Lisa Fenk

Lisa Fenk is a Lise Meitner Research Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence in Martinsried, Germany. Her work bridges Behavioral & Cognitive Neuroscience and Cellular & Systems Neuroscience, using Drosophila and zebrafish to study sensory processing.

• Education: PhD in Neurobiology (2007–2011), University of Vienna; Diploma in Biology (2005–2007), Physics & French (1999–2005).
• Prior Positions: Postdoc at Rockefeller University (2015–2021), IMP Vienna (2012–2015).

Her research explores how brains differentiate self-generated sensory input from external stimuli, focusing on retinal movements and efference copy mechanisms. She employs electrophysiology, calcium imaging, and behavioral genetics to decode neural circuits.

Key trends in her 15 most recent articles (2007–2025) include:

• Visual processing in Drosophila and spiders
• Role of retinal muscles in sensory augmentation
• Asymmetric neural coding for object-background distinction
• Transcriptomic and optogenetic analysis of neural circuits
• Evolutionary neuroethology across species