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
Grethe Olsen
Senior engineer
I have for a long time been interested in the biological aspect of behavior and disease, this has led me through a BSc in Psychology as well as a MSc and PhD in Neuroscience. I have as a histology lab manager in the Kavli Institute of Systems Neuroscience since 2013. I have extensive experience with injection surgeries in mice and rats, tissue slicing, immuno- and histological processing of tissue. In my spare time I practice tai chi, I also enjoy hiking and going to concerts.
Email me: grethe.olsen@ntnu.no
Luis Fernando Cobar Zelaya
Kavli Postdoctoral fellow, Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellow (MSCA-2021)
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
Rejwan Farhad Salih
PhD candidate
I completed my Bachelors and Masters in Mathematics and Physics at the University of Manchester. During this time, I discovered the field of Computational Neuroscience. Having always been curious about the brain, I decided to pursue a PhD in that field. This led me to the Roudi group in Trondheim, where I worked on simulating recurrent neural networks to evaluate storage capacity. In the Nigro lab, I will be analysing electrophysiological data along with neural network simulations to uncover the computational principles underlying multisensory processing.
Email me: rejwan.f.salih@ntnu.no
Erik Justin Courcelles
Master student in Neuroscience
I have a bachelor’s degree in Bioscience from University in Oslo, and further developed an interest in studying Neuroscience during an exchange semester to UC Berkeley during this degree. I am currently doing a Master of Science in Neuroscience at the Nigro Group. As for personal interests I enjoy going to concerts and live shows, and I also enjoy and often spend my time weight training.
Email me: erikjc@stud.ntnu.no
Nigro lab 