LORENZO GESUITA
I am a Scientist by trade and a Storyteller by vocation.
In these pages you can explore my passion for science, my love for theater, and my efforts to merge them into
Science Communication.
RESEARCH
I have always been attracted to everything I could not see with my bare eyes,
those inner mechanisms that make life happening.
master's in
FUNCTIONAL GENETICS
University of Milano Bicocca
PHD in neuroscience
University of Zurich
INTERNSHIP IN
CELLULAR BIOLOGY
CRG Barcelona
The brain is a fascinating mystery.
It is that special part of your body that makes you move, think, feel… in one word, live. How does such a complex thing develop? I have always been fascinated by the fine orchestration of brain development. This is a flawless program, made out of delicate, but robust processes happening at the birth of every new baby. They are delicate, as a myriad of precise steps must happen in a very specific order; at the same time, they are robust, as they have been positively selected by thousands of years of evolution.
I started my journey into developmental biology of the brain in 2013, during my Master's Degree in Silvia Nicolis Lab at the University of Milano-Bicocca. Here, I studied the role of a gene called Sox2 in the formation of the neuronal connections between the eyes and the brain (Mercurio et al., 2019).
In 2015 I moved to Barcelona where I joined the vibrant atmosphere of CRG, Center for Genomic Regulation, during a 6 months internship at the Cell and Developmental Biology Department. Here I studied some basic principles of glial cells development.
Finally, in 2016, I started my PhD in Theo Karayannis Lab at the Brain Research Institute, University of Zurich, where I dived into the fascinating world of interneurons, the inhibitory cells of the brain (Gesuita et al., 2021). My research focused on the interaction between interneurons and microglia, the immune system of the brain (Gesuita et al., 2022). While addressing these questions, I gained extensive knowledge in a broad range of techniques and I also had the chance to develop new protocols (Jaeger et al., 2020 and Gesuita et al., 2022).
THEATER
A stage is a magical place to tell stories.
Since 2013, I have served as the director of the Theatre Company 'I Fuggitivi' in Italy.
I oversee every aspect of play productions, from actor coaching to scenography design.
A SAFE PLACE
BEYOND THE SCRIPT
A 360° EXPERIENCE
The key ingredient behind a good production is a close-knit team founded on mutual respect and trust. That’s why, when I start working on a new play, I first invest time and energies to establish the so-called "safe place", a conducive working atmosphere where actors and actresses should feel free to fully express themselves without feeling judged by anyone.
A play is never limited to the few words of the author; every character has a personal story that goes beyond the script. The actor’s job is to investigate this hidden story; the director’s job is to guide the actor in this investigation. This is the starting point of an exciting creative process that leads to the main purpose of theater making: delivering true emotions.
A good play is based on the actors on the stage. A better play is built over a complex machine that involves actors, musicians, set designers, stage technicians and many other figures that work closely with the director to not leave any detail to chance. I believe a show should always be an immersive experience thanks to the joint effort of a devoted artistic crew.
EXPLORE THE LAST PLAYS
OTHER PROJECTS
SCIENCE ON STAGE
Back to the... future! Thanks to a powerful time machine, Lazzaro Spallanzani, an Italian biologist from the XVIII century, travelled to the present to do some cool science with primary school kids!
SCIENCE FAIR
An outreach event organized by the University of Zurich and the Zurich Neuroscience Center, where I built an interactive game to help kids understand brain connectivity.
CONFERENCES
In 2021, I organized a conference about the communication of basic research to the general public, inviting several speakers from the science communication field. The event was hosted by the Zoological Museum of the University of Zurich.
MY THESIS IN 3 MINS
A competition where participants present their PhD project to a general audience in just three minutes. In 2020 I was awarded with the Audience Choice Prize and the Second Jury Prize at the University of Zurich, with my talk entitled "The Sculptors of the Brain". Here I tested, for the first time, the use of classical art as an analogy for scientific processes. The success of this event led me to start thinking of "The Beautiful Brain" series.
pellegrino
A homemade GPS device, with a name, a soul and a story.
inside - bottom view
inside - top view
top view
THE CONCEPT
My wife Sara loves hiking. A few years ago, she was going to buy a GPS tracking watch. In that period I was looking for an opportunity to learn electronics. Sara's need became my challenge. The first Pellegrino prototype was built in 2019 and successfully reached the top of Mount Kilimanjaro (5895 meters above sea level).
THE NAME
"Pellegrino" is the Italian for "peregrine", like the Peregrine Falcon, the fastest bird in the world that scrupulously controls the ground from the sky. Pellegrino is also the Italian for "pilgrim", someone fully devoted to the journey and the goal. This was the perfect name for my device.
FEATURES
The brain of Pellegrino is the microprocessor Arduino BLE 33 Sense that controls a GPS, environmental sensors, a 9 axis Inertial Measurement Units, a 1.8 inch screen, a SD-card slot, Bluetooth communication, LEDs, a buzzer, a LiPo battery and an embedded charger. This precious technology is protected by a custom-made 3D printed case and a soft elastic protecting band.
(on the right, me, Sara, Erica and Pellegrino 1.0 towards the top of Mount Kilimanjaro)
menu
environment
time
compass
GPS
tracking
torch
