Luca Mazzucato.

Luca Mazzucato

Assistant professor of biology and mathematics
University of Oregon

Luca Mazzucato is assistant professor of biology and mathematics at the University of Oregon. His lab investigates the neural mechanisms of optimal performance in decision-making and sensory perception, and develops brain-computer interfaces to improve cognitive function in primates.

Mazzucato obtained his Ph.D. in theoretical physics at the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) and worked on string theory for several years before switching to neuroscience. He was a Swartz Fellow in Theoretical Neurobiology and a research scientist at Columbia University’s Center for Theoretical Neuroscience. He started his lab at the University of Oregon in 2018.

He is the recipient of a National Science Foundation CAREER Award and numerous National Institutes of Health awards. He also runs the Science and Comics Initiative at the University of Oregon, where he works with comic artists to explain neuroscience.

Explore more from The Transmitter

Illustration of cake with genetic code inside.

The genome offers a recipe, not a blueprint, for the brain

During brain development, genes set the rules and turn the knobs; self-organization does much of the rest.

By Ila Fiete
2 November 2026 | 8 min read
Illustration of four faces of a rhesus macaque transitioning from opaque to transparent.

Autism research involving monkeys contends with uphill battle

Macaques and marmosets recapitulate the condition’s core traits better than mice can, but funding uncertainty and challenges at primate centers in the United States could make this work difficult to continue.

By Diana Kwon
2 November 2026 | 8 min read
A measuring cup with a whirlpool in it.

When is self-organization a mechanism in brain development?

Retinal waves offer a powerful example of a self-organizing system that can build structure without external guidance. The field would do well to embrace such phenomena more broadly as a type of mechanistic explanation.

By P. Robin Hiesinger
2 November 2026 | 6 min read