Nacho Sanguinetti

About Me

Me

My name is Juan Ignacio Sanguinetti Scheck (Nacho). I come from the small piece of farmland that is Uruguay. I'm a neuroscientist, I did my PhD in Berlin and I'm currently working as a postdoc at Harvard University. At night I become a theater and improv performer, writer and producer.

The Science

I'm a neuroscientist interested in the close knit relationship between brain and behavior. As a former neuroethologist, I believe we should study the brain of animals performing natural behaviors, and that we should strive to do it as close as possible to the animal's own ecology. Understanding the umwelt of the animal is always the first step.

I want to study brains in the wild!

The Improv

Improv is a theatrical artform where plays are created on stage without the content being pre-arranged, written or defined. To succeed, improvisers need to use their brains to carefully model the life of others. They must use theory of mind to represent the knowledge and objectives of characters. These are things humans are specially good at.

Improv is human brains gone wild!

Science and Teaching

The weakly electric fish Gymnothus Omarorum generates an electric field for sensing its surrounding

Science

I'm a postdoc studying neurobiology at Harvard University. I'm currently studying the brain and behavior of Deer mice.

I finished my PhD at Michael Brecht's lab in Berlin. I wrote my thesis on the neural bases of navigation and play.

Before moving to Berlin I did my masters thesis on the electric sense of fish at the Faculty of Sciences in Montevideo in close collaboration with Bielefeld University.

CHeck OUT my Research

Teaching at TENSS

I'm a TA at the best and funnest Neuroscience school in the world, the Transylvanian Experimental Neuroscience Summer School. There I teach freely moving electrophysiology and behavior to PhD students from around the world. I also cook an amazing lamb at the Romanian countryside.

GO NUTS!