Dr. Brambilla has been working in the field of signal transduction since 1987 and in molecular neuroscience since 1993. In 1997 he published the first genetic evidence demonstrating a direct involvement of the Ras-ERK signaling cascade in behavioral plasticity. During the last 12 years as a group leader he has continued to work on the role of synaptic signaling in learning and memory and drug addiction and demonstrated that the Ras-ERK-CREB pathway is essential for behavioral plasticity in the striatum, the brain region mostly affected in parkinsonian patients. In recent years his laboratory has developed new molecular biology tools to modulate gene expression in the brain via lentiviral vectors and cell permeable peptides and demonstrate that a specific inhibition of the Ras-ERK pathway significantly ameliorates motor symptoms associated with levodopa-induced dyskinesia. He is President of the European Molecular and Cellular Cognition Society, a scientific organization affiliated to the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies.