Angelo Forli, 2025

Career Development Award Project Title

“Neural Mechanisms for Flexible Behavior across Tasks”, 2025

Who he is

Angelo Forli is a neuroscientist interested in the neural mechanisms underlying behavior. He earned his degree in Physics from the University of Padova (2013) and a PhD in Neuroscience and Brain Technologies from the University of Genova, conducting research in the laboratory of Tommaso Fellin at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT). During his doctoral work, he developed advanced optical methods for monitoring and manipulating neural activity in vivo at single-neuron resolution. Supported by EMBO and HFSP fellowships, he pursued postdoctoral research at the University of California, Berkeley, in Michael Yartsev’s laboratory, where he studied the neural basis of spatial and social memory in bats, with a focus on hippocampal circuits. His contributions have been recognized with the 2024 Peter and Patricia Gruber International Research Award in Neuroscience. In 2025, he received the Armenise–Harvard Career Development Award to establish his independent research group at IIT Genova.

What he does

Angelo Forli’s research focuses on how neural activity gives rise to behavior, with a particular interest in flexible and adaptive forms of intelligence. To address this, he combines advanced technologies – functional imaging, electrophysiology, optogenetics, and quantitative behavioral analysis – with model systems chosen for the problem at hand. After establishing a strong foundation in neurotechnology during his PhD (Forli et al., 2018, Cell Reports; Forli et al., 2021, eLife), he turned to the study of naturalistic behaviors. At UC Berkeley, he leveraged the exceptional navigational and social capacities of bats to investigate the neural basis of spatial and social memory. By combining wireless neural recordings with behavioral analyses, he discovered how the hippocampus represents collective social environments (Forli & Yartsev, 2023, Nature) and uncovered new mechanisms of ensemble activity (Forli et al., 2025, Nature). Beyond these findings, he has argued for a broader shift in neuroscience – from reductionist paradigms to approaches that embrace complexity, diversity, and naturalistic contexts – in order to uncover the neural basis of ‘natural intelligence’ (Forli & Yartsev, 2024, Cell).

Thanks to the Armenise–Harvard Career Development Award, his laboratory will investigate how neural circuits support flexible behavior across changing environments and diverse contexts. By integrating advanced technologies with animal models and theoretical approaches, the lab seeks to identify principles that enable the brain to sustain adaptive, ‘intelligent’ behavior, even in the face of profound change. This research can help advance understanding and inform interventions in neurological conditions that impair flexibility.