Dr. Elisa Galliano

Biography

Elisa Galliano trained in Italy at the University of Pavia, earning a BSc in Biology and an MSc in Neurobiology. She is a cellular electrophysiologist with interests in investigating cerebellar computation at the cellular and synaptic level. During her graduate studies, Elisa moved to Chris De Zeeuw’s laboratory in Rotterdam, Netherlands, where she received comprehensive training in cellular, systems, and behavioral neuroscience. Thanks to a Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowship, she spent four years investigating experience-driven plasticity in bulbar dopaminergic interneurons and its effects on synaptic modifications related to olfaction and olfactory behavior at Matthew Grubb's lab at King’s College London and Venki Murthy's lab at Harvard University. In 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 became a Fellow and Director of Studies in Biological Natural Sciences at Fitzwilliam College. Her permanent faculty position as Associate Professor was confirmed in 2024 following successful completion of her probation period. Elisa was awarded a Wellcome Career Development Award to support her team’s research on neuronal plasticity, particularly focusing on dopaminergic and broader neuronal heterogeneity and olfactory processing using multi-level approaches linking synapses to behavior. Her lab specifically studies neuronal plasticity in the mouse olfactory system, exploring how animals process sensory inputs to produce appropriate behavioral responses and achieve adaptive control at the cellular network level.

Research Interests

Experience

Courses