{"id":16834,"date":"2023-08-24T16:38:49","date_gmt":"2023-08-24T14:38:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.egce.universite-paris-saclay.fr\/?p=16834"},"modified":"2024-12-03T16:43:54","modified_gmt":"2024-12-03T15:43:54","slug":"melissa-pitzalis-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.egce.universite-paris-saclay.fr\/?p=16834&lang=en","title":{"rendered":"Melissa Pitzalis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text is-stacked-on-mobile has-ast-global-color-2-color has-ast-global-color-6-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color wp-elements-e1c38869b4ce5aa152638de8615350e5\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"496\" height=\"496\" src=\"https:\/\/www.egce.universite-paris-saclay.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Captureio-3.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-20174 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.egce.universite-paris-saclay.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Captureio-3.png 496w, https:\/\/www.egce.universite-paris-saclay.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Captureio-3-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/www.egce.universite-paris-saclay.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Captureio-3-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/www.egce.universite-paris-saclay.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Captureio-3-200x200.png 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 496px) 100vw, 496px\" \/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p style=\"font-size:25px;line-height:0\"><strong>PhD student <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-3-color has-text-color has-link-color has-small-font-size wp-elements-12e2ff780bd918173891d3df593cc2bd\" style=\"line-height:0\">&#x6d;&#x65;&#108;&#105;ss&#x61;&#x2e;&#x70;&#105;tz&#x61;&#x6c;&#x69;&#115;&#64;u&#x6e;&#x69;&#x76;&#101;&#114;s&#x69;&#x74;&#x65;&#45;&#112;ar&#x69;&#x73;&#x2d;&#115;ac&#x6c;&#x61;&#x79;&#46;&#102;r<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-5c24c0fabae2866f18f23b25ba614d20\" style=\"line-height:3\"><strong>Thesis project <\/strong><s>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<s>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/s>&nbsp;<s>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/s>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<s>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/s>&nbsp;&nbsp;<s>&nbsp;<\/s>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/s><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\" style=\"line-height:1.5\">In the animal world, the vital ability to discriminate between noxious items and nutritious substances is attained through the detection of a wide range of volatile and non-volatile chemicals. While olfaction assists individuals in the initial orientation towards potential foods, the ultimate arbiter deciding for ingestion or rejection of an item is <strong>the sense of taste<\/strong>. Understanding <strong>how the central nervous system processes and encodes gustatory information<\/strong> has significant implications in neuroethology. One well-established insect model in neuroscience, behavioural, and ecological studies that makes an interesting candidate for the study of gustatory processing is the honey bee, <em><strong>Apis mellifera<\/strong><\/em>.&nbsp; In fact, honey bees are eusocial animals that evolved sophisticated food-related behaviours, and in which the individuals\u2019 nutritional needs must be tuned to the collective needs of the colony.<br>Despite the intensive research devoted to other sensory modalities like olfaction and vision, comparatively <strong>a limited amount of works has set off to explore the machineries behind gustatory processing in <em>Apis mellifera<\/em><\/strong>. In addition, the sequencing of the honey bee genome revealed a scarcity of gustatory receptor genes compared to other insect species equipped with several dozens of GRs and with poorer gustatory behavioural outputs. This scarcity raises an intriguing question: <strong>how can such a rich gustatory behavioural output arise from such a reduced set of gustatory input channels<\/strong>? The answer may lie in the <strong>mechanisms with which the brain of the honey bee processes, encodes and interprets gustatory information<\/strong>.<br>By integrating <strong>neuroanatomical, behavioural, and neurophysiological approaches<\/strong>, my goal is to <strong>unravel the mechanisms underlying the central processing of gustatory information in honey bees<\/strong>, bridging the gap between behaviour and its neural substrates. Eventually, this research will provide a deeper understanding of the adaptive mechanisms employed by honey bees to modulate their feeding behaviour, and that contribute to the output of sophisticated food-related behaviours typical of the species.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-28ceab24f837e14cf031829305d4c5bd\" style=\"border-style:none;border-width:0px;border-radius:0px;line-height:2\"><strong>Scientific communications&nbsp; <\/strong><s>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/s><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>2024, oral communication \u2013 <strong>19<sup>th<\/sup> International Symposium on Olfaction and Taste<\/strong> [Reykjav\u00edk, Iceland]&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2024, oral communication \u2013<strong>24<sup>th<\/sup> meeting of the Club of Insect Neurobiology<\/strong> [Gif-sur-Yvette, France]&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2023, oral communication \u2013 <strong>Neuroethology Satellite Meeting of Neurofrance <\/strong>[Lyon, France]<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2023, poster presentation<strong> <\/strong>\u2013<strong>9<sup>th<\/sup> ed. of the Doctoral School Day<\/strong> [Gif-sur-Yvette, France]<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2023, poster presentation<strong> <\/strong>\u2013 <strong>15<sup>th<\/sup> G\u00f6ttingen Meeting of the German Neuroscience Society<\/strong> [G\u00f6ttingen, Germany]&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-34dd507266a7f2e3d4356daf1a64caa7\" style=\"line-height:3\"><strong>Education &amp; employment history&nbsp; <\/strong><s>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/s><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>2022-2025,<strong> PhD student<\/strong>, Universit\u00e9 Paris-Saclay\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>Gustatory processing in the brain of the honey bee <\/em>Apis mellifera<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2022,<strong> Calcium Imaging and Neuroanatomy assistant<\/strong>, Gif-sur-Yvette (France)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2022, <strong>Master degree in Evolution of Animal and Human Behaviour<\/strong>, University of Turin\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>The olfactome partition in the honey bee brain: exploring neural activity patterns through multisite calcium imaging on genetically engineered <\/em>Apis mellifera.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2021,<strong> Internship<\/strong>, University of Bristol (UK): \n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>Comparative neuroanatomy in Heliconiini butterflies: how neurogenesis has been altered to bring about a massive increase in the number of neurons in the mushroom bodies<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2021, <strong>Internship<\/strong>, Gif-sur-Yvette (France)\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>Exploring neural activity patterns through multisite calcium imaging on genetically engineered <\/em>Apis mellifera<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2020-2025, <strong>Teaching assistant<\/strong>, University of Turin (Italy) &amp; Universit\u00e9-Paris-Saclay<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2019, <strong>Docent guide<\/strong>, El Castillo (Costa Rica)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2019, <strong>Bachelor degree in Natural Sciences, University of Turin<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PhD student &#x6d;&#x65;&#108;&#105;s&#x73;&#x61;&#x2e;&#112;it&#x7a;&#x61;&#108;&#105;s&#x40;&#x75;&#x6e;&#105;ve&#x72;&#x73;&#105;&#116;e&#x2d;&#x70;&#x61;&#114;is&#x2d;&#x73;&#97;&#99;l&#x61;&#x79;&#x2e;&#102;&#114; Thesis project &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In the animal world, the vital ability to discriminate between noxious items and nutritious substances is attained through the detection of a wide range of volatile and non-volatile chemicals. While olfaction assists individuals in the initial orientation towards potential foods, the ultimate arbiter deciding for ingestion or rejection of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":148,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-personnels-en"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.egce.universite-paris-saclay.fr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.egce.universite-paris-saclay.fr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.egce.universite-paris-saclay.fr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.egce.universite-paris-saclay.fr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/148"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.egce.universite-paris-saclay.fr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16834"}],"version-history":[{"count":41,"href":"https:\/\/www.egce.universite-paris-saclay.fr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16834\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20254,"href":"https:\/\/www.egce.universite-paris-saclay.fr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16834\/revisions\/20254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.egce.universite-paris-saclay.fr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.egce.universite-paris-saclay.fr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.egce.universite-paris-saclay.fr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}