
    now Imaging scientist at the Multiscale ImmunoImaging Unit, Humanitas Research Hospital, Milano
  • Anna Eriksson - Postdoc
    now at the Communication Group at Fondazione Mach Research and Innovation Centre
  • Virginia Belloni - Postdoc
  • Quentin Baudouin - Postdoc
  • Sebastian Moguilner - Postdoc (2021), now Researcher at the Global Health Institute
  • Luca Del Torre - PhD student
  • Mirko Zanon - PhD student
    Implementation of an all-optical setup for insect brain optogenetic stimulation and two-photon functional imaging (2020), now Postdoc at CIMeC with Giorgio Vallortigara
  • Mara Andrione - PhD student
    Olfactory representation in the honey bee antennal lobe: Investigations on a filter’s functions and dysfunctions (2016)
  • Elisa Rigosi - PhD student
    Brain-behavioural olfactory asymmetries in Apoidea (2013), now Researcher at Lund University
  • Neloy Kumar Chakroborty - Visiting scientist (2019), Assistant professor at Thapar School of Liberal Arts & Sciences, TIET, Patiala, Punjab
  • Sagar Santwani - Master's student, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Pune 
    Methodology for testing visual responses in the Anterior Optic Tubercle in the Honey Bee: Towards investigating Magnetoreception (2026)
  • Irmak Pismisoglu - Master's student
    Behavior tracking with deep neural networks to assess the influence of gut microbiota in honeybees (2025)
  • Alara Kiris - Master's student
    Investigation Of Magnetoreception In An Insect Model (2024)
  • Giacomo Fantoni - Master's student
    Computational modelling and simulation of the honeybee antennal lobe to reveal neural correlates of sleep (2023), now PhD student at Cibio, University of Trento
  • Enrico Maria Trombetta - Master's student
    A computational model for the neurodynamics of the antennal lobe of apis mellifera (2023)
  • Heather Nicole Strelevitz - Master's student
    Frontiers of honeybee research, from beehavior to imaging (2023), now PhD student at IIT Rovereto
  • Hamid Soleimani - Master's student
    Neural network plasticity during sleep in the honey bee model (2022)
  • Matteo Franceschi - Master's student
    Development of a new platform for automated insect conditioning experiments (2022)
  • Luana Leonardelli - Master's student from the University of Bologna
    In vivo honeybee brain imaging to study the olfactory system’s role in the processing of mechanosensory information (2021)
  • Nicola Calliari - Master's student
    Object segmentation and recognition techniques for synapse counting in 3D super-resolution imaging (2021)
  • Simone Monachino - Master's student
    Fundamental mechanisms of sensory information processing: functional and effective connectivity of olfactory coding (2020)
  • Mukilan Deivarajan Suresh - Master's student
    Olfactory modulation of defensive behaviour in honey bees (2020), now PhD student at Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, Newcastle University
  • Gianluca Segata - Master's student
    Tracking bee antenna motions to test brain lateralization (2020)
  • Sarah Chehaimi - Master's student
    A quantitative analysis of the honey bee (Apis mellifera) queens' vibro-acoustic communication (2020)
  • Mohammadreza Soltanipour - Master's student from SISSA
    Information theoretic measures of tactile decisions in the rat barrel cortex (2020)
  • Miriam Nodari - Master's student
    Analysis of dynamics and connectivity in the olfactory system of the honey bee brain (2019)
  • Sara Bariselli - Master's student
    A new genetic approach to perform calcium imaging in apis mellifera olfactory centers (2019)
  • Martina Fava - Intern from the University of Parma
  • Andrea Stella - Intern
  • Mattia Mariuzzo - Intern
  • Alessandro Nigi - Intern from the University College Utrecht
  • Marie Fayolle - Intern from the École Normale Supérieure in Paris
  • Francesko Molla - Intern
  • Cecilia Zuglian - Intern
  • Gianluca Morciano - Intern
  • Sofia Micheletti - Intern
  • Daniele Rama - Intern
  • Ylenia Fratini - Intern
  • Sofia Rossi - Intern