Research identifiers: ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-3429-2104

Researcher ID: K-5516-2016

CURRENT POSITIONS

• Junior Research Fellow, International School for Advanced Studies (Ssas)

• Associate Professor, Psychobiology and Physiological Psychology (M-PSI/02)

• Director, Cognitive and System Neuroscience (Cosync) Lab

PREVIOUS POSITIONS

2017-2018 - Assistant Professor, Sapienza University of Rome

2009-2016 - Postdoctoral Fellow, “G. d’Annunzio” University of Chieti

2008 (July-August) - Visiting Student University College of London (UCL), Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience (U.K)

2005-2007 - Research Fellow, Fatebenefratelli Hospital, division of Neurology, Magnetoencephalography(MEG) Unity

EDUCATION

2005 to 2008 - PhD Cognitive Neuroplasticity and Rehabilitation, Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Psychology

2001 to 2005 - MSc and BSc with honors in Experimental Psychology (summa cum laude), Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Psychology

AWARD

2017 - National habilitation to serve as Associate Professor of Psychobiology and Psychophysiology

2014 - Best publication in the Psychophysiology (Società Italiana di Psicofisiologia-SIPF)

GRANTS and FUNDINGS

2020 - Ministero della Salute – Bando Ricerca Finalizzata “microRNAs-34 and cardiovascular implications of chronic life stress and depression: a potential biomarker and therapeutic target”, Role: Co-PI, € 410.500,00;

2017 - H2020 ERC “How natural hand usage shapes behavior and intrinsic and task-evoked brain activity” (HANDmade), Role: Principal Investigator, € 1.494.662,00.

Other projects

2020 - Bandi di Ateneo Sapienza- “Breaking the rules: how alterations of body statistics reorganize the functional connectivity in individuals with high and low cognitive flexibility” Role: Coordinator, € 10.000,00;

2019 - Bandi di Ateneo- Sapienza - “Identifying the prodromal, pre-clinical signs of neurodegenerative disorders in aging: a neuropsychological study”,

Role: Collaborator, € 40.000,00.

2019- Sapienza University of Rome, Host Visiting Professor (Prof. Giulia Galli)

2017 - Bandi di Ateneo- Sapienza - “To the heart of the matter: Brain-body pathways to perseverative cognition, Role: Collaborator, € 8.000,00.

2008 - European Cooperation in the field of Scientific and Technical Research (COST), University College of London (UCL), Travel Grant

COMMISSIONS OF TRUST

• Editorial Board for International Peer Review Journal

  • Frontiers in Psychology, specialty section Emotion Science.

• Expert Reviewer for International Peer Review Journals

  • Neuroimage, Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, PLoS One, European Journal of Neuroscience, Cerebral Cortex, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, Psychological Science, Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, Neuropsychologia, Scientific Reports, Biological Psychology, Experimental Brain Research, Neural Plasticity

• Expert Reviewer for International Funding Agencies

  • The French National Research Agency (ANR).

ORGANISATION OF SCIENTIFIC MEETINGS

2018 - Organizer: Symposium Using Magnetoencephalography to study dynamics of brain activity and functional connectivity: method developments and applications, World Congress of Psychophysiology, IMT Lucca, Italy

2015 - Organizer: Symposium Spatiotemporal dynamics and emotional responses to artificial and naturalistic stimuli, Annual meeting of the Italian Society of Psychophysiology (SIPF), Lucca, Italy;

2006 - Co-Organiser: The Ladies of the Brain, Brain Awareness Week (BAW), Sapienza, University of Rome.

INVITED TALK

• • The spontaneous brain activity as temporal prior for natural vision: insights from the topology of functional connectivity and hub dynamics in the beta band, University of Ghent, March 2019

  • The role of the naturalistic behavior in shaping behavior and intrinsic brain activity, Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, “Vittorio Erspamer”, Sapienza University of Rome, May 2019

  • Topology of functional connectivity and hub dynamics in the beta band as temporal prior for natural vision in the human brain, The European Institute for Theoretical Neuroscience (EITN), December 2018

  • How natural hand usage shapes behavior and intrinsic and task-evoked brain activity, SynaNet 2018 Summer School, Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Sapienza University of Rome, June 2018

  • Resting state networks as spatio-temporal priors for natural vision, Centro Interdipartimentale Mente e Cervello (CiMEC), University of Trento, January 2018

  • Segregazione e Integrazione nel cervello: Correlati Magnetoencephalografici, Scuola AIP in Metodologia delle Neuroscienze e Imaging III edizione, Chieti University, June 2017

  • Beta-band as hallmark of functional architecture correspondence between rest and movie viewing, Società Italiana di Psicofisiologia (SIPF), Milano, October 27, 2016

  • Dynamic organization of the neural networks during cognition, Società Italiana di Psicologia (SIPF), Roma, September 20, 2016;

  • Dynamic reorganization of functional connectivity during natural viewing, Società Italiana di Psicofisiologia (SIPF), Lucca, November 21, 2015;

  • Natural scenes viewing alters the dynamics of functional connectivity in the human brain, Società Italiana di Psicofisiologia (SIPF), Firenze, November 29, 2014;

  • Functional brain networks and empathy for pain, Società Italiana di Psicofisiologia (SIPF), Lecce, October 26, 2013;

  • Sincronizzazione in banda gamma ed empatia per il dolore, Società Italiana di Psicofisiologia (SIPF), Pisa, November 27, 2008;