Piali Sengupta

Piali Sengupta is Harold and Bernice Davis Professor in Aging and Neurodegenerative Disease in the Department of Biology at Brandeis University. Research in the Sengupta lab focuses on the molecular and neuronal mechanisms that allow animals to sense environmental cues and to translate this information into defined behaviors and developmental decisions. Her lab has made significant findings in the areas of chemosensation and thermosensation. She and her colleagues have identified receptors that detect and mediate responses to specific food-associated odors, pheromones, and temperature changes, and have also described the mechanisms by which experience, context, and internal state modify behaviors.

Sengupta grew up in Kolkata, India and arrived in the USA in 1981 to attend college. She earned her Ph.D. at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She has served as Treasurer of the Genetics Society of America. She is an Elected Fellow American Association for the Advancement of Science.