Education
2002-2005: Bachelor in Physics, Universita' degli Studi di Padova, Padova, Italy
2005-2007: Master in Physics, Universita' degli Studi di Padova, Padova, Italy
2008- : PhD student in Biomedical Engineering, City College of New York, New York, USA
my full CV
My research
I am working with Professor Marom Bikson and Professor Lucas C. Parra in the Neural Engineering Lab in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at The City College of New York. My research focuses on the effect of electrical stimulation on the dynamics of active neuronal networks.
In particular the main question we are trying to answer is: can very low-amplitude electric fields affect significantly neuronal activity? To try to aswer that complex question I used two different and, from my point of view, complementary approaches. 1) I apply electric fields on rat brain slices and 2) I work on computational models simulating the effects of electric fields on neuronal networks. I normally choose the parameters of the model to reproduce the experimental data. I look then at the explanation that the model provides about the data. I finally use the model to make predictions that I can test experimentally.
I am interested, more in general, in network phenomena like physiological and pathological neuronal oscillations from both an experimental (electrophysiology, EEG) and a theoretical point of view (modeling and computer simulations using MATLAB). I am a proud Linux user (Ubuntu / Debian).
Some of my current projects are:
- Effects of weak electrical stimulation on slow waves activity in computational model and human EEG data [2010-]
Some of my small and old (or very old) projects
At CCNY (during my PhD):
- Electrical Stimulation on induced gamma oscillations in brain slices [2008-2010]
- MATLAB software for focal tDCS stimulation [the following video, 2009]
At Universita' degli Studi di Padova (Italy, during my master):
- Conductance-based neuron model with subthreshold oscillations [with Professor Renato Nobili, 2007]
- Neuron-Glia interaction in epileptic seizures [with Professor Renato Nobili and Giorgio Carmignoto, 2007]
- A very simplicistic stochastic model of an astrocytic network [with Professor Renato Nobili and Giorgio Carmignoto, 2007]
- Calcium waves in glial cells [with Professor Renato Nobili, 2006]
Fun code:
- SoundImg: few matlab lines to convert an image to a sound. The spectrogram of the sound is the original image.....:D [2010]
- Circle Pcolor: few matlab lines to create a kind of imagesc plot with colored circles [2008]
- Sound + Noise: python code to create two sounds. One is a pure tone, the other is a pure tone + white noise. The SNR of the noise changes and a listener is asked to discriminate the two auditory stimuli. The performances are then quantified for different SNR [2009].
Some important links:
Some other scientific websites or friends:
- Neuroglia [Neuro-Glia interaction people and good friends]
- Prof. Renato Nobili [my master supervisor in the Physics Department]
- Tito [a smart friend]
- Physics Department, Padova [my department when i was in Italy]
- Matteo Liberatore [a very talented jazz guitar player]
Interesting neuroscience links:
Another very very strong passion:
How the rest of the world sees Italy: