Dario Campagner

Originally from Italy, Dr. Dario Campagner did his Ph.D. in systems and computational neuroscience at the University of Manchester and Janelia Research Campus in the laboratories of Rasmus Petersen and Karel Svoboda, where he combined electrophysiology, behaviour and modelling to reveal how the whisker ascending pathways encode active touch during decision making and navigation.

He then joined as a postdoc the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre (Branco group) and the Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit (Sahani group) where he was awarded the Joint Gatsby Unit/SWC Research Fellowship in Neuroscience, pioneering Neuropixels recordings in freely moving mice and uncovering the circuit computations and behavioural algorithms that guide goal-directed navigation during instinctive escape and rapid spatial learning.

Since 2021, Dr Campagner co-funded and now leads the Aeon group: together with collaborators in the SWC, GCNU, neuroGEARS and DataJoint, he developed a modular and scalable open-source platform to study the neural basis of foraging and other ethological behaviours continuously over naturalistic timescales of weeks to months in large habitats. His current research explores how neural circuits and neuromodulation support flexible learning and decision-making over extended timescales in dynamic ecologically-relevant contexts, leveraging these cutting-edge technologies and interdisciplinary approaches.