معرفی
Alfredo Fontanini is a Professor and Chair in the Department of Neurobiology & Behavior at Stony Brook University, affiliated with the Renaissance School of Medicine. He holds an MD from the University of Pavia and Brescia (Italy) and a PhD in Neuroscience from Caltech. His research focuses on neural circuits underlying taste, reward, and decision-making, particularly in the insular cortex. He employs electrophysiology, optical imaging, and computational methods to study how sensory and cognitive processes integrate during eating behaviors. Fontanini has been recognized with prestigious awards, including the Klingenstein Fellowship and Presidential Early Career Award. His lab collaborates with institutions globally and investigates synaptic plasticity, neural dynamics, and hedonic learning.
- Education: MD (1998, Università degli Studi di Brescia), PhD (2003, Caltech)
- Key Collaborators: Arianna Maffei, Giancarlo La Camera, Memming Park
- Labs & Teams: Fontanini Lab (website: fontaninilab.org)
Fontanini's work bridges neurobiology and behavior, emphasizing metastable neural activity and its role in sensory processing. His research on gustatory cortex plasticity and cortical dopaminergic modulation has advanced understanding of how neural circuits encode expectations and sensory stimuli.
