How does the brain work as an integrated network? And how does this network activity affect behaviour and mental health? My interest in these questions began during my work at GlaxoSmithKline, a research-based pharmaceutical company, where I pioneered the use of functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging to map how pharmacological agents affect functional brain connectivity in rodents and humans.
My laboratory at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia uses advanced tools like resting state fMRI, functional ultrasound imaging (fUSI), optogenetics, chemogenetics, electrophyiology and computational modelling to map and manipulate brain network activity in the mouse. Crucially, the use of non-invasive functional imaging methods like fMRI enable us to translate findings between mice and humans. Supported by two back-to-back European Research Council (ERC) grants (DISCONN, BRAINAMICS), our work seeks to understand the fundamental principles governing brain network activity, and its disruption in developmental disorders like autism.
With my own multidisciplinary background (holding an MSc in Biotechnology and a PhD in Biomedical Imaging), I lead a team composed of researchers from all over the world, similarly multidisciplinary in their expertise. If you are interested in joining our lab, please drop me an email - we do have openings at all levels (technician, data analyst, PhD student, postodcs).
Website of my lab: https://www.iit.it/it/web/functional-neuroimaging