Eugenia Chiappe

Eugenia Chiappe is a Principal Investigator at the Champalimaud Center for the Unknown, leading the Chiappe Lab. Her research focuses on the neural circuits involved in self-movement estimation and sensorimotor integration in Drosophila melanogaster, combining behavioral paradigms, neural activity recording, and genetic tools to uncover mechanistic explanations for brain function in adaptive behaviors.

Research highlights:

• Investigation of HS and VS cells in flies as self-motion estimators.
• Development of head-fixed walking paradigms for reversible neural perturbation.
• Identification of nonvisual signals modulating visual responses during locomotion.
• Exploration of neural dynamics encoding combined visual and motor inputs.

Scientific contributions:

• Marie Curie Career Integration Grant PCIG13-GA-2013-618854
• Bial Foundation grant 191/12
• Collaborative projects on state-dependent sensory processing (Journal of Neuroscience, 2017)

Advising and Collaborations:

• Mentored Daniel Tendero (External PhD Student) and Miguel Paço (INDP PhD Student).
• Collaborations with teams at Yale University, MIT, and University College London.