Main Focus
The advantage of fighting off sleepiness for mating may seem obvious, but the underlying neuroethological mechanisms are still purely understood.
During breeding season nightingales sing day and night engaging in counter-singing duels with neighbor males, with the goal to impress females and intimidate rivals by matching their songs. Although their song skills are well described, how they maintain such high-level performance without resting periods is unknown.
During my PhD I aim to investigate the behavioral and neuronal mechanisms that drive males to forego sleep and instead perform continuous singing duels with their conspecifics.
Curriculum Vitae
Education
• 2020 – present: GSN-IMPRS PhD student
Avian Sleep & Neural Circuits for Vocal Communication Research Groups, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, Germany
• 2016 – 2019: International MSc in Neuroscience, University of Trieste, Italy
(in collaboration with Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati (SISSA), Trieste, Italy)
• 2013 – 2016: BSc in Biology, University of Padova, Italy
Research Experience
• 2019: Research assistant, Center for Mind/Brain Sciences (CIMeC), Animal Cognition and Neuroscience Lab, University of Trento, Italy
• 2018: Erasmus+ Traineeship student, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Department of Behavioral Neurobiology, Seewiesen, Germany