I am presently tenure-track professor at the Department of Biomedical Sciences of the University of Antwerp (Belgium). I was born in Italy, where I was trained as an Electronic Engineer. I received my 5 years laurea-degree cum laude from the University of Genova in 1997. During next years, I developed a strong interest in Computational Neuroscience and in 2001 I was awarded by the Politecnico di Milano (Italy) with a PhD in Bioengineering. In the same year, I received a long-term fellowship from the Human Frontier Science Program Organization, to pursue experimental research on the nervous system, with emphasis on novel non-conventional experimental paradigms and techniques. I moved to the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Bern (Switzerland), as a member of the Department of Physiology . From 2005 to 2008, I have been Junior Group Leader at the Brain Mind Institute of the EPFL, the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (Switzerland).

Interests and Activity
My research interests include in vitro electrophysiology, exploring network-level phenomena in neocortical brain slices and dissociated cell cultures. In particular, I explore the combination of non-conventional stimulating/recording tools and nanomaterials (e.g. multi-electrode substrate arrays - MEAs) with traditional patch-clamp recording techniques. These activities are driven and supported by computer-simulations and theoretical analysis tools, involving models of single-cells and networks of spiking neurons.
I received an international habilitation to perform in vitro experiments on cellular tissue explanted from small rodents (FELASA-Cat. B), and since 2005 to independently direct and plan these kind of experiments (FELASA-Cat. C).

Scientific Vision
My research interests are related to understanding, repairing, replacing, enhancing, or exploiting the electrical properties of neural systems. With particular emphasis to the (bio)physics of the interface between living neural tissue and artificial constructs, my efforts are aimed at exploring experimentally the predictions of theoretical approaches, employing them to design novel experimental paradigms and to analyze and interpret experimental data. Recently, in collaboration with other researchers, I became interested in combining carbon nanotubes to neuronal networks, as a first step towards future generation neuroprosthetics. If you want to learn more, please have a look at the coverage Nature News gave to our discoveries, as well as to their podcasts (1, 2). If you are an italian speaker, listen to a recent interview given at the RAI Radio 3, or read a featured article on me.