Eva Aimable Naumann

Bio

Education

University of Konstanz, MSc, Biology

Harvard University/Ludwig Maximillian University, Ph.D., Neurobiology

Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow, University College London

Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard University Center for Brain Sciences

The Naumann lab's goal is to understand how neural circuits across the entire brain guide behavior and how individuality manifests within these circuits. To dissect such circuits, we use the genetically accessible, translucent zebrafish to map, monitor, and manipulate neuronal activity. By combining whole-brain imaging, behavioral analysis, functional perturbations, neuroanatomy, we aim to generate brain-scale circuit models of simple behaviors in individual brains. 

Education

• Ph.D. Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (Germany), 2010

Positions

• Assistant Professor of Neurobiology
• Assistant Professor of Cell Biology
• Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering
• Assistant Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience
• Faculty Network Member of the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences
• Affiliate of the Duke Regeneration Center

Courses Taught

• NEUROSCI 496: Research Independent Study 4
• NEUROSCI 495: Research Independent Study 3
• NEUROSCI 493: Research Independent Study 1
• NEUROBIO 720: Concepts in Neuroscience II: Principles of Organization of Neuronal Systems
• NEUROBIO 393: Research Independent Study

Publications

• He Z, Morra JJ, Naumann EA. A tiny vertebrate reveals brain-scale network functions. Trends Neurosci. 2025 Dec;48(12):938u20139.
• Draelos A, Loring MD, Nikitchenko M, Sriworarat C, Gupta P, Sprague DY, et al. A software platform for real-time and adaptive neuroscience experiments. Nat Commun. 2025 Nov 11;16(1):9909.
• Liu X, Loring MD, Zunino L, Fouke KE, Longchamp FA, Bernardino A, et al. Artificial embodied circuits uncover neural architectures of vertebrate visuomotor behaviors. Sci Robot. 2025 Oct 15;10(107):eadv4408.
• Morra J, Fouke K, Naumann EA, Daley M. Connectomes inform function: from time-varying dynamics to animal behaviour. Natural Computing. 2025 Sep 1;24(3):511u201328.
• Fouke KE, He Z, Loring MD, Naumann EA. Neural circuits underlying divergent visuomotor strategies of zebrafish and Danionella cerebrum. Curr Biol. 2025 May 19;35(10):2457-2466.e4.
• Cai C, Traubert O, Tormes-Vaquerano J, Eybposh MH, Turaga SC, Rodriguez-Romaguera J, et al. Compressive streak microscopy for fast sampling of fluorescent reporters of neural activity. Neurophotonics. 2025 Apr;12(2):025013.
• Harfouche M, Kim K, Zhou KC, Konda PC, Sharma S, Thomson EE, et al. Imaging across multiple spatial scales with the multi-camera array microscope. Optica. 2023 Apr 1;10(4):471u201380.
• Thomson EE, Harfouche M, Kim K, Konda PC, Seitz CW, Cooke C, et al. Gigapixel imaging with a novel multi-camera array microscope. Elife. 2022 Dec 14;11.
• Naumann E, Jacobs W, Xu S, Thomson E, Cooke C, Dunn T, et al. Data from: Gigapixel behavioral and neural activity imaging with a novel multi-camera array microscope. 2022.
• Loring MD, Thomson EE, Naumann EA. Whole-brain interactions underlying zebrafish behavior. Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2020 Dec;65:88u201399.
• Harfouche M, Dunn TW, Naumann EA, Horstmeyer R. Imaging the behavior and neural activity of freely moving organisms with a gigapixel microscope. In: Optics Infobase Conference Papers. 2019.
• Naumann EA, Fitzgerald JE, Dunn TW, Rihel J, Sompolinsky H, Engert F. From Whole-Brain Data to Functional Circuit Models: The Zebrafish Optomotor Response. Cell. 2016 Nov 3;167(4):947-960.e20.
• Dunn TW, Mu Y, Narayan S, Randlett O, Naumann EA, Yang C-T, et al. Brain-wide mapping of neural activity controlling zebrafish exploratory locomotion. Elife. 2016 Mar 22;5:e12741.
• Dunn TW, Gebhardt C, Naumann EA, Riegler C, Ahrens MB, Engert F, et al. Neural Circuits Underlying Visually Evoked Escapes in Larval Zebrafish. Neuron. 2016 Feb 3;89(3):613u201328.
• Randlett O, Wee CL, Naumann EA, Nnaemeka O, Schoppik D, Fitzgerald JE, et al. Whole-brain activity mapping onto a zebrafish brain atlas. Nat Methods. 2015 Nov;12(11):1039u201346.
• Naumann EA, Kampff AR, Prober DA, Schier AF, Engert F. Monitoring neural activity with bioluminescence during natural behavior. Nat Neurosci. 2010 Apr;13(4):513u201320.
• Naumann EA. Illuminating the neural circuitry underlying larval zebrafish behavior.

In The News

• A Small Fish Is Key to a Big Question About the Brain (Sep 30, 2021 | School of Medicine Magnify)
• Three From Duke Named Sloan Fellows (Feb 15, 2021 | )