Dr Elisa Galliano
- Associate Professor in Neuroscience
- Fellow and Director of Studies in Natural Sciences (Biological), Fitzwilliam College
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About
Elisa trained in Italy at the University of Pavia (BSc Biology, MSc Neurobiology) with Egidio D’Angelo as a cellular electrophysiologist, where her first interest has been investigating the cerebellar computation at a cellular and synaptic level. For her graduate studies she then moved to Chris De Zeeuw’s laboratory in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, where she received a complete training in cellular, system and behavioural neuroscience. Thanks to a Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowship, she then spent four years investigating experience-driven plasticity in bulbar dopaminergic interneurons and the effects of such plastic modifications on the first synapse in olfaction and on olfactory behaviour in Matthew Grubb's lab (King’s College London) and Venki Murthy's lab (Harvard University).
In May 2018 she started her lab at the Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge as an Unestablished Lecturer. In October 2020, she was appointed Assistant Professor and she joined Fitzwilliam College as Fellow and Director of Studies in Biological Natural Sciences. In 2024, her appointment to a permanent faculty position as Associate Professor was confirmed following successful completion of probation, and she was awarded a Wellcome Career Development Award to support her team’s work on neuronal plasticity, dopaminergic (and broader neuronal) heterogeneity, and olfactory processing using multi-level approaches from synapses to behaviour.
Besides research, Elisa is committed to full participation in the breadth of academic life, including teaching, mentoring, open science, and the development of a positive research culture.
Research
Our lab studies neuronal plasticity and its links to behaviour in the mouse olfactory system.
Faced with an ever-changing environment, animals must process sensory inputs to produce appropriate behavioural responses. Neuronal plasticity is fundamental to accomplish this but how adaptive control is achieved at the cellular and network level remains poorly defined. Importantly, the way that circuits, such as those in the early olfactory system, respond and adapt to incoming signals needs to be optimized both for learning (e.g., to discriminate strawberry and banana) and also to assure homeostasis and behavioural stability (e.g., maintaining the ability to detect strawberry smell after temporary anosmia).
We are also fascinated by dopamine (it’s in the olfactory bulb too!), and by neurons capable of the most striking type of plasticity: the ability to undergo adult neurogenesis.
Teaching and supervision
Natural Sciences Course:
- Year 3: PDN Part II - Plasticity in sensory and motor systems; Introduction to posters and figures design.
- Year 2: Part IB Neurobiology - Synaptic transmission; Brain histology; Neuroanatomy
- Year 1: Part IA Physiology of Organisms - Sensing the Environment
Medical Sciences and Veterinary Sciences Courses:
- Year 2: Part IB Neurobiology of Human/Animal Behaviour - Chemical Senses; Human neuroanatomy
MPhil in Basic and Translational Neuroscience - Course Co-Director