My name is Giorgio Francesco Gilestro, but many people simply call me gg.
I could define myself as something in between a molecular biologist, a geneticist and a neurobiologist; with a passion for flies.

From 1996 to 2001 I studied Medical Biotechnology at University of Turin, in Italy. After graduating, I then moved to Vienna (Austria) where I worked as graduate student in Barry Dickson’s laboratory, studying development of the nervous system in the embryo of Drosophila melanogaster (2002-2006).

From September 2006 to July 2009, I was a post-doc in the laboratory for research on sleep and consciousness directed by Chiara Cirelli and Giulio Tononi. My research is aimed at elucidating the enigmatic function(s) of sleep using Drosophila melanogaster as model system (yes, flies do sleep indeed!).

To contact me, send your email to .

Random various and hardly scientific things about me:

• I am married to Giorgia. Yes, we happened to have the same name and yes, it is kind of funny, indeed.
• I have plenty of hobbies but fortunately they are not just something I do on the side. Everything I do pretty much converges into the same big plan; in other words: exactly how I used to do when I was 6, I still do science because I have fun doing it.
• I think I suffer of a light form of prosopagnosia. My EEG basically lacks all of the late negative evoked potentials in response to face recognition (the so called N170). So if we met a few years ago and I don’t warm you hello, it’s not because I am being rude. It’s my brain’s fault. (Also, my EEG alpha waves have a frequency of 5hz instead of 8-13hz but I have no idea whether this means anything at all. If you know, please tell me).
• I love Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald, but I rather listen to Schubert while I am writing and to modern jazz while I am eating.  I don’t watch TV at all but love cinema.
• I walk to work every day, no matter the weather. 2.6 miles in the morning and 2.6 in the evening. That is my most creative time.
• I hate driving.
• I am an advocate of open source software (I use only free software, both at home and at work), open access publications and I am pretty much against intellectual property.

If you want to know more about my views on the world, check out my science and my blog.