Dr. Thomas Auer

Group leader

Laura Stebler

Bachelor student

Laura joined the lab in February 2026 to work on her bachelor thesis on neural circuit evolution, supervised with Tom. 

Dr. Noemi Sgammeglia

Lab Manager

Noemi received her Master degree from the University of Turin in April 2017. For her master thesis, she moved to The Netherlands and joined an Erasmus Traineeship program to study the epigenetic regulation of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. In October 2018, she joined the University of Friboug as a PhD candidate in Simon Sprecher group. During her PhD, she studied Learning and Memory in Drosophila melanogaster, performing behavioural tests and molecular experiments to characterize different phases of memory consolidation. Following her doctoral defense, she joined an innovative start-up, Scaylite, to support precision medicine and acquiring skills in project management and business development. In August 2024, she joined our team to support our research in taste processing among Drosophila species.

Tehani Staehli-Reber

Bachelor student

Tehani will work from February to May 2026 in the lab on her bachelor thesis on behavioural evolution, supervised by Tom. 

Dr. Matteo Bruzzone

Post-doctoral researcher

Matteo obtained his M.Sc. degree in Neuroscience from the University of Trieste. For his master project, he joined Angelo Bisazza’s lab at the University of Padua, where he developed novel behavioral paradigms to assess cognitive abilities in zebrafish larvae. In 2023, Matteo completed his Ph.D. at the University of Padova under the guidance of Aram Megighian and Marco Dal Maschio. During this period, he focused on visuo-motor transformation in zebrafish larvae and graph theory methods for connectomes analysis. Following his Ph.D., Matteo switched to research on Drosophila melanogaster, focusing on evidence accumulation processes. He joined the lab in November 2024 to work on the evolution of gut-brain circuits.

Katia Tille Munoz

Bachelor student

Katia joined the lab in February 2026 to work on the evolution of internal sensory systems for her bachelor thesis, supervised by Matteo.