Dr. Lorenzo Gesuita earned his Bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences and his Master’s degree in Biology from the University of Milano Bicocca in Italy. After a short research internship at the Centre for Genomic Regulation of Barcelona, he moved to Switzerland where he completed his PhD in neuroscience at the Brain Research Institute of the University of Zurich in 2022. Lorenzo’s graduate work focused on revealing cellular and molecular determinants of brain development; he was specifically interested in the maturation of inhibitory cells of the neocortex.

Lorenzo is passionate about teaching and science communication. In 2022 he created The Beautiful Brain, an original web series that retraces key steps of brain development using art masterpieces as analogies. Outside the lab, he has a long experience as art director and producer of theatrical shows.

He joined the Program in Genetics and Genomics in May 2023 as a Curriculum Fellow, working to help fulfill the PGG’s educational mission.

Publications

L. Gesuita and T. Karayannis (2023) The Beautiful Brain: communicating fundamental neuroscience through masterpieces of art, FEBS Letters

L. Gesuita, A. Ö. Argunsah, T. Karayannis (2022) Sparse postnatal labeling and quantification of superficial cortical cell synapses in the mouse neocortex, STAR Protocols

L. Gesuita, A. Cavaccini, A. Ö. Argunsah, E. Favuzzi, L. A. Ibrahim, T. Stachniak, M. D. Gennaro, S. Utz, M. Greter, T. Karayannis (2022) Microglia contribute to the postnatal development of cortical somatostatin-positive inhibitory cells and to whisker-evoked cortical activity, Cell Reports

L. Gesuita and T. Karayannis (2021) A “marginal” tale: the development of neocortical layer 1, Current Opinion in Neurobiology

B. N. Jaeger*, E. Yángüez*, L. Gesuita, A. Denoth-Lippuner , M. Kruse , T. Karayannis and S. Jessberger (2020) Miniaturization of Smart-seq2 for single-cell and single-nuclei RNA sequencing, STAR Protocols

* These authors contributed equally

S. Mercurio, L. Serra, A. Motta, L. Gesuita, L. Sanchez-Arrones, F. Inverardi, B. Foglio, C. Barone, P. Kaimakis, B. Martynoga, S. Ottolenghi, M. Studer, F. Guillemot, C. Frassoni, P. Bovolenta, S.K. Nicolis (2019) Sox2 acts in thalamic neurons to control the development of retina-thalamus-cortex connectivity, iScience