Dr. Zisis Bimpisidis studied Psychology and Neurosciences at the University of Crete, Greece and obtained his PhD from the University of Cagliari, Italy, under the supervision of Professor Gaetano Di Chiara. In his PhD he focused on the effects of substances of abuse on behavioral and neurochemical responses to taste stimuli, and studied the interaction between cortical and subcortical dopaminergic systems.
During his postdoctoral training he further developed his focus on the role of midbrain dopamine system and basal ganglia nuclei in normal behavior and disease. On his first postdoctoral appointment at Angela Cenci's lab at Lund University, Sweden (2012-2015) he studied behavioral, pharmacological, neurochemical and metabolic aspects of Parkinson's Disease and treatment-induced dyskinesias in a toxin based animal model of Parkinson's Disease. On his second postdoc at the lab of Åsa Wallen-Mackenzie, at Uppsala University, Dr Bimpisidis used transgenic mice, viral vectors, anatomical methods, optogenetics and behavioral assessment to unravel the neuronal heterogeneity of the ventral tegmental area.
Dr Bimpisidis is now interested in understanding how inputs to prefrontal cortical areas can affect decision making and induce behavioral manifestations observed in pathological conditions such as substance use disorder.
