Marco Mainardi

Marco Mainardi is an Associate Professor of Physiology at University of Padua.

 

His training in biological research started with a master’s degree in molecular biology at University of Pisa (2006), where he also received an Honors degree in Biology after completing the graduate course at Scuola Normale Superiore. Then, he received his PhD Neuroscience, still from Scuola Normale Superiore (2010), after working under the supervision of prof.s Lamberto Maffei, Matteo Caleo, and Tommaso Pizzorusso on the effect of environmental stimuli on synaptic plasticity, using in vivo electrophysiology, imaging, and biochemistry. He then continued to explore these topics with a postdoc at the Neuroscience Institute of the National Research Council. In 2014, he moved to the Physiology Institute of Catholic University in Rome with an assistant professor position. While getting proficient in patch-clamp electrophysiology and coimmunoprecipitation techniques, he contributed to elucidate the effect of metabolic stressors, such as a hyperlipidic diet, in curbing synaptic plasticity. In 2017, Marco moved back to Scuola Normale Superiore, where he became assistant professor in Antonino Cattaneo’s lab, where he was introduced to the design and validation of genetically encoded tools for synapse labeling and analysis, which he used to create maps of in vivo synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus, as well as to analyze the variations in the molecular composition of synapses in response to learning. In 2019, Marco obtained his first independent position as a researcher of the Neuroscience Institute of the National Research Council, where he was promoted senior investigator before moving to University of Padua in 2023.

 

Marco’s current research interests are focused on understanding how synapses are affected by physiological variations in sensory inputs as well as by pathological states, including Alzheimer’s disease and neuroinflammation. To answer his scientific questions, he employs a combination of genetically encoded reporters and probes, behavioral testing, electrophysiology, imaging, and biochemistry in preclinical models. His research is supported by grants from the Ministry of University and Research, as well as from private charities, such as AirAlzh (Italian Association for Research on Alzheimer’s).

 

Marco’s ultimate goal as a researcher is to make contributions which can be truly useful to ameliorating the condition of diseased people, by exploiting basic research to indicate new potential targets for the therapy of neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative diseases.

 

Scopus link: https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=26424686300
Google Scholar link: https://scholar.google.it/citations?user=hkEBXloAAAAJ&hl=it

Roberta Sellaro

Roberta Sellaro is an Associate Professor at the Department of Developmental Psychology and Socialization of the University of Padova.

 

She graduated in Psychology in 2007 at the University of Padova, before moving to the Center for Mind and Brain Sciences (CIMeC) of the University of Trento where, in April 2013, she obtained a PhD in Cognitive and Brain Sciences (Cognitive Neuroscience Programme). During her graduate studies, she investigated whether and to what extent cognitive control efficiency can be affected by the social context surrounding us. Immediately after obtaining her PhD, she joined the Cognitive Psychology Unit of the Leiden University (the Netherlands) and the Leiden Institute for Brain & Cognition (LIBC), where she worked as a postdoctoral fellow, from April 2013 until July 2016, and as an Assistant Professor, from February 2017 until September 2020. During her post-doc, she used food supplementation (tyrosine, tryptophan, probiotics) and non-invasive brain stimulation techniques (tDCS, tVNS) to investigate the role of specific neurotransmitters (such as dopamine, GABA, noradrenaline and serotonin) and brain areas (such as prefrontal cortex areas and temporoparietal junction) in modulating cognitive and social functioning. She later carried out research to identify people’s metacontrol policies (biases towards stability or flexibility) and the factors and the conditions that promote the adoption of either policy. In October 2020, she moved to the University of Padova.

 

Her research interests are very broad. In very general terms, her research is aimed at uncovering reciprocal interactions between bottom-up (and/or self-related) and top-down cognitive control processes. She investigates the role of several factors (e.g., environmental/contextual factors, task-specific features, reward, individual differences, and affect) in modulating cognitive and social functioning and decision-making processes.

 

Her current research aims at integrating behavioral, psychophysiological (e.g., heart rate variability, pupil dilation, eye blink rate), computational and virtual reality methods to modulate cognitive control efficiency and emotional processing both in healthy subjects and in individuals with psychiatric disorders.

 

She has several national and international scientific collaborations, has authored more than 50 peer-reviewed articles in international scientific journals (Scopus h-index 19), 4 book chapters, organized various symposia, workshops and an international conference, and has been invited as a speaker at several symposia, research institutes and public events. She regularly serves as ad-hoc reviewer for several important international journals within the domains of experimental psychology and cognitive neuroscience and has served as an associate editor for two peer-reviewed international journals.

 

For a list of peer-reviewed international publications, see:

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=T8fO5F4AAAAJ&hl=en

Samir Simon Suweis

Samir Suweis is Associate Professor at the Physics and Astronomy department, University of Padua.

 

He graduated in Physics in 2008 at the University of Padova, and later earned a doctorate in Environmental Engineering at the Ecole École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in 2011. After a visiting period as a researcher at the University of Princeton (NJ, USA ), since 2012 he works in the Laboratory of Interdisciplinary Physics , where in 2016 he earned the position of Assistant Professor (RTDb). At present, he is Associate Professor.

 

His research work is at the interface between hydrology, ecology, and biology in the context of a theoretical framework provided by the physics of complex systems. His approach to these topics includes data mining, data analysis, statistical analysis, computational and analytic modeling.

 

He is author of numerous scientific publications in internationally renowned journals such as Nature, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and Nature Communications.

 

From 2013 he teaches at the Master in Communication Sciences at the University of Padova.

 

For more info: @SamirSuweis or visit http://loop.frontiersin.org/people/294830/overview

Silvia Benavides Varela

Silvia Benavides Varela is Associate Professor at the Department of Developmental and Social Psychology and Department of Neuroscience at Padua University.

 

She is trained as a biotechnology engineer, obtained a PhD in Neuroscience under the mentorship of Jacques Mehler from SISSA, Trieste, Italy. She then worked as a post doctoral researcher at the IRCSS San Camillo Hospital in Venice, and the Laboratoire Psychologie de la Perception (CNRS & Université Paris Descartes), in Paris, France.

 

The most important part of her research focused on developing new methods for unveiling the initial state of memory capacities in humans, the environmental factors that modulate learning, and the properties of the brain systems that support language and mathematic achievements across the life-span. She uses a range of neuroimaging techniques including electroencephalography, and functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) in combination with behavioral metrics and analyses, both in healthy and in clinical populations.

Simone Cutini

Simone Cutini is Associate Professor, University of Padova, Department of Developmental Psychology.

 

Current Position

Head of functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Laboratory, Department of Developmental Psychology.

 

Major research interests

Use of functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy

Behavioral and neuroimaging investigation of:

  • cognitive control
  • visual short-term memory
  • numerical cognition

Simone Messerotti Benvenuti

Simone Messerotti Benvenuti, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology at the Department of General Psychology, University of Padua.

 

He received his Master’s degree in Experimental Psychology and Cognitive-Behavioural Neuroscience (110/110 cum laude) in 2008 at the University of Padua. He earned a Ph.D. in Psychobiology in 2012 (University of Padua). He spent a period abroad in 2011 as a visiting Ph.D. student at the University of Birmingham, UK.

 

His research relies on an integration of subjective, behavioral and electrophysiological (e.g., EEG/ERPs, heart rate variability, startle reflex) approaches to study the association between depression and cardiovascular diseases as well as the psychophysiological correlates of emotional processing in individuals at risk of mood disorders.

 

He published about 40 peer-reviewed articles in international journals, with an h-index of 13. His research activity received the “Young Investigators Grant for Innovative and Excellent Research” (2014) and the “STARS Starting Grant (STARS-StG)” (2019) by the University of Padua as well as several national and international awards.

 

Main research interests

– Psychosomatic medicine. The role of depression, anxiety, cognitive decline, and autonomic dysregulation in cardiovascular risk.

– Psychophysiology of emotion and mood disorders. The neural, electrophysiological and autonomic correlates of emotion dysregulation in individuals at risk of mood disorders.

– Biofeedback and Neurofeedback. Biofeedback-assisted rehabilitation of autonomic dysfunctions associated with mood disorders; EEG-Neurofeedback for depression, emotion regulation, attention deficits and impulsive symptoms.

Stefano Vassanelli

Stefano Vassanelli is Associate professor of Physiology
Lecturer at the Medical, Bioengineering, Pharmacological Sciences and Galilean schools.

 

Biosketch

Stefano Vassanelli graduated cum Laude in Medicine at the University of Padova and his doctoral thesis was awarded with the “Casati” price from the “Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei”. After completing a PhD in molecular biology and pathology he undertook postdoctoral research first at the Oregon Graduate Institute of Science and Technology, Dpt. of Biochemistry, (Portland. Oregon, USA), and then at the Max-Planck Institute for Biochemistry, Dpt. Membrane and Neurophysics (Martinsried, Germany) working on brain-chip interfaces for high-resolution recording of neuronal networks. Since 2001 he is leading the Neurochip laboratory at the University of Padova with main focus on development of high-density neural interfaces and their use for investigation of information processing mechanisms in brain microcircuits.

 

Contact

Deparment of Biomedical Sciences
University of Padova
via Marzolo 3, 35131 Padova, Italy
Tel.: +39 049 8275337
Fax.: +39 049 8275301
Email: stefano.vassanelli@unipd.it
Web site: www.vassanellilab.eu

Valentina Franceschi

Valentina Franceschi is Associate Professor at the Department of Mathematics of the University of Padua. 

 

I graduated in Mathematics at the University of Bologna in 2012. Within my degree I was selected as international student for an exchange program at Temple University, Philadelphia in 2011. I obtained my PhD in Mathematics in 2016 at the University of Padova.  Between 2016 and 2020 I developed my research through post-doctoral experiences mainly in France, first as research collaborator of the Inria Paris team CAGE, then as Lecteur Hadamard at Université Paris-Sud in 2018 and finally as Marie Sk?odowoska Curie Fellow at Sorbonne Université within the individual project MesuR.

With a formation in pure mathematics, part of my research is now devoted to cortical inspired models for imaging and vision. I am a member of the group “Matematica delle immagini, della visione e delle loro applicazioni” within Unione Matematica Italiana and I participate to the international project RUBIN-VASE, funded by the French national research agency (ANR) on cortical inspired models for vision. I have been invited editor for a special issue on Color representation and cortical-inspired image processing on the of Journal of Mathematical Neuroscience, and I collaborated in the organization of conferences on mathematical imaging and vision.

 

Main Research Interests: 
Mean field cortical inspired models for vision with applications to visual illusions. 
Geometric Analysis with a focus on sub-Riemannian geometry.

 

Publications: 
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=upg90zYAAAAJ&hl=it&oi=sra

Wolfgang Erb

Wolfgang Erb is an applied mathematician and Associate Professor in numerical analysis at the Department of Mathematics “Tullio Levi-Civita”, University of Padua (Padua, Italy).

 

He received his Ph.D in Mathematics at the Technical University of Munich (Munich, Germany) in 2010. He has been a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Lübeck (Lübeck, Germany), at the University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt (Eichstätt, Germany) and an assistant professor in mathematics at the University of Hawaii at Manoa (Honolulu, US).

 

His research interests include multivariate approximation linked to Lissajous curves, uncertainty principles on manifolds and graphs, kernel methods for signal processing and learning on networks, fast and efficient reconstruction algorithms for inverse problems, as well as applications in biomedical imaging, in particular Magnetic Particle Imaging.

 

He is teaching the course “Mathematical Models and Numerical Methods for Big Data” for the Data Science master’s program at the University of Padua.

 

Webpage: https://www.lissajous.it

Github: https://github.com/WolfgangErb

Researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/pro?le/Wolfgang-Erb-2

Filippo Pisano

Filippo Pisano is an Associate Professor at the Dept. of Physics and Astronomy of the University of Padua.

 

His research focuses on the development of next-generation tools and methods for optical neural interfaces, harnessing light-brain interactions for multimodal, bidirectional and minimally invasive communication with the brain.

 

He obtained his Master’s Degree in Physics at the University of Turin (2012) and his PhD in Physics at Institute of Photonics at the university of Strathclyde in Glasgow, UK (2017), where he worked on largescale opto-electronic interfaces with neural circuits in the mouse retina. He was a visiting scholar at the University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, US (2015).

 

He was a Post-Doc (2017-2021) and a Researcher (2021-2023) at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia-Center for Biomolecular Nanotechnologies, where he worked on photonic neural interfaces based on tapered optical fiber probes, partecipating in large european initiatives such as the DEEPER project (https://deeperproject.eu/).

 

Filippo is a recipient of the ERC Starting Grant 2024 for the project NEUROLIDAR: measuring neural dynamics with label-free optical multi-domain recordings.

Mauro Agostino Zordan

Mauro Agostino Zordan is Associate Professor in Genetics in the School of Science, Department of Biology, University of Padova.

 

Present position

Associate Professor in Genetics in the School of Science, Department of Biology, University of Padova, Italy; Teaching activity: Genetics, Population Genetics and, Molecular Phylogenetics; Responsible for the ERASMUS International Student Exhange program for the Department of Biology, and within this framework I am actively involved in maintaining a Double Diploma program between our University and the University of Paris VII (France), for the Master’s degree in Molecular Biology and the Master’s degree in Genetics (Magistére en Génétique), respectively.

 

Major research interests

  • I have been involved in research aimed at understanding the adaptive meaning of the molecular machinery implicated in the generation and maintenance of biological circadian rhythms in Drosophila melanogaster as well as other insects. In this context I developed most of my experience in conducting behavioural analyses with the objective of establishing the presence of locomotor defects as well as alterations in integrative neuronal functions such as those involved in the response to visual and/or olfactory stimuli.
  • I have participated in research in which Drosophila melanogaster was used as a model for the study of genes involved in human hereditary neuromuscular and/or mitochondrial diseases.
  • I have been involved in a collaborative research project in which the Drosophila larval neuromuscular junction was used as a model chemical synapse (glutamatergic) in which to study the detailed interplay between proteins and membrane lipids (among which the sphingolipids) in the process of neuronal vesicle recycling.
  • Currently, my main interest rests in the use of Drosophila as a model of neuropsychiatric disease. The complex constellation of behavioural phenotypes involved in neuropsychiatric disorders and the largely familiar pattern of inheritance, which is of a complex genetic nature, are the main reasons why so little is known of the pathogenesis of these diseases. Flies allow experimental approaches which are still difficult to address in other vertebrate model organisms, with particular reference to the sophisticated genetics and a very powerful toolbox of transgenic methods for neuronal circuit analysis. In addition, Drosophila has a relatively complex nervous system which shares many fundamental cellular and neurobiological processes with humans.
  • Altogether the common denominator of my ongoing research activity entails the use of Drosophila melanogaster as a model to study the genetics of behavioural, neuromuscular and synaptic defects which have some relation to known human hereditary diseases.

Michela Sarlo

Michela Sarlo is an Associate Professor at the University of Urbino.

 

She received a MSc in Psychology (1996) and a PhD in Cognitive Sciences (2002) from the University of Padova.

 

Her primary areas of research and teaching include affective neuroscience and psychophysiology of emotion. Specifically, her current research interests are focused on:

  • the role of emotion in complex decision-making processes: neural and peripheral correlates of cognitive-emotional interaction;
  • the processing of threat stimuli in healthy individuals and in specific phobics: the attentional bias and its cortical, autonomic, and behavioral correlates;
  • the role of REM/NREM sleep on wake emotional processing and cognitive performance: the relationship between EEG activity, autonomic changes and behavior.

Morten Gram Pedersen

Morten Gram Pedersen is Associate Professor in Bioengineering at the Department of Information Engineering, University of Padova.

 

He leads the unit for Modeling of Cell Biology. He holds a PhD in Mathematical Biology from the Technical University of Denmark, and has obtained independent funding for several postdoc positions, including a EU Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowships with Lund University Diabetes Centre, Malmö, Sweden.

 

He is the author of more than 50 papers on peer-reviewed journals (or which 8 as single author, 17 as first author; 30 as corresponding author). Besides collaborations with researchers from several departments of the University of Padova (Depts. Biomedical Sciences, Physics, Medicine, Mathematics), among others, he collaborates with experimental and theoretical researchers at Oxford University, UK; Uppsala University, Sweden; University of Exeter, UK; National Institutes of Health, MD, USA; Florida State University, FL, USA.

 

His main interests are mathematical modeling and theoretical analysis of:

  • local, intracellular calcium dynamics
  • local control of calcium-dependent potassium channels
  • protein and calcium dynamics evoking exocytosis of secretory vesicles
  • electrical activity in neuro-endocrine cells
  • clusters of electrically coupled cells

Nicola Cellini

Nicola Cellini is Associate Professor at the Department of General Psychology of the University of Padova.

 

He authored about 50 papers in international journals on sleep psychophysiology. His main research interests are the beneficial role of sleep in cognitive functions in healthy and clinical populations and the validation of wearable devices for physiological assessment in ecological conditions. He recently started to work on the development and use of non-invasive techniques to stimulate the sleeping brain to improve memory consolidation and sleep quality in humans.

He has a network of national and international collaborators including researchers from Stanford Research International and University of California Irvine.

He attracted more than 200k  of research grants by successfully participating in competitive calls and grants from industry. He is an ad-hoc reviewer for more than 30 important international journals within the domains of psychophysiology and experimental psychology and served as invited speaker to several international scientific conferences.
He has supervised numerous trainees and master students and a post-doc.

 

He currently teaches Neurophysiology and he received from M.I.U.R (Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research) the National Scientific Habilitation as Associate Professor in General Psychology, Psychobiology and Psychometrics (11/E1).

 

For a list of peer-reviewed international publications, see:
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=18hEiyoAAAAJ&hl=en

Patrizia Trevisi

Patrizia Trevisi is Associate Professor of Audiology at Padua University (Neurosciences Dept, Med 32).

 

She is also President of the School of Speech Therapy; representative of Pediatric Audiology at Padua Hospital; coordinator of the Universal Hearing Screening in Veneto Region. Member of the CRANIO group of the European Reference Networks fo Rare Diseases and rare ENT conditions.

 

Her research fields of interest concerne hearing impairment in children, cochlear implants, hearing impairment associated to additional disabilities and rare diseases, clinical application of Cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEPs).

 

She is author of about 45 papers on peer reviewed international journals and book chapters and 2 monographs. She also presented lectures to 38 national and international scientific congresses and courses as invited speaker.

 

She is teacher for classes at School of Medicine, at University Diploma of Logopaedia, of Audioprosthesis and for the Resident Schools for Audiology and Phoniatrics (MED 32). Her most important clinical activities concerne Paediatric Audiology and rare disease and rare ENT anomalies. She is a member of the cochlear implant equipe of the ENT Dept.

Mario Bonato

Mario Bonato is Associate Professor at the Department of General Psychology in Padova.

 

He is a neuropsychologist holding a Master Degree in Experimental Psychology, PhD in Cognitive Science). He has specific clinical expertise in post-stroke cognitive assessment. Among young researchers, dr Bonato is considered a leading expert in the assessment of visuo-spatial disorders. He devised a very sensitive computer-based dual-task method for the diagnosis of hemispatial neglect following unilateral brain damage. This approach mimics everyday demands and might become the gold standard for the diagnosis of hemispatial neglect in the chronic phase (Bonato, 2015).

 

He published mostly as leading author (first and corresponding), several scientific articles, in the most widely read and better-ranked peer-reviewed international journals for neuropsychology and experimental psychology.

 

He attracted more than 300k of research grants by successfully participating in competitive calls at national (Belgium and Italy) and European level. His international profile is very strong and includes 4+ years in Ghent (Belgium). He regularly acts as reviewer for all the best international journals within the domains of experimental psychology, neuropsychology and cognitive neuroscience (about 35 journals).

 

Research interests: Visuo-spatial attention, spatial cognition and spatial awareness, particularly in brain-damaged patients (e.g. hemispatial neglect following stroke). Clinical neuropsychology: computer-based diagnosis and rehabilitation. Numerical cognition: number/time-space interactions.

 

Publications: Google Scholar, ResearchGate

Giorgia Cona

Giorgia Cona, PhD, is Associate Professor at the University of Padova, Department of General Psychology.

 

She received a Master’s degree in Experimental Psychology and Cognitive Behavioural Neuroscience (110/110 cum laude) in 2008 at the University of Padova. She earned a PhD. in Psychobiology in 2012. She spent a period abroad in 2011 working at the University of Toronto, in the Morris Moscovitch’s Lab.

From 2012 to 2016, she had post-doc positions at the Department of Neuroscience and the Department of General Psychology (University of Padova). In 2017, she become lecturer (RTDa) at the Department of General Psychology.

In 2012, she received the Young Researcher Award from the AIP (Associazione Italiana di Psicologia). In 2019, she won a grant from the University of Padua, the STARS Starting Grant, with a project titled: “Trade-offs in human Behaviour and Brain: a (r)Evolutionary approach” and a grant from the Italian Ministry of Health (Bando Ricerca Finalizzata) with a project focused on the Effectiveness of attention/executive functions training on prospective memory abilities of Parkinson’s disease with a combined immersive Virtual Reality and Telemedicine approach.

 

She teaches Neuropsychology of Aging, Human Electrophysiology and Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation techniques at University of Padua.

 

She has authored more than 30 peer-reviewed articles in international scientific journals, 4 book chapters, organized various symposia and international workshops, and has been invited as a speaker in several national and international conferences and research institutes.

 

She is expert in EEG and TMS techniques; her research interests involve:

  • Neural mechanisms of cognitive processes (i.e., prospective memory, spatial processing, temporal processing; reward-related processes, cognitive control).
  • Commonalities and differences in brain and behavior across individuals
  • Cognitive neuroscience and sport 

 

Google Scholar profile: https://scholar.google.it/citations?user=cT-WHyIAAAAJ&hl=en

Research gate profile: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Giorgia_Cona

 

Giovanni Mento

Giovanni Mento is Associate Professor in Developmental Neuropsychology and  EEG recording and Analysis at the Department of General Psychology of the University of Padua.

 

He received his master degree in Psychology (2005) and his PhD in Psychobiology (2009) at the University of Padua.  During his PhD, He visited the Cognitive Neuroscience Lab at the INSERM-CEA “Cognitive Neuroimaging unit” CEA/SAC/DSV/DRM/NeuroSpin, Saclay (Paris). He was a post-doctoral fellow at the Department of General Psychology of the University of Padua (2009-2016).

 

His research interests are in the field of Cognitive Neurosciences, Developmental Cognitive Neurosciences and Developmental Neuropsychology. His main research topic is the investigation of the brain predictive and anticipatory activity in a developmental neuroconstructivist perspective, with a special interest about how top-down and bottom-up temporal expectancy interplay to shape multiple cognitive domains, including attention, motor preparation, working memory and inhibitory control.

 

His scientific interests span over both typical and atypical developmental population, including Down syndrome, Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Autism Spectrum Disorder, Learning Disabilities, Neurological Syndromes (i.e., epilepsy).

 

His methodological expertise focuses on the use of both low and high-spatial resolution electroencephalography (Geodesic system) to uncover the spatiotemporal brain dynamics underlying the interaction between predictive mechanisms and stimulus processing. He specifically works on both temporal and oscillatory EEG domains to understand the relationship between resting state/event-related functional connectivity at the source-level and behavioural performance in a developmental perspective.

 

He is the scientific responsible of the research agreement between the Department of General Psychology of the University of Padova and the Scientific institute for rehabilitation medicine association “Eugenio Medea/La Nostra Famiglia”, Conegliano Veneto, Treviso, Italy. Research Project “Analisi dei segnali EEG ad alta densita? e del profilo neuropsicologico per la selezione dei pazienti con epilessia invalidante e farmacoresistente per la chirurgia dell’epilessia”.

 

He has active scientific collaborations with the Department of Experimental Psychology (University of Oxford) and with the King’s College (London).

 

He is member of:

  • Scientific Committee of the Interdepartmental (DPG-DPSS) High-density EEG lab, University of Padova;
  • PhD Course in Psychological Science, University of Padova;
  • Ethical Committee of the of the School of Psychology, University of Padova, Italy.

 

He has co-supervised 3 PhD students, 2 post-doctoral fellow and more than 20 trainees and master students.

 

He has authored more than 33 peer-reviewed articles in international scientific journals, 1 book chapter and has been invited as a speaker in several national and international research institutes.

 

He has served as an ad hoc reviewer for numerous international journals including Plos Biology, Brain, Neurosci Biobehav R, Cereb Cortex, Neuroimage, J Cogn Neurosci, Cortex, Neuropsychologia, Developmental Science, etc.

 

In 2017 he was granted by the University of Padua with the STARS CoG (Supporting Talent in ReSearch@University of Padova) grant, edition 2017, Consolidator Section.

Jeff Kiesner

Jeff Kiesner is an Associate Professor in the Department of Developmental and Social Psychology at the University of Padova.

 

He has a broad background in both research and teaching, including courses taught in statistics, developmental psychology, social psychology, clinical psychology, and neuroscience; and research publications across areas of developmental psychology, social psychology, clinical psychology and psychoneuroendocrinology.

 

He has conducted pioneering research on individual differences in symptom experience associated with the menstrual cycle, with the goal of better understanding what characterizes Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD). This work has focused on demonstrating the importance of studying each woman’s individual profile and trajectory of physical and psychological changes across the menstrual cycle. Related to this research, he has published a cross-disciplinary theoretical paper connecting the development of affective disorders with the neuroendocrine, behavioral and social changes associated with pubertal development and the onset of the menstrual cycle among adolescent girls. Whereas Kiesner’s past research in this area has focused on high-frequency longitudinal assessment of symptoms, future research will include neuroimaging studies and neuroendocrine studies to understand the neurological links between the multitude of physical and psychological symptoms associated with PMDD.

 

 

A recent extension of this research includes a focus on sexual function and dysfunction among women, including problems associated with sexual desire, arousal, and orgasm. This research focusses on affective and cognitive mechanisms associated with inhibition of sexual desire, arousal, and orgasm, and will include studies aimed at understanding brain activations and effective connectivity. In addition to these well recognized (though poorly understood) issues concerning female sexual functioning, a new focus of Kiesner’s research will be on Persistent Genital Arousal Disorder/Genito-Pelvic Dysesthesia (PGAD/GPD). These less recognized and less studied disorders have important psychological implications and neuropathophysiological origins that will likely offer insights to prevention and treatment and will be an important part of Kiesner’s future work.

Luca Tonin

Luca Tonin is currently Associate Professor at the Department of Information Engineering of the University of Padova.

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Luisa Sartori

Luisa Sartori is Associate Professor, University of Padova, Department of General Psychology.

 

Academic Background

Doctor of Philosophy  in Perception and Psychophysics

Visiting Scholar at University of Edinburgh (GB) in 2003, University College of London (UK) in 2007, Melbourne University (Australia) in 2010, McMaster University (Canada) in 2015.

 

Present Position

Associate Professor, University of Padova, Department of General Psychology. Principal Investigator of S.I.R. project (Scientific Independence of young Researchers) granted by Italian Ministry of Instruction, University and Research (amount € 260.000,00). Italian Professorship Qualification in 2014, scientific sector: M-PSI/02 – Psychobiology and Physiological Psychology. Professor of Psycobiology since 2016

 

Main Research Interests

  • Neural basis of motor control, with a strong focus on interpersonal synchronization
  • Attention and social interactions: Neurophysiological and functional neuroimaging studies (TMS, EMG, fMRI and 3-D motion tracking)
  • Neurorehabilitative protocols for patients with localized impairment on cortical motor areas
  • Comparative approach to monkeys’ grasping behaviors in naturalistic settings
  • Robotics applications aimed at increasing artificial agents’ skills in human environment

Manfredo Atzori

Manfredo Atzori is Associate Professor at the Department of Neuroscience of the University of Padova.

 

He received a M.Sc. in Physics and a Ph.D. in Bioengineering in 2006 and 2009 at the University of Padova. He is Associate Professor at the Department of Neuroscience of the University of Padova. He has been research scientist at the Institute of Information Systems of the University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland (HES-SO Valais) since 2011.

His research interests are related to the development of machine learning techniques targeting multimodal data analysis, particularly in the biomedical domain.

 

Since 2019 he is the Scientific Coordinator of the Horizon 2020 project ExaMode, involving seven international partners and targeting weakly-supervised knowledge discovery from multimodal medical data, such as text and images, in the context of digital pathology (htttp://www.examode.eu/).

Since 2011 he collected and has managed Ninapro, a publicly available database aiming at improving the control of robotic hand prostheses with machine learning and data fusion, currently having several thousand users worldwide (http://ninapro.hevs.ch/).

He has been the coordinator of the Hasler Fundation financed ProHand project, targeting the development of 3D printed robotic prosthetic hands controlled via machine learning approaches.

Between 2016 and 2019, Prof. Atzori had a leading role in the MeganePro Project, involving three international partners. The project was aimed at improving robotic prosthesis control with eye-hand coordination and at better understanding the neurocognitive effects of amputations. Multimodal data were released in the context of the project, including electromyography, intertial, gaze tracking, visual, behavioral and clinical data for prosthetics and phantom limb sensation analyses.

Since 2015 he has worked on the development of computer aided diagnostic systems for cancer in byopsies using computer vision techniques such as convolutional neural networks.

In 2015, Prof. Atzori was among the first researchers worldwide in developing convolutional neural networks for surface electromyography data analysis.

Prof. Atzori is author of over 80 peer reviewed scientific publications with over 2’000 citations and he presented his work, also as invited speaker, at several international conferences.

He is member of the editorial board of Scientific Data (Nature Publishing Group).

Finally, Prof. Atzori has strong experience in developing scientific projects in collaboration with academic research groups and companies.

Marco Dal Maschio

Marco Dal Maschio is Associate Professor of Physiology, Department of Biomedical Science, University of Padua.

 

Bio sketch
He obtained the degree in Physics at the University of Padova in 2002. After completing a PhD in Biotechnologies, he undertook postdoctoral research first at the Italian Institute of Technology, Dept. Neuroscience and Brain Technologies, (Genua, Italy), and then at the Max-Planck Institute for Neurobiology, Dept. Genes-Circuits-Behavior (Martinsried, Germany).

 

Research Interests
Is it possible to link neuronal activity to functional architectures supporting behavior? A growing toolbox of experimental and analysis methods allows to start addressing these questions in awake or even freely behaving animal models. We can take advantage of optical and electrical approaches to simultaneously record and modulate the activity in large portions of the brain or in a target circuit down to single cell resolution during a sensory experience or a behavior task. From the analysis of these datasets, we can distill mathematical models of the circuit, testable directly on a living preparation, to reconstruct the role of the different circuit components on the activity and on the behavior recorded. With the development of this kind of investigation framework, my research aims to: 1. gain basic insights on the mechanistic organization of the brain circuits involved in behavior control and sensorimotor transformations; 2. characterize altered network dynamics associated with pathological conditions.

 

Publications
https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=650669295

 

Contacts
Department of Biomedical Sciences
University of Padua
Email: marco.dalmaschio@unipd.it

Marco Formentin

Marco Formentin is Associate Professor at the Department of Mathematics “Tullio Levi-Civita” of the University of Padova.

 

He graduated in Physics in 2004 and earned a doctorate in Mathematics in 2009 at the University of Padova. In 2017 he held the position of Assistant Professor (RTDb) at the Department of Mathematics “Tullio Levi-Civita” of the University of Padova and at present, he is Associate Professor.

 

His primary research topic is the understanding of systems made up of a large number of interacting agents and possible applications in complex systems ranging from ecology to interactive human dynamics.

 

Recent interests are:

1) mechanisms for the emergence of collective periodic behavior;
2) mathematical ecology: in particular mechanisms that enhance biodiversity;
3) modeling and statistics for complex human dynamics.

 

For more info visit https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Marco_Formentin

Marco Solmi

Marco Solmi is Associate Professor at the University of Ottawa, Canada.

 

He graduated in Medicine and Surgery in 2008, completed the residency “cum laude” in 2014, and visited as Research Scholar the Olin Neuropsychiatric Research Center, directed by prof. Godfrey Pearlson, Yale University, writing his residency thesis on evidence of altered brain function during an eating task in patients with obesity. He completed a Ph.D. in neurosciences at University of Padua in 2017, defending as final dissertation a thesis on multimodal (environmental, behavioral, genetic and neuroimaging) approach to study the gene by environment interaction in patients with eating disorders. From 2014 to 2017 he worked at Abano Hospital, Padua, Italy in the nutritional rehabilitation unit, administering a cognitive-behavioral treatment to patients affected by severe or complicated obesity, or eating disorders. From 2015 to 2017 he worked as a psychiatrist in NHS Mental Health Department, Monselice, Padua, Italy, treating patients with major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, severe personality disorders, and eating disorders, in inpatient, outpatient and emergency units. From 2017 he is working with a Researcher position at University of Padua, and as a Psychiatrist at University Hospital of Padua.

He passed STEP 1 and 2 United States Medical License Examination, and has license to practice in Swiss Confederation.

 

As a researcher he is involved in the research project BIO.Ve.D.A. in regional eating disorder center, Padua, aiming at creating a biobank from patients affected by eating disorders, and participated in other research projects involving patients with schizophrenia. He is currently involved in recruitment and clinical, genetic and neuroimaging data collection of patients with eating disorders. Also, he is running several projects in the area of emta-research covering different fields os mental and physical health.

 

From 2015, he has spoken at national and international conferences, won national and international awards, and published more than 100 peer reviewed papers in international journals.

 

At the end of 2017 his H-index was 13 in Scopus, 18 in Google Scholar.

ORCID ID: 0000-0003-4877-7233

Scopus Author ID: 6507233742

Date of Birth 15/04/1983

Email: marco.solmi83@gmail.com

Cristina Scarpazza

Cristina Scarpazza is Associate Professor at the Department of General Psychology of the University of Padova.

 

She received from M.I.U.R (Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research) the National Scientific Habilitation as Associate Professor in “General Psychology, Psychobiology and Psychometrics” (11/E1).

 

She published more than 70 papers in international journals on translational psychology and neuroscience, with particular emphasis of early diagnosis of psychiatric disorders, identification of neuroanatomical signature of psychiatric illness, group to individual inferences, forensic psychiatry (with particular focus on insanity evaluation). Cristina is particularly interested in cognitive biases and their impact in the interpretation of scientific findings. Through her long standing collaboration with the King’s College London, she was actively involved in a EU-founded multicentric study (PSYSCAN) aiming to improve the translational impact of neuroimaging findings from research to clinical practice. Furthermore, she is part of the Machine Learning in Mental Health Lab (https://mlmh-lab.github.io/members/) that is working to create a web based tool that, applying deep learning algorithms, automatically detects neuro-anatomical abnormalities in psychiatric populations and provides clinicians with an automated report of the results. As a clinician, Cristina was also involved in clinical and research activities on multiple sclerosis.

 

For her research, she received the “Italy Made M” Award from the Italian Embassy in London in 2018 and a special mention for medicine from the Italian associations of innovators and inventors women.

 

In 2018, she won a grant from the University of Padua, the STARS Starting Grant, with a project titled: “EMOTIGEN: Are we really studying genuine emotions? The problem of genuineness of emotional expression”.

 

Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Cristina_Scarpazza

Google scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ME6K90gAAAAJ&hl=en

Diego Cecchin

Diego Cecchin is currently Associate Professor of Nuclear Medicine (MED/36), University-Hospital of Padova, School of Medicine.

 

Present position:

  • Associate Professor of Nuclear Medicine (MED/36), University-Hospital of Padova, School of Medicine.
  • Chief of the postgraduate School of nuclear medicine, University of Padova.

 

Major Research interests:

  • PET/MR applications in amyloid semi-quantification and quantification
  • PET/MR applications in brain tumors
  • PET/MR applications in multiple sclerosis
  • PET/MR applications in neurodegenerative diseases
  • PET/MR applications in movement disorders
  • PET/MR applications in sarcoma of the adult (body)

Enrico Collantoni

Enrico Collantoni is Associate Professor at the Department of Neuroscience of the University of Padova.

 

He graduated in Medicine and Surgery in 2010 and completed his residency in Psychiatry in 2016 at the University of Padova.

He completed a Ph.D. in neurosciences at the University of Padua in 2019 with a thesis on a MRI evaluation of the structural brain patterns in anorexia nervosa. During his residency and Ph.D., he spent two internship periods at the neuroimaging Unit of the University of Salerno and at the Neurophysiology & Interventional Neuropsychiatry section of the University Clinic of Psychiatry of the University of Tübingen.

 

He participates in numerous national and international research collaborations and is an active member of the Enhancing Neuroimaging Genetics through Meta-analysis (ENIGMA) Consortium & Eating Disorders working group. His research interest entails the neural mechanisms underlying eating behaviors and the pathophysiology of eating disorders.

 

In his research activity, he employs neuroimaging techniques and cognitive/behavioral assessment methods using mobile applications and virtual reality.

Ettore Ambrosini

Ettore Ambrosini is currently Associate Professor at the Dept. of Neuroscience in Padova.

 

He graduated in Psychology in 2009 at the University “G. d’Annunzio” of Chieti and earned a PhD in Neuroimaging in 2013 at the same University. After a post-doctoral position at the University of Chieti (2013), he was a post-doctoral fellow at the Department of Neuroscience, University of Padova, where (from 2017) he currently holds the position of Associate Professor.

 

His research interests include the understanding of the organization and the neural underpinnings of executive functions, the perception of objects and their semantic representation, and the perception and anticipation of others’ goal-directed actions. To study these topics, he uses different techniques such as psychophysics, eye tracking, brain stimulation (TMS), and neurophysiology (EEG). He is an expert in experimental methodology and data analysis.

 

He has authored about 40 peer-reviewed articles in international scientific journals (h-index 14), and serves as Review Editor for Frontiers in Psychology (Cognition section) and as ad-hoc reviewer for a number of important international journals within the domains of experimental psychology and cognitive neuroscience. He has received several awards for his research work.

 

He has supervised numerous trainees and master students and a PhD student (co-supervision) and has held advanced courses for research methodology and techniques. He currently teaches Neuropsychology.


Publications:

https://scholar.google.it/citations?user=IXzK9J8AAAAJ&hl=en;

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ettore_Ambrosini

Fabio Sambataro

Fabio Sambataro is Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Padova from 2019.

 

Trained as a psychiatrist at the University of Catania, where he received a PhD in Neuroscience in a joint program with the University of Bari (Prof. A. Bertolino). During his post-doctoral training at the NIMH (Prof. D. Weinberger), and the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (Prof. G. Rizzolatti) he has investigated the brain mechanisms underlying cognition, aging and psychiatric disorders. He was the director of the Clinical Imaging Lab of the pRED, NORD DTA, Roche Innovation Center, Basel, in 2014-2015, when he became associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Udine.

 

His research interests entail the brain mechanisms underlying the pathophysiology and the response to treatment of major psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia and mood disorders.

 

To pursue our research interests, we use structural and functional neuroimaging, neuropsychology, and genetics using uni- and multivariate models.

 

Publication list:

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2102-416X
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=5WQpLh4AAAAJ&hl
https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=15053801700

Chiara Spironelli

Chiara Spironelli is Associate Professor at the University of Padua.

 

She received her first-class degree at the University of Padova in 2003 (Summa cum laude), her qualification as State Registered Psychologist in 2005, and her PhD in 2007. From 2007 to 2011, she achieved three Research Grants, and from May 2012 she is Assistant Professor (M-PSI/02) at the Department of General Psychology of University of Padova. At present, she is Associate Professor at the University of Padua.

 

In addition to the main techniques for the psychophysiological research, she is skilled in administration and evaluation of a large number of batteries to assess the cognitive functioning, for the neuropsychological assessment and the evaluation of the main psychiatric syndromes. Within the international framework, she collaborates with the Reichenau Psychiatry Center, (Prof. Dr. B. Rockstroh, Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz), where she spent a research period on the EEG correlates of language during the PhD courses, and with the SANE POWIC Warneford Hospital (Prof. Dr. T.J. Crow, Department of Psychiatry, Oxford, UK), in a project on electrophysiological correlates of hemispheric specialization for language and the main psychiatric syndromes.

 

From 2004 she supervises students in the last phase of experimental diploma preparation and writing (both for first degrees and master degrees), postgraduate students and internship postgraduates for their training and research activities in the Psychophysiology group (Chief: Prof. A. Angrilli). From 2015 she holds the “Psychobiology of Psychotic Disorders” class within the Master Degree in Clinical Psychology, and from 2016 she also holds the “Psychophysiology” class within the Bachelor Degree in Psychological Science (University of Padova).

 

She was ad hoc referee for several neuroscience journals (e.g., Biological Psychology, Cortex, International Journal of Psychophysiology, NeuroImage, Psychological Research, Psychophysiology and Schizophrenia Research). She won the Young Researchers’ Award, year 2006, of the Italian Psychology Association (AIP) – Experimental section – and the AIP Award for the best PhD thesis, year 2007.

 

Main Research Interests

  • Study of the correlation between different levels of auditory hallucinations/delusions and hemispheric dominance for language in paranoid schizophrenia, bipolar and depressive patients using electrophysiological measures (evoked potential and EEG band analyses);
  • Study of the (normal and pathological) modulation of attention and spatial awareness by concurrent task demands by means of electrophysiological correlates;
  • Study of body posture effects on EEG cognitive functioning in healthy participants and neurological patients;
  • A new approach for contrasting cognitive decline in elderly: measuring cortical reorganization after working memory training with behavioral and electrophysiological (evoked potential and EEG band) indices (Progetto di Ateneo CPDA152872);
  • Study of cortical plasticity mechanisms in aphasic patients before and after the functional recovery using electrophysiological measures (evoked potential and EEG band analyses).

 

Christian Agrillo

Christian Agrillo is Associate Professor at the Department of General Psychology of the University of Padova.

 

He received from M.I.U.R (Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research) the National Scientific Habilitation as Full Professor in “General Psychology, Psychobiology and Psychometrics” (11/E1).

He published more than 70 papers in international journals on human and non-human cognition. In particular, he is interested in the study of numerical abilities of animals. Most of these studies has been covered by important media, such as National Geographic, BBC, CNN and RAI. Recently, he started to use visual illusions as a tool to compare visual perception of vertebrates (e.g., chimpanzees, monkeys, dogs, lions, horses, guppies, zebrafish and bees).

Also, his degree at the conservatory of music of Venice gave him the possibility to teach “Psychology of Music” in several conservatories of music, where he also conducts studies on the impact of prolonged musical training in perceptual/cognitive skills.

 

To date, he is the Associate Editor of one of the most important journals in the field of comparative psychology, “Animal Cognition”. His editorial activity also includes Frontiers in Psychology (Associate Editor), Scientific Reports (member of the Editorial Board), Plos One (Editorial Board) and Animal Behavior and Cognition (Editorial Board).
He attracted more than 300k € of research grants by successfully participating in competitive calls, and served as invited speaker to several international scientific conferences.

 

For a list of peer-reviewed international publications, see: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=FZjZpwwAAAAJ&hl=it&oi=ao

Alessandra Del Felice

Alessandra Del Felice is Associate Professor, University of Padova, Department of Neuroscience.

 

She is an academic clinician in the area of Neurorehabilitation. Her basic training has been as a neurologist, with a special interest in neurophysiology and neurorehabilitation, and holds a Ph.D. in Neuroscience. She has attracted funding at UNIPD, with an on-going H2020 project and several international and national grants.

Her current research area allows her to draw on her experience and skills in neurophysiology and extensive collaboration with national and international medical engineering Departments to improve methodology and outcome measures in this important area of rehabilitation. She has a track record in EEG signal analysis EEG-TMS co-registration, and neurostimulation.

Her current research portfolio includes validation of inertial sensors for movement analysis in clinical practice; EEG-EMG co-registration during overground gait in healthy subjects and during exoskeleton gait in stroke survivors; early neurophysiological and neurobiological biomarkers of recovery after stroke; technological tools prevent falls in the elderly; recovery and long term prognostic markers after coma.

 

She has an extensive collaborative research network, with current national and international collaborations.

She has around 80 peer reviewed articles or book chapters to her name. She has been given several awards for her work and these include the Italian Clinical Neurophysiology Society Young Investigator Award, the Italian Neuroepidemiology Association “Giulia Benassi” Prize and the “G. Pampiglione” Prize by the Italian Neurological Society.

 

Twitter: A_DelFelice

Alessandro Bertoli

Alessandro Bertoli is Associate Professor at the Dept. of Biomedical Science.

 

EDUCATION & RESEARCH ACTIVITY

Prof. Alessandro Bertoli got a degree in Physics at the University of Genova (Italy) in 1994 and a PhD in Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of Padova (Italy) in 2000. At the beginning, his scientific activity, was addressed to the electrophysiological characterization of mammalian CNS and mitochondrial ion channels ion channels. From 2000 to 2002 he had a post-doctoral at the Pharmacological Research Institute “Mario Negri” (Milano, Italy). During this period, he had the possibility to lead a research unit involved in the study of the molecular mechanisms of Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. In 2002, he moved back to the Dept. of Biological Chemistry (presently, Dept. of Biomedical Sciences) at the University of Padova, where he currently holds a position as Associate Professor.

 

In recent years, Prof. Bertoli has been involved in different research projects on the prion protein (PrP) and prions, the infectious neurotoxic agents derived from PrP misfolding. Very recently, the scientific interest of Dr. Bertoli moved to the pathogenic mechanisms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, with particular emphasis to the involvement of Ca2+ de-regulation and ER and mitochondrial dysfunctions in disease onset.

 

Prof. Bertoli is co-author of several research articles published on peer-reviewed international journals (http://www.biomed.unipd.it/people/bertoli-alessandro/) and contributed to national and international scientific conferences. He is Review Editor for Frontiers in Neuroscience, and also served as Reviewer for different journals.

Aram Megighian

Aram Megighian is Associate Professor in Physiology (DSB, University of Padua)

 

Academic Career

1988 MD degree (University of Padua)
1992 Residency in Neurology (University of Padua)
1996-1997 Research Scientist Dep of Biology (San Diego State University, USA)
1992-2010 Assistant Professor in Physiology
1997- Adjunct Professor Dep of Biology (San Diego State University, USA)
2010- Associate Professor in Physiology (DBS, University of Padua)

 

Research interest

Nervous system function is dedicated to translate, generate and process informations in a binary code based on neuronal electrical response: action potential.
These binary coded informations are exchanged from one neuron to the other connected by synapses in both simple and complex circuits. Eventually these informations are processed generating behavior, i.e. the “total movements made by the intact animal” (Tinbergen, 1955) or  “the internally coordinated responses (actions or inactions) of whole organisms (individuals or groups) to internal and/or external stimuli, excluding responses more easily understood as developmental changes” (Levitis et al. 2009)

 

The aim of our research is to understand:

  • how neuronal informations are transferred from one neuron to the other by synaptic activity
  • how synaptic activity processes and modifies neuronal informations trasnferred from one neuron to the other
  • how synaptic activity could regulate information processing of complex circuits like those involved the higher or elaborated brain functions regulating behavior.
  • the evolutive maintained nervous circuits regulating adaptative behaviors sharing similar cognitive processes.

 

To reach this aim we utilize as animal model the fruitfly, in which

  • it is possible to genetically modify the main actors of the evolutionarily maintained molecular nanomachine regulating synaptic activity
  • analyse the electrical response of a single synapse or a simple nervous circuit
  • analyse different elaborated behaviors generated by the activity of complex neuronal circuits.

Arianna Palmieri

Arianna Palmieri, Ph.D. (Ancona, 04/05/1979) is Associate Professor at the University of Padova, Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Education and Applied Psychology.

 

She teaches Psychodynamic Psychiatry from 2014. She obtained the National Academic Qualification as Associate Professor in Psychodynamic Psychology scientific field.

 

She earned a Ph.D. in Neurosciences from the Medical School of the University of Padova in 2008. She graduated in Psychology at University of Padova in 2003, postgraduated at four-year school in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy and earned qualification to work as Psychotherapist from 2010. She is member of the College Board of the Ph.D. School in Psychological Sciences of University of Padova from 2015, member of Executive Board of Padua Neuroscience Center from 2016, Visiting Scholar at Stanford University (CA, U.S.A.) in 2016.

 

She is author of about 50 scientific contributions among articles published on peer-reviewed international journals and academic book chapters and monographs. [Scopus citations: 497; Scopus h-index: 13]. She also presented to several national and international scientific congresses also as principal speaker.

 

Her main research activity is directed toward the integration between the neuroscientific approach and psychodynamic constructs, and on research on psychotherapy’s process and outcome. Her current research interest is on interpersonal shared physiology in the clinical setting.

Camillo Porcaro

Camillo Porcaro is an Associate Professor in Bioengineering at the Department of Neuroscience of the University of Padova.

 

He is a computational neuroscientist with a core interest in developing analytical methods for extracting information from non-invasive measures of brain activity. His research focuses on identifying functional brain sources from data obtained through neuroimaging techniques. In 2008 he defended with honours his doctoral thesis in “Functional Neuroimaging: from Cells to Systems” at the Institute of Advanced Biomedical Technologies (ITAB), University of Chieti, Italy. The same year, he became a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Birmingham – School of Psychology, using simultaneous EEG/fMRI. In 2011, he joined the Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University, after gaining a highly competitive independent research position.

From October 2011 to September 2021, he was an Independent Researcher at the Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies (ISTC) – National Research Council (CNR), Rome, Italy. Furthermore, in 2014 and 2015, he was invited as Visiting Professor at the Neural Control of Movement Lab, Department of Health Sciences and Technology ETH, Zurich, Switzerland and from 2015 to 2022 as an Adjunct Professor at the Department of Information Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Marche, Ancona (Professor of Bio-imaging and Brain Research at the Department of Biomedical Engineering). In addition, from 2016 to 2020, he was Visiting Professor at the Department of Human Kinesiology, Movement Control & Neuroplasticity Research Group, KU Leuven, Belgium and from 2018 to 2021, he was Head of the Research hdEEG Lab at S. Anna Institute and Research in Advanced Neurorehabilitation (RAN), Crotone, Italy. Finally, since October 2021, he has been appointed Associate Professor at Padua University – Department of Neuroscience. His most successful contributions have involved source extraction with advanced methods, including Independent Component Analysis (ICA) and a modification of this algorithm called Functional Source Separation (FSS). Furthermore, he developed various temporal and spectral constraints (the basis for FSS algorithms) for extracting and validating primary cortical areas. Recently, he has started applying
FSS to EEG data recorded in the MRI environment to improve the quality of EEG data at the individual study level. His recent research focuses on developing functional constraints for the identification of complex cortical networks and the identification of resting-state functional networks (RSN) from EEG and fMRI recordings with the ultimate goal of characterising the neuronal dynamics of these networks using complex nonlinear methods such as Fractal Dimension.

 

He currently holds the following roles:

  • Associate Professor at the Department of Neuroscience (ING-INF/06).
  • Academic Board Member of the PhD in Neuroscience (PNC).
  • IEEE Senior Member.
  • External expert assisting the European Research Executive Agency.
  • Honorary Senior Research Fellow – School of Psychology, Birmingham University Imaging Center (BUIC), Birmingham, UK.
  • Ordinary Member of the National Group of Biomedical Engineering.

 

National scientific qualifications (ASN):

  • Associate Professor in Bioengineering (09/G2 – ING-INF/06).
  • Associate Professor in Physiology (BIO/09 – 05/D1)