Fabio Cortesi

Dr Cortesi was awarded a PhD with Summa Cum Laude in Zoology in 2014 from the University of Basel, Switzerland, studying the molecular and behavioural function of colourful signals in coral reef fishes. After completing his remaining Swiss National Service duties, Dr Cortesi moved to Australia in 2015 to start a short-term postdoctoral appointment at the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Queensland. Upon winning prestigious postdoctoral Fellowships from the Swiss National Science Foundation and the University of Queensland, he transferred to the Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) in early 2016, where he developed his leadership skills under the supervision of Emr. Professor Justin Marshall. In 2020, Dr Cortesi received an ARC DECRA Fellowship, which enabled him to start his junior group under the mentorship of Emr. Prof. Marshall and A/Prof Karen Cheney from The School of the Environment (SENV), UQ. Beginning in 2023, he leads the Sensory Neuroscience Lab at SENV as part of UQ's Marine Sensory Ecology Group. He is currently an ARC Future Fellow and senior lecturer in marine sciences at UQ's SENV.

Dr Cortesi's research is, amongst others, funded by the Hermon Slade Foundation and the Australian Research Council. His main interests lie in the forces, from molecules to the environment, that shape natural biodiversity. Focusing on the evolution of visual systems in fishes and cephalopods, he is trying to understand how other animals perceive the world, how this contributes to the formation of colours and patterns and how this can lead to species diversity. He uses various methods to understand how vision shapes single species and whole communities, including single-cell sequencing, transgenesis experiments, neurophysiological assessments and behavioural experimentation.