George Mountoufaris

George grew up in Athens, Greece and completed his undergraduate studies in molecular biology and genetics at University of Crete. During his time there, he worked in the laboratory of Nektarios Tavernarakis, studying the mechanisms that control aging in C. elegans. Afterwards, he moved to the United States and worked as a research technician in the laboratory of Stavros Lomvardas at UCSF. While there, he contributed to the identification of epigenetic mechanisms controlling mammalian olfactory receptor gene expression.

George has a keen interest in the mechanisms that generate cellular diversity in the brain and its crucial role in development motivated him to pursue a PhD at Columbia University in the laboratory of Tom Maniatis. There, his research concentrated on using the mammalian olfactory system as a model to explore the function of multicluster protocadherins (Pcdh) diversity in neuronal wiring.

As a Helen Hay Whitney fellow at Caltech, his focus has been on studying the neuromodulatory mechanisms that control instinctual mammalian behaviors.