Maximiliano Jose Nigro
Group leader
I have always been interested in animal behavior. Since I was a kid, I was observing birds and their habits in my parent’s backyard. As a teenager I discovered the work of Charles Darwin and Konrad Lorenz and I started reading all their books. But it wasn’t until reading “Bright Air, Brilliant Fire” by Gerald Edelman that I fell in love with neuroscience. Since then I have worked in different fields from ion channel biophysics, cellular neurophysiology and neuronal diversity. During my training I had the privilege of working with amazing scientists: Jacopo Magistretti (PhD), Johan Storm (postdoc in cellular neurophysiology), Bernardo Rudy (postdoc in inhibitory circuits and diversity) and Menno Witter (systems neuroscience). In 2020 I received a Marie Sklodowska-Curie fellowship and in January 2021 I joined the Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience to establish my own research group. At Kavli, I aim to study how the diversity of neurons in the cortex contributes to computations such as sensory and multisensory processing and ultimately to behavior.
Email me: maximiliano.j.nigro@ntnu.no
Luis Fernando Cobar Zelaya
Kavli Postdoctoral fellow
I come from El Salvador, a small country in Central America. I was honoured to receive a scholarship from Taiwan, where I studied biochemistry at NTU in Taiwan, and later I pursued a PhD under the supervision of Prof. Ayumu Tashiro at NTU in Singapore. In my studies I used electrophysiology coupled with optogenetics to explore neuronal circuits in the dentate gyrus of freely behaving mice. I also had the privilege of working with head mounted microscopes for calcium imaging as well as working to develop methods for bimodal recording on head-restrained mice. I like running, reddit and reading about languages.
Email me: luis.f.c.zelaya@ntnu.no
Adrian Foroughi
Master student in Neuroscience
I have a background in psychology with a bachelor’s degree from NTNU. I am currently doing a Master of Science in Neuroscience at the Nigro group.
Beside my fascination with the brain, I also enjoy drawing and music, as well as the occasional game of chess.
Email me: adriaf@stud.ntnu.no
Kasper Kjelsberg
Research assistant
My fascination for human behaviour led me to studying psychology which further sparked my interest in the brain. I did my master’s project in the Witter group at the Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience under the supervision of Maximiliano Nigro, where I looked at the projections from the mouse somatosensory cortex to the perirhinal cortex. After obtaining my master’s degree, I worked as a curator within the Human Brain Project in the Neural Systems lab in Oslo, where I guided and assisted other researchers in processing and publishing their data.
Email me: kasper.kjelsberg@ntnu.no
Nigro lab 