alberto mazzoni, phd · 12. ince raa* , mazzoni a *, bartels a, logothetis nk, panzeri s - a novel...
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Curriculum Vitae
Alberto Mazzoni, PhD
Citizenship: Italian
Date of birth: August 27, 1978 – Firenze, Italy
Mailing address: Via Orazio Vecchi 83, 50127, Firenze, Italy
Tel. +39-3494449292 (mobile)
E-mail: [email protected] - [email protected]
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EDUCATION
12-01-2007 Dottorato in Neuroscienze (PhD in Neuroscience)
Neurobiology Department, Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi
Avanzati (SISSA), Trieste, Italy
Title of thesis: “From neuronal networks to behaviour: spontaneous
activity and onset of movement in the medicinal leech”
During PhD, spent several months as visiting student in the Division of
Biological Sciences, University of California, San Diego (UCSD)
23-09-2002 Laurea in Fisica - vecchio ordinamento (Master Degree in Physics)
Physics Department, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
Title of dissertation: “Synchronization dynamics of nonlinear oscillators”
Graduating marks: 110/110 cum laude
Background:
Physics, Mathematics, Networks and Complex systems, Biophysics, Behaviour recording and
analysis, Neurophysiology, Computational Neuroscience, Neural networks, Neural modeling,
Information Theory, Decoding, Signal Processing, Brain Machine Interfaces, Neuromorphic
signals, Bioengineering, Biomimetic Devices, Bioelectronics, Biorobotics
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POSITIONS HELD
Current position
04/2017 – Assistant Professor
The BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa, Italy
Previous positions
01/2014 – 03/2017 Assegnista di ricerca
The BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa, Italy
10/2011-12/2013 Post Doctoral Fellow
Center for Neuroscience and Cognitive Science, Italian Institute of
Technology, Rovereto, Italy
10/2009-09/2011 Post Doctoral Fellow
Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Science Department, Italian Institute
of Technology, Genova, Italy
05/2007-09/2009 Junior Researcher
Computational Neuroscience Group, Institute for Scientific
Interchange (ISI), Torino, Italy (in collaboration with Laboratory of
Neurophysics and Physiology, Universitè Paris V, Paris, France)
11/2006-04/2007 Post Doctoral Fellow
Neurobiology Department, Scuola Internazionale Superiore di
Studi Avanzati (SISSA), Trieste, Italy
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PUBLICATIONS
H-index:12 Citations > 400 (Source: Scopus)
H-index:14 Citations > 700 (Source: Google Scholar)
Papers on peer-reviewed journals
1. Oddo CM, Mazzoni A, Spanne A, Enander JMD, …, Micera S, Jorntell H – Artificial
spatiotemporal touch inputs reveal complementary decoding in neocortical neurons
Scientific Reports 8, 45898
2. Stellino F, Mazzoni A, Storace M – Phase analysis methods for burst onset prediction
Physical Review E 95 (2), 022412
3. Barardi A, Garcia-Ojalvo J, Mazzoni A - Transition between Functional Regimes in an
Integrate-And-Fire Network Model of the Thalamus PLoS ONE 11(9): e0161934 (2016)
4. Oddo CM, Raspospovic S, Artoni F, Mazzoni A, Spigler G, Petrini F, Giambattistelli F,
Vecchio F, Miraglia F, Zollo L, Di Pino G, Camboni D, Carrozza MC, Guglielmelli E,
Rossini PM, Faraguna U, Micera S - Intraneural discrimination of textural features by
artificial fingertip in intact and amputee humans eLife 5, e09148 (2016)
5. Mazzoni A, Lindén H, Cuntz H, Lansner A, Panzeri S, Einevoll GT - Computing the Local
Field Potential (LFP) from Integrate-and-Fire network models, PLoS Comp Biol 11
e1004584 (2015)
6. Rongala UB, Mazzoni A, Oddo CM - Neuromorphic Artificial Touch for Categorization of
Naturalistic Textures IEEE TNNLS (2015)
7. Vannini E, Restani L, Pietrasanta M, Panarese A, Mazzoni A, Rossetto O, Middei S, Micera
M, Caleo M - Altered sensory processing and dendritic remodelling in hyperexcitable visual
cortical networks Brain Structure and Function 1-18 (2015)
8. Zuo Y, Safaai H, Notaro G, Mazzoni A, Panzeri S, Diamond ME - Complementary
contributions of spike timing and spike rate to perceptual decisions in rat S1 and S2 Cortex
Current Biology 3:357-363 (2015)
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9. Barbieri F, Mazzoni A, Panzeri S, Brunel N - Stimulus dependence of local field potential
spectra: experiment vs theory – J Neurosci 34 (44), 14589-14605 (2014)
10. F Baroni, Mazzoni A - Heterogeneity of heterogeneities in neuronal networks – Front.
Comp. Neurosci 8:161 (2014)
11. Cavallari S, Panzeri S, Mazzoni A - Comparison of the dynamics of neural interactions
between current-based and conductance-based integrate-and-fire recurrent networks Front.
Neural Circuits 8:12 (2014)
12. Ince RAA* , Mazzoni A*, Bartels A, Logothetis NK, Panzeri S - A novel test to determine
the significance of neural selectivity to single and multiple potentially correlated stimulus
features J Neurosci Meth 210:49-65 (2012)
13. Magri C, Mazzoni A , Logothetis NK, Panzeri S - Optimal Band Separation of Extracellular
Field Potentials J Neurosci Meth 210:66-78 (2012)
14. Mazzoni A , Brunel N, Cavallari S, Logothetis NK, Panzeri S - Cortical dynamics during
naturalistic sensory stimulations: experiments and models J Physiology-Paris 105:2-15
(2011)
15. Baranauskas G, Maggiolini E, Castagnola E, Ansaldo A, Mazzoni A, Angotzi GN, Vato A,
Ricci S, Panzeri S, Fadiga L - Carbon nanotube composite coating of neural microelectrodes
preferentially improves the multiunit signal-to-noise ratio J Neural Eng 8:066013 (2011)
16. Ince RAA, Mazzoni A, Petersen R, Panzeri S – Open source tools for the information
theoretic analysis of neural data Front. Neurosci. 62-70 (2010)
17. Mazzoni A, Whittingstall K, Brunel N, Logothetis NK, Panzeri S – Understanding the
relationships between spike rate and delta/gamma frequency bands of LFPs and EEGs using
a local cortical network model – Neuroimage 52 :956-972 (2010)
18. Mazzoni A, Panzeri S, Logothetis NK, Brunel N - Encoding of Naturalistic Stimuli by Local
Field Potential Spectra in Networks of Excitatory and Inhibitory Neurons PLoS Comp. Biol.
4 (12): (2008)
19. Gargiulo F, Mazzoni A - Can Extremism Guarantee Pluralism? J Artif Soc Soc Simulat
11(4):9 (2008)
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20. Garcia-Perez E*, Mazzoni A*, Torre V - Spontaneous electrical activity and behaviour in the
leech Hirudo medicinalis. Front. Integr. Neurosci. 1:8. doi:10.3389 (2007)
21. Mazzoni A, Broccard F, Garcia-Perez E, Bonifazi P, Ruaro ME, Torre V - On the Dynamics
of the Spontaneous Activity in Neuronal Networks, PLoS ONE 2(5): e439. (2007)
22. Garcia-Perez E*, Mazzoni A*, Torre V - Statistics of decision making in the leech, J.
Neurosci., 25: 2597-2608. (2005)
23. Mazzoni A*, Garcia-Perez E*, Torre V - Quantitative characterization and classification of
the leech behaviour, J. Neurophysiol. 93: 580-593. (2005)
*=equal contribution
Book chapters
1. Ravinder D, Oddo C, Mazzoni A, Jorntell H -Biomimetic Tactile Sensors in Biomimetic
Technologies, Woodhead Publishing (Elsevier) (2015)
2. Mazzoni A, N.K. Logothetis, S. Panzeri - The information content of Local Field Potentials:
experiments and models. In (Quian Quiroga and Panzeri, Eds), Principles of Neural Coding,
CRC press, Boca Raton, FL. (2013)
Peer-reviewed conference abstracts
1. A Mazzoni, UB Rongala, CM Oddo, Decoding of naturalistic textures from spike patterns of
neuromorphic artificial mechanoreceptors BMC Neuroscience 16 :186 (2015)
2. A Barardi, A Mazzoni, FM Petrini, J Garcia-Ojalvo Modeling thalamic dynamics with a
network of integrate and fire neurons BMC Neuroscience 16 :76 (2015)
3. A Mazzoni, FM Petrini, J Rigosa, M Capogrosso, S Raspopovic, S Micera How central
inputs and force and velocity feedbacks determine motoneurons activity during voluntary
hand movements BMC Neuroscience 16 :76 (2015)
4. Silvestro Micera, Jacopo Carpaneto, Stanisa Raspopovic, Giuseppe Granata, Alberto
Mazzoni, Calogero M Oddo, Christian Cipriani, Thomas Stieglitz, Matthias Mueller, Xavier
Navarro, Jaume del Valle, Hans Scherberger, Luigi Raffo, Massimo Barbaro, Danilo Pani,
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Paolo M Rossini – Toward the development of a neuro-controlled bidirectional Hand
Prosthesis – Symbiotic interactions 105-110 (2015)
5. Alberto Mazzoni, Yanfang Zuo, Giuseppe Notaro, Stefano Panzeri, Mathew E Diamond -
Spike timing in rat somatosensory cortex contributes to behavior BMC Neuroscience 14 :109
(2013)
6. Francesca Barbieri, Alberto Mazzoni, Nikos K Logothetis, Stefano Panzeri, Nicolas Brunel -
Input dependence of local field potential spectra: experiment vs theory BMC Neuroscience
14 :41 (2013)
7. Alberto Mazzoni, Christoph Kayser, Yusuke Murayama, Juan Martinez, Rodrigo Quian
Quiroga, Nikos K. Logothetis, Stefano Panzeri - Local field potential phase and spike timing
convey information about different visual features in primary visual cortex, BMC
Neuroscience 12 :48 (2011)
8. Alberto Mazzoni, Nicolas Brunel, Christoph Kayser, Cesare Magri, Nikos Logothetis,
Stefano Panzeri – Information content and robustness of various types of codes in integrate
and fire networks presented with naturalistic stimuli BMC Neuroscience 10:95 (2009)
9. Alberto Mazzoni, Stefano Panzeri, Nicolas Brunel - How gamma-band oscillatory activity
participates in encoding of naturalistic stimuli in random networks of excitatory and
inhibitory neurons BMC Neuroscience 9:115 (2008)
Reviewing for journals:
Referee for: Nature Physics, Cerebral Cortex, PLoS Computational Biology, Neuroimage,
Journal of Computational Neuroscience, Brain Research, Neural Computation, Communications
in Nonlinear Science and Numerical Simulations, Physical Review X, Frontiers in System
Neuroscience, Physical Review Letters, Transaction on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation
Engineering, Journal of Neural Engineering
Review Editor for Frontiers in Neuroinformatics
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TEACHING
Courses
2017 Holding a series of seminars for “Neural Interfaces and Bioelectronic
Medicine” course as “Cultore della materia” – Corso di Ingegneria Bionica,
Facoltà di Ingegneria, Università di Pisa
2016 “Contratto di supporto alla didattica” (Teaching support) in the Neuromorphic
Engineering course – Corso di Ingegneria Bionica, Facoltà di Ingegneria,
Università di Pisa
2015-2016 Holding a series of seminars for “Neuromorphic Engineering” course as
“Cultore della materia” – Corso di Ingegneria Bionica, Facoltà di Ingegneria,
Università di Pisa
2014-2015 Information theory and decoding course for Master students, Telecom Master
“Digital Life and Smart Living”, Pisa, Italy
2014- Seminars of Information theory and decoding in courses for PhD students and
Neural modeling course for PhD students - The BioRobotics Institute, Scuola
Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa, Italy
2010-2011 Information theory course for PhD students - Italian Institute of Technology,
Genova, Italy
Invited teaching at international schools
1. Generation and Analysis of LFP signals School on neurophysiology for Neural and
biomedical engineering Zermatt, Switzerland August 15-20, 2015
2. Modeling of multi-scale activity in the cortex identifies optimally informative signals for BMI.
6th European Summer School of Neuroengineering “Massimo Grattarola”, Genova, Italy,
June 11-15, 2012
3. Population coding. Computational Neuroscience Society Meeting, Analysis of Spike Trains
Tutorial, Stockholm, Sweden, July 22-29, 2011
4. Neuronal avalanches 1st Neurobiology summer school, International School for Advanced
Studies, Trieste, Italy, July 4-9, 2011
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Supervision of master and PhD thesis
2016- Tutor of PhD Thesis of Marina Cracchiolo -The BioRobotics Institute, Scuola
Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa, Italy
2016 Tutor of Master Thesis of Marina Cracchiolo (110/110 cum laude) - The
BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna / Facoltà di Ingegneria
Università di Pisa
2014- Tutor of PhD Thesis of Udaya Bhaskar Rongala - The BioRobotics Institute,
Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa, Italy
2014-2016 Tutor of PhD Thesis of Domenico Camboni - The BioRobotics Institute,
Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa, Italy
2014-2015 Tutor of Master Thesis of Guglielmo Panicali (110/110 cum laude) - The
BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna / Facoltà di Ingegneria
Università La Sapienza di Roma
2011-2013 Tutor of PhD thesis of Stefano Cavallari, Italian Institute of Technology,
Genova, Italy
2010 Tutor of Master thesis of Stefano Cavallari (110/110 cum laude), Italian
Institute of Technology, Genova, Italy / Università Cattolica Del Sacro Cuore,
Brescia, Italy
Commissions
2016 - Member of commission for Assegno di Ricerca for CENTAURO and RONDAS
projects, The BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna Pisa, Italy
2015 - Member of commission for Assegno di Ricerca for AIDE and SIGHT projects,
The BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna Pisa, Italy
2014 – Member of commission for Telecom Master course “Digital Life and Smart
Living”, Pisa, Italy
2015 - Member of commission for Assegno di Ricerca for the NEBIAS projects, The
BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna Pisa, Italy
2010 - Member of PhD commission for Andres Buhlmann, Universitat Pompeu Fabra,
Barcelona, Spain
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CAREER PATH
I graduated in Physics at Pisa University with a Master thesis studying synchronization in
neuronal ensembles by means of in silico models. Thanks to this thesis I realized that I wanted to
become able to capture the dynamics of biological systems to the extent of reproducing this
dynamics in biomimetic algorithms and devices. Since my university studies focused on
biophysics, theoretical physics, complex systems, and network theory, I decided to pursue a PhD
in neurobiology to complete my education. In my PhD years at the International School for
Advanced Studies in Trieste (that included a crucial period spent as visiting student in University
of California, San Diego), I learned how to develop algorithms to perform statistical analysis of
neural data and animal movements, but also how to perform electrophysiological and behavioral
recordings. During my first Postdoc fellowship with Prof. Brunel in the Institute for Scientific
Interchange in Turin I reached a high level of expertise on the design and the study of biomimetic
networks and single neuron models to explain and reproduce neural dynamics. The quality of my
results, the time spent in scientific collaborations at Paris V University and at the MPI of
Tuebingen, and the intense congress activity, gave an international resonance to my research
work. During my second and third Postdoc, taking place at the Italian Institute of Technology of
Genova, I directly dealt with bioengineering and biorobotics challenges, in the development of
Brain-Machine Interfaces, biomimetic devices and electrodes, and in the analysis of clinical data
for biomedical purposes. I refined my neural data analysis skills to the point that I was able to
contribute to the development of new algorithms and methodologies. In a number of
collaborations I analyzed data ranging from rat to monkey to human cortex. I also acquired
another set of skills necessary to become a fully independent researcher: teaching, supervising,
writing reviews and book chapters, writing grants applications, buying and managing lab
equipment, collaborating with journals. Working on Brain-Machine-Brain interfaces I decided to
focus more directly on biomedical applications, a field where my skills can be really tested and
have a stronger impact on society beyond the academic environment. This is the reason why I
moved to a top-level institute in the field as The BioRobotics Institute of Scuola Superiore
Sant’Anna. In the three years spent in the institute I mainly worked on the computational aspects
of the neuromorphic encoding of tactile stimuli by biomimetic fingertips, for the development of
upper limb neuroprostheses and for industrial applications. In parallel, I developed models of
cortical and subcortical structures for biomedical and clinical applications. The latest addition to
my lines of research is the study of the autonomic nervous system to develop closed loop
biomedical devices to address metabolic diseases.
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RESEARCH GROUPS AND COLLABORATIONS
2017 -
2014 - 2017 “Assegnista di ricerca” working with Prof. Silvestro Micera and Dr. Calogero
Oddo in The BioRobotics Institute of Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa, Italy
Main collaborations:
- Group of Prof. Silvia Conde – New University of Lisbon, Portugal
- Group of Prof. Paolo Maria Rossini – Università Cattolica Sacro Cuore, Italy
- Group of Prof. Henrik Jorntell - Lund University, Sweden
- Group of Prof. Mathew Diamond – International School for Advanced Studies, Trieste, Italy
- Group of Prof. Alberto Priori - Policlinico dell'Università di Milano, Italy
- Group of Prof. Jordi Garcia Ojalvo - Universitat Pompeu Fabra of Barcellona, Spain
2009-2013 Post-doc in the Group of Prof. Stefano Panzeri - Robotics, Brain and Cognitive
Sciences Department first and Center for Neuroscience and Cognitive Science then - Italian
Institute of Technology.
Main collaborations:
- Department of Prof. Nikos Logothetis - Max Planck Institute of Tuebingen, Germany
- Group of Prof. Gaute Einevoll - Norwegian University of Life Science, Oslo, Norway
- Group of Prof. Nicolas Brunel – Chicago University, USA
- Group of Prof. Mathew Diamond – International School for Advanced Studies, Trieste, Italy
2007-2009 Junior Researcher in the Computational Neuroscience Group of Prof. Nicolas Brunel
– Institute for Scientific Interchange, Torino, Italy.
Main collaborations:
- Department of Prof. Nikos Logothetis - Max Planck Institute of Tuebingen, Germany
- Laboratory of Neurophysics and Physiology, Université René Descartes, Paris, France
2003-2007 Phd Student first and post-doctoral fellow later in the Group of Prof. Vincent Torre –
Neurobiology Department, International School for Advanced Studies, Trieste, Italy.
Main collaborations:
- Group of Prof. William Kristan, Division of Biological Sciences, UCSD, San Diego, USA
- Group of Prof. Hugh Robinson, Department of Physiology, University of Cambridge, UK
- Group of Prof. Matteo Marsili, International Center for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy
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RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
January 2014 – present
“Assegnista di Ricerca” in The BioRobotics Institute of the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna di Pisa,
working in the Neuro-Robotics group with Dr. Calogero Oddo and in the Translational Neural
Engineering group with Prof. Silvestro Micera. Current research interests include:
Analysis of information transmission properties of neuromorphic tactile sensors for biomedical
applications (as neuroprostheses) and industrial applications (as biomimetic sensors). We proved
that a biomimetic fingertip produced neuromorphic outputs able to allow an excellent
classification of artificial gratings as well as daily-life textures and hence was suited for the
implementation in bidirectional neuroprostheses. The biomimetic fingertip was used to deliver
stimuli in healthy subjects through microneurography and in an implanted amputee subject.
Tactile stimuli were identified with high accuracy and with a coding analysis I demonstrated that
this was due to the temporal pattern of the stimuli rather than to their intensity. I am currently
collaborating in experiment design and data analysis for experimental sessions involving a second
implanted subject. I am supervising and analyzing psychophysical experiments to benchmark the
performance of the biomimetic sensor and I am working on using this device for industrial
applications as quality control. Within the same research frame, in collaboration with Prof.
Jorntell group at Lund University in Sweden I am analyzing patch clamp cortical recordings from
the somatosensory cortex of rats injected with neuromorphic spike trains and I am collaborating
to the development of a plastic model of cuneate nucleus. My work for the development of a
bidirectional upper limb neuroprosthesis is not limited to tactile perception. In collaboration with
EPFL and Policlinico Gemelli I am working on microneurography data on healthy subjects to
develop a model of proprioception to support movement decoding mechanisms.
My work in the Translational Neuroengineering group includes very relevant bioengineering
projects with biomedical applications outside the realm of neuroprosthetics. I worked on analysis
and models of neural responses to visual stimuli in healthy and epileptic mice and seizure
detection algorithms (in collaboration with Prof. Matteo Caleo group at the CNR in Pisa). We
found that the processing of visual contrast was coherent with the primary visual cortex model I
already developed. We then focused on how the dynamics and the underlying network are
modified by the seizure inducing drug TeNT. The most radically innovative project I am involved
in in the present moment is in collaboration with New University of Lisbon and GlaxoSmithKline
and lies within the recent field of Bioelectronic Medicine, aiming at complementing
pharmaceutical/chemical therapies with electrical monitoring and stimulation to modulate the
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activity of the different organs of the body. In particular, we are studying the relationship between
neural activity recorded in the Carotid Sinus Nerve and glucose metabolism to develop a closed
loop biomedical device for Type 2 Diabetes. Finally, I recently started investigating the activity
of subcortical structures like the thalamus and the subthalamic nucleus. These structures are at the
same time much less understood than the cortical areas and relevant for biomedical applications,
in particular for Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) therapies for diseases as Parkinson and Tourette
syndromes; hence these areas are an ideal challenge for neuroengineering studies. A first thalamic
model was developed in collaboration with Universitat Pompeu Fabra of Barcelona. Analysis of
human recordings from the subcortical structures of Parkinsonian patients undergoing DBS is
being carried in collaboration with BESTA institute and University of Milan. In particular studies
aim at understanding a severe collateral effect of DBS, namely the onset of impulse control
disorders.
January 2012 – December 2013
Post-doc researcher in the Neural Computation unit of Prof. Stefano Panzeri in the Center for
Neuroscience and Cognitive Science of the Italian Institute of Technology.
The ongoing collaboration with Prof. Brunel (currently at University of Chicago) continued with
the study of an analytical model of the network dynamics underlying the response of the visual
cortex. The model can predict with a high level of accuracy the relationship between the observed
LFPs and firing rates and even some features of the visual stimulus such as the spatial contrast.
In collaboration with the group of Prof. Gaute Einevoll of the Norwegian University of Life
Sciences (UMB) we developed an accurate 3D model of a primary visual cortex layer, integrating
multi-compartmental neurons modeled with NEURON, extracellular currents modeled with LFPy
and different dynamic regimes modeled with networks of integrate and fire neurons. The project
contributed to the understanding of the still unclear relationship between the EEG signal,
commonly used for biomedical applications, and the underlying neural activity.
In collaboration with the group of Prof. Mathew Diamond at Sissa, Trieste I analyzed spike
patterns recorded from the somatosensory cortex of rats during a texture-discrimination test. We
extracted informative patterns of activity by means of Principal Component Analysis and we
compared the information carried by spike patterns and spike count over different timescales.
This novel technique was then used for bioengineering application during my years in Sant’Anna.
A study on the network-scale consequences of using current or conductance-based synaptic
models in LIF networks lead to the finding that networks with conductance-based models display
a more coherent activity and are able to carry more information about stimuli.
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October 2009 – December 2011
Post-doc researcher in the Brain Machine Interface unit of Prof. Stefano Panzeri in the Robotics,
Brain and Cognitive Science department of the Italian Institute of Technology.
The first year was dedicated to developing new tools for brain-machine interfaces, in particular in
the field of data analysis. We developed open source software tools for information analysis both
in Python and in Matlab environment. The software was aimed at the analysis of experimental
neural recordings for which the information bias due to the small datasets can be particularly
severe. We made at the same time two theoretical advancements in the use of information theory
in the analysis of neural data, contributing to solve to long-lasting issues of the field. We
developed a technique based on the computation of joint spectral information able to find the
optimal (i.e. most informative) band separation given an arbitrary set of (continuous) neural
recordings and external stimuli. We developed then a novel independence test able to quantify the
significance of the independent information carried about strongly correlated stimuli.
Collaborations with the other groups in the department included the modeling of bioelectrical
properties of nanotubes covered electrodes for biomedical devices developed in the department.
Later, I analyzed new primate data collected by the Prof. Nikos Logothetis MPI group to study
the encoding of correlated visual features in the primary visual cortex, in particular the
relationship between the temporal structure of the features and the timescales of information
processing in the cortex. We found evidence for two independent information streams in the
primary visual cortex: information about instantaneous features values is encoded in precise spike
patterns of single neurons, information about the history of the features is encoded in the low
global fluctuations of the neural activity and can therefore be recovered by a phase-of-firing code.
Crucially, the characteristics of the external stimuli modulate both the precision of the spike
patterns and the frequency of the global fluctuations in the cortex. In a separate set of studies I
analyzed human ECoG recordings collected for biomedical purposes in collaboration of Prof.
Luciano Fadiga and with the Ospedale di Udine. Patients were asked to read out loud syllables
presented on a small screen. We developed an original population decoding algorithm able to
reconstruct with a >80% accuracy the syllables read by the patients from some simple features of
the ECoGs recorded on the pre-motor cortex.
May 2007 – September 2009
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Junior Researcher in the Computational Neuroscience Unit of Prof. Nicolas Brunel at the Institute
for Scientific Interchange (ISI, Torino, Italy), in collaboration with University Paris V René
Descartes (Paris, France).
The aim of the work was to develop a biomimetic network model able to reproduce experimental
results about the processing of visual information in the primate primary visual cortex collected
by the group of Prof. Nikos Logothetis at the Max Planck Institute of Tuebingen. The model
consisted in a spiking neurons network whose activity was monitored through the firing activity
of the neurons and the Local Field Potentials (LFPs), modeled as a combination of synaptic
currents (an original contribution that became a standard procedure in integrate and fire
modeling). To study spectral modulations of cortical activity due to thalamic stimuli, the network
was injected with signals with different intensities and spectral contents, superimposed to colored
noise. The resulting modulations were studied in the framework of information theory, in
collaboration with Prof. Stefano Panzeri of the Italian Institute of Technology in Genova.
Recordings from the Lateral Geniculate Nucleus of anaesthetized monkeys watching naturalistic
movies were then injected into the simulated network to study the response of the cortical model
to real complex thalamic stimuli. Our network model was able to reproduce and explain previous
experimental result such as cross-frequency coupling, i.e. of the modulation of high frequency
power by low frequency phase that is often observed experimentally. The main finding was that
modulations of input spectrum and input intensity were encoded respectively in the low
frequencies and in the gamma band of the LFP spectrum, the former because of external
inputs/internal dynamics entrainment, and the latter because of modulation of endogenous
rhythms. This study is one of the strongest findings supporting the hypothesis that the sensory
cortex multiplexes sensory information across different frequency bands. Finally we found that,
much like real cortical networks, the model was able to encode information not only with
rate/power codes, but also with temporal codes such as the phase of firing code, i.e. the time of
the spikes relative to the phase of undergoing network fluctuations, and the pattern code.
October 2002 - April 2007
Ph.D. student first and post-doc researcher afterwards in the Neurobiology laboratory of Prof.
Vincent Torre at SISSA (Trieste, Italy).
The aim of the research was to link the spontaneous activity in the nervous system of the leech to
its behavior. This was done in three steps: analysis of the spontaneous behavior, analysis of the
spontaneous electrical activity, and analysis of the correlations between them. Leech movement
patterns were identified and classified with in-house developed motion analysis algorithms based
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on frequency and speed analysis. After the analysis of the kinetics of each behavior, and of the
transitions between them, the decision making in the leech was described and studied as a
Markov process. The subject of the second part of the thesis was the spontaneous activity of
isolated leech ganglia recorded with extracellular electrodes. When blocking the
inhibitory/excitatory pathways, the network dynamics closely resembled those of long/short
correlation states studied in statistical mechanics, while in control conditions it was similar to the
critical intermediate state. The same experiments and analyses were repeated on neuronal cultures
of rat hippocampal neurons grown on Multi-Electrode Arrays looking for critical dynamics.
Finally, analyses on behavior and spontaneous electrical activity of the leech were combined.
Using semi-intact leech preparations, the spontaneous firing of motoneurons and the movements
of the animal were simultaneously monitored. The model used to describe the dynamics of
isolated ganglia was extended to include the interactions with the neighboring ganglia in the body
and in the brain. Cross-analyzing electrophysiological and behavioral data we studied the
correlation between the motor neuron bursts and the onset and the speed of the movements.
August - September 2003
Visiting Student in the laboratory of Prof. William Kristan (UCSD, San Diego, California, USA),
performing intracellular and extracellular electrophysiological recordings in in vivo leech
preparations.
August 2001 - September 2002
Laurea (equivalent to Master) Dissertation under the supervision of Prof. Leone Fronzoni
(Università di Pisa, Italy). The subject of the study was the entrainment of the periodic firing in
coupled neurons modeled as Van der Pol oscillators. The onset of synchronization was studied
analytically and via numerical simulations in presence of symmetric and asymmetric coupling
and delays.
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PROJECTS
2015-2016 Awarded Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna internal fund IEXERC14AM for project
“TOUCH-PATH” for analysis and modeling of the whole path of tactile information from
mechanosensors, to cuneate nucleus, to thalamus and primary sensory cortex. Being able to
reproduce in silico the whole tactile information pathway would have a critical impact on
biomedical and industrial applications based on biomimetic sensors. The project focused then on
the development of spiking network models of each processing step and the investigation of the
information transmission properties. The project involved also the organization of an international
workshop at The BioRobotics Institute, and the purchase of a dedicated server for complex
simulations.
2016-present Data analysis and participation to the design of the implementation of biomimetic
sensors on the iGrind industrial robotic platform within the the CENTAURO project funded by
Regione Toscana. The project involves intense collaboration with the research and development
department of PIAGGIO. The biorobotic platform aims at supporting human activity of defect
detection on motorbike structure thanks also to biomimetic tactile sensors. I work on this project
under the supervision of Dr. Calogero Oddo.
2015-2016 Co-writer and data analyst for the collaborative project on Bioelectronic Medicine
between the Translational Neural Engineering group of Prof. Silvestro Micera at Scuola
Superiore Sant’Anna and the group of Prof. Silvia Conde at New University of Lisbon. The
project aims at the development of bioelectronic therapies for type-2 diabetes, and was funded by
GlaxoSmithKline research department. A patent for a closed loop biomedical device for glycemic
control is under development. Project is under revision to be extended in 2017 with funding from
Galvani enterprise.
2014-present Co-writer, data analyst and developer of biomimetic artificial networks for
collaborative project “Brain network mechanisms for integration of natural tactile input patterns”
between the groups of Prof. Silvestro Micera and Dr. Calogero Oddo at The BioRobotics Institute
of Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna and the neurophysiology group of Prof. Henrik Jorntell at the
University of Lund, Sweden. The project is financed by the Executive Programme of Scientific
Cooperation between Italy and Sweden of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
2014-2015 Co-writer and main scientific organizer (“curatore scientifico”) of the exposition and
the seminars of the collaborative project “NEXUS - L'incontro tra la macchina e l'uomo
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nell'immaginario, nella tecnica, nella scienza contemporanei” involving the BioRobotics Institute
of Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, the University of Siena and the Galileo Museum of History of
Science of Firenze, Italy. The project, presenting the biorobotics field to a general public, won the
call “Diffusione della cultura scientifica” awarded by the MIUR (Italian Ministry of Research).
2013-present Analysis of neuromorphic data, of patient behavioral data, and contribution to
experimental design for NEBIAS (NEurocontrolled BIdirectional Artificial upper limb and hand
prosthesiS) project. I mainly investigated how and to which extent is possible to convey
naturalistic tactile feelings to an amputee patient by converting pressure-sensors outputs into
neuromorphic spike trains to be injected in the peripheral nervous system. The project was funded
by the European Union FP7 FET open programme
2011-2012 Co-writer, data analyst and developer of spiking neural network model for
collaborative project “SICODE: Toward new Brain-Machine Interfaces: state-dependent
information coding” involving the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia of Genova, Italy, Max Planck
Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tuebingen, Institute of Neuroinformatics ETH Zurich and
SISSA Trieste. The project was funded by the European Union FP7 Future and Emerging
Technology open programme.
2009-2011 Neural data analysis and development of spiking neuron models for the NNOSIP
(Neuronal Network Oscillations and Sensory Information Processing) project involving the
Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia of Genova, Italy and the Fondazione ISI Istituto per l'Interscambio
Scientifico. The project was supported by the “Programma Neuroscienze” of the Compagnia San
Paolo di Torino.
PATENTS
The biomedical device patent “Monitoring and restoring metabolic processes through electrical
recording and stimulation applied to autonomous nervous system”, developed by several
members of TNE group of Prof. Silvestro Micera at the BioRobotics Institute (including me and
Prof. Micera), the group of Prof. Silvia Conde and GlaxoSmithKline is under submission. The
patent describes a closed loop biomedical device able to identify metabolic dysfunctions thanks to
neural fingerprints in autonomous nervous system recordings and to restore a healthy metabolic
process with suited electrical stimulations.
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CONFERENCES:
Invited talks
1. Modeling Local Field Potential - INDAM Meeting NeuroMath, Mathematical and
Computational Neuroscience: cell, network and data analysis, Cortona, September 12-16
2016
2. Neural coding mechanisms of artificial and naturalistic sensory stimuli – XXIII National
Congress of the Italian Society of Psychophysiology, Lucca November 19-21, 2015
3. LFP proxies for point-neuron networks and their use in comparing with experiments
CINPLA workshop “Inferring network activity from LFPs” Oslo, Norway May 26-27, 2015
4. Local Field Potential Dynamics of Spatially Embedded Integrate-and-Fire Neurons.
Mathematical Modeling and Statistical Analysis in Neuroscience. Copenhagen, Denmark,
July 2-4, 2014
5. Spike timing in rat somatosensory cortex contributes to behavior. The brain: criticality,
dynamics, networks and function, Anacapri, Italy, September 2-6, 2013
6. Multiplexing of Visual Information in Primary Visual Cortex Computational Neuroscience
Society Meeting, Workshop on Methods of Systems Identification for Studying Information
Processing in Sensory Systems, Stockholm, Sweden, July 22-29, 2011
7. Primary Visual Cortex Encodes Complementary Information About Naturalistic Movies at
Different Temporal Scales - 9th International Neural Coding Workshop (NC2010), Oct 29 –
Nov 3, 2010, Limassol, Cyprus
8. Neurons in primary visual cortex encode naturalistic visual information using multiple
temporal scales – Bernstein Conference on Computational Neuroscience, Sept 27 - Oct 1.,
2010, Berlin, Germany
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9. A model for the encoding of naturalistic stimuli in LFP frequency bands - Network
Synchronization: from dynamical systems to neuroscience, May 19-30 , 2008, Leiden, NL
(Chairman of the “Oscillations in the visual cortex” session)
10. Low frequencies and gamma frequencies in the LFP spectrum encode different features of
thalamic stimuli - Local field potentials as a vista on the function of neural circuits, April 4,
2008, Manchester, UK
11. Behaviour and decision making in the leech - First Meeting of Biomedical PhD Programs.
February 20-21, 2006, Ferrara, Italy
Posters
· Temporal structure of metabolic modulation of autonomic nervous system activity – 46th
Society For Neuroscience Meeting, San Diego, Nov 12-16, 2016
· Interplay between exhogenous and endogenous rhythms in recurrent networks with
conductance-based neurons, 11th International Neural coding Workshop (NC2012), Prague,
Czech Republic, Sept 2-7, 2012,
· Neurons in primary visual cortex encode naturalistic visual information using multiple
temporal scales, Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, Washington, USA,
November 12-16, 2011.
· Primary visual cortex (V1) encodes complementary information about naturalistic movies at
different temporal scales AREADNE 2010 – June 17-10, 2010, Santorini, Greece
· How gamma-band oscillatory activity participates in encoding of naturalistic stimuli in
random networks of excitatory and inhibitory neurons Minischool and Workshop on Multiple
Time Scales in the Dynamics of the Nervous System, ICTP, Trieste, Italy - June 16-20, 2008
· Dynamics of Spontaneous Activity in Neuronal Networks - Neural Coding Computation and
Dynamics, September 15-18, 2007, Hossegor, France
· Spontaneous behaviour and decision making in the leech - First International Meeting on
Evolution, Development and Neurobiology of the Leech, 29 Sep – 3 Oct, 2004, Lille, France
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DISSEMINATION
Organization of scientific meetings
2016 Local organizer of workshop Tactile coding and neuroprostheses,
BioRobotics Institute of Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna
Science divulgation activities
2015-2016 Main organizer (“curatore”) of exposition and series of seminars “Nexus –
l’incontro tra umano e macchina nell’immaginario, la scienza e la tecnica
contemporanei” – Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Florence, Italy 23/01-15/03 2016
During the exposition the Palazzo was visited by 16.495 persons.- 245
students (11 classes) from Tuscany and Lazio participated to the hands-on
laboratories of the exposition. The event was positively reviewed in national
newspaper and magazines.
2016 Main organizer (“curatore”) of a revised version of Nexus exposition (see
above) in Spazio MIL, Sesto San Giovanni, Milan, Italy, 8/11/2016 –
20/11/2016
2015 Invited speaker meeting “Creactivity”, Museo Piaggio, Pontedera, Italy.
2015 Invited speaker meeting “Corpi, Automi, Semidei – antropologia dei corpi
biotecnici” University of Siena
2012 Invited speaker meeting “Cosa può un cervello?” University of Genova
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RELATED ACTIVITIES
Start up
2013 Winner of pre-incubation call of Regione Toscana with scientific company LIQUID,
together with co-founders Dr. Iacopo Borsi (Mathematics Department, Florence University, Italy)
and Dr. Luca Mazzucato (Stony Brook University, New York, USA). The commercial field of the
company was analysis of commercial and social data.
Institutional responsibilities
2005-2006 Member of board of directors - SISSA, Trieste, Italy
2003-2004 Member of board of department - Neurobiology Department, SISSA, Trieste, Italy
Membership of scientific societies
2008- Member of the Organization for Computational Neuroscience
2014 Member of the Italian Society of Chaos and Complexity
Non-academic research positions
2004-2006 Data Analyst of the Social-Economic Analysis Group of the Regional Observatory
on Social Policies in Friuli Venezia Giulia Region and Slovenia
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RELEVANT SKILLS
As proved by my publications track record, I have more than a decade of professional experience
in the fields of neuroengineering, in particular in the analysis of neural signals and the
development of biomimetic models for biomedical applications.
Over the course of the years I acquired many skills that might prove relevant for the activities
required in the call.
- Analysis of correlation between neural activity in the autonomous nervous system and
metabolism in healthy and pre-diabetic animals to develop a bioelectronic biomedical device.
- Design of biomimetic mechanoreceptors and evaluation of their information processing
capabilities, for both biomedical and neurorobotic applications.
- Analysis of behavioral performance in tactile discrimination, both in healthy subjects and
amputees implanted with upper limb neuroprosthesis. Design of tactile discrimination
experiments.
- Design, simulation, and analysis of spiking neural networks mimicking different steps of
tactile and visual sensory information pathway: cuneate nucleus (for touch), thalamus,
primary sensory cortex.
- Development of algorithms for the extraction of sensory information carried by different
aspects of neural activity, in particular temporal structure of spike trains and Local Field
potential spectra, by means of techniques from machine learning and information theory.
- Modeling of motoneurons activity during hand movements, based on neural data acquired
with microneurography from healthy patients.
- Development of algorithms for motion tracking, classification and identification of movement
patterns
- Neurophysiological recordings (extracellular and intracellular)
- Modeling of extracellular signal and of the underlying neural networks
Excellent knowledge of English (written and oral).