After graduating from medical school and specializing in psychiatry (University of Genoa, Italy), I obtained my PhD degree in neuroscience (University of Genoa, Italy) and two postgraduate master degrees, one on clinics and treatment of mood disorders (University of Pisa, Italy) and the other on affective neuroscience (Maastricht University, Netherlands). I also spent several periods of training and research work at various international research centers as visiting researcher, including the Mind Brain Imaging and Neuroethics (University of Ottawa, Canada), Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (New York, U.S.), Research Center for Brain and Consciousness (Taipei Medical University, Taiwan), and Mental Health Centre and Psychiatric Laboratory (Sichuan University, Chengdu, China). Then, I worked at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (New York, U.S.) as a postdoctoral fellow. Finally, I joined the Taipei Medical University as an assistant professor.

My research mainly focuses on the relationship between the functional architecture of intrinsic brain activity (as organized in the large-scale networks and modulated by subcortical-cortical loops and neurotransmitter signaling) and the behavioral-phenomenological dimensions (such as psychomotricity, affectivity, and thought).

I mainly investigate this topic in bipolar disorder, which represents a relevant model of brain functioning, as its active phases of illness (mania and depression) show opposite and extreme poles in the psychopathological dimensions. Moreover, I also study how functional changes of intrinsic brain activity in bipolar disorder can be traced to structural brain damages, in particular white matter abnormalities as related to immunological alterations.

Finally, I am interested in the phenomenological features of consciousness and how these are related to intrinsic brain activity, both in healthy individuals and psychopathological states.

My research work is conducted in strict collaboration with Dr. Paola Magioncalda. We are currently working on these research lines and aiming to build a working model of the relationship between brain functioning and psychopathology of bipolar disorder.

For more information on my ongoing projects please see here. For the complete list of my published work, please see My Bibliography.