Alexandros Alampounti
AffiliationUCL Ear Institute
About mePublications
Personal profile
About me
Meet the person behind the experiments.
Publicly informed profile draft — please review personally
Scientific interests
What I am interested in
My public research record centres on mosquito hearing and the mechanisms that allow males to detect mating signals in dense, noisy swarms. Work on Anopheles has examined neuromodulatory control by octopamine, circadian changes in audibility, antennal mechanics, distortion products and theoretical strategies for acoustic signal detection and localisation. These studies combine molecular perturbation, transcriptomics, laser-based mechanical measurements, electrophysiology, software and behavioural assays.
A recurring question is how a very small auditory system overcomes physical limits. Male mosquito ears use active mechanics, nonlinear interactions and frequency transformations to make biologically important female flight tones detectable. Neuromodulators can alter receiver stiffness, tuning and antennal fibrillae, linking internal state to sensory performance. I am interested in both the fundamental biology and its possible applications. Because hearing is essential for mate finding, identifying the molecular and mechanical control points of the system may suggest acoustic or pharmacological strategies for vector control. The research therefore sits between neuroethology, biophysics, acoustics and disease-vector biology.
Why the Albert Lab
Why I joined the Albert Lab
As a guest associated with the UCL Ear Institute, my connection to the Albert Lab reflects a long-standing scientific overlap rather than a conventional move into the group. The collaboration brings together mosquito molecular neuroscience, experimental acoustics, sensory mechanics and theoretical analysis. Shared projects benefit from complementary expertise and from access to methods that span gene expression, receptor physiology, whole-organ vibration and behaviour.
The Albert Lab is particularly relevant because Jörg Albert's research programme has helped establish mosquito ears as powerful systems for studying active hearing. Collaboration across Oldenburg, UCL and other partners makes it possible to test the same hypothesis at multiple levels and to compare experiments with physical models. I value this structure because mosquito hearing is too complex to be captured by a single method: molecular modulation, antennal mechanics, neural excitation and swarm behaviour must be connected. The guest role therefore supports continued exchange, joint publications and the development of approaches that may eventually translate fundamental sensory biology into new ways of interfering with mosquito communication.
Beyond the work
Anything else I would like to share
Publications associated with my work include studies of octopaminergic control, circadian hearing, GABA(A) receptor modulation, auditory distortion products, sound localisation and sound-masking strategies. They show an interest in extracting general signal-processing principles from a highly specialised biological detector. The mosquito ear is not simply a miniature microphone; it is an active, state-dependent system whose nonlinearities can improve sensitivity and selectivity.
I also contribute to the methodological side of this research, including software, quantitative analysis and experimental designs that link flight tones to receptor responses. Such work depends on close collaboration between biologists, physicists and engineers. The profile is based on public publications and official affiliation information. It does not infer private hobbies or personal background that have not been publicly shared. The strongest accurate summary is therefore professional: an interest in how tiny auditory systems solve difficult detection problems, how neuromodulation changes their performance and how those mechanisms might inform both general acoustics and innovative approaches to vector control.