Paolo Belardinelli
Professore associato
Dipartimento di Biologia Cellulare, Computazionale e Integrata - CIBIO
Formazione |
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- MS in Mathematical Physics at “La Sapienza” University, Rome, Italy - Ph.D. in Neuroscience at the Institute of Advanced Biomedical Technologies (ITAB), “G. D’Annunzio” University, Chieti, Italy. |
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Carriera accademica ed attività didattica |
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Interessi di ricerca |
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Paolo Belardinelli is interested in understanding how brain responses to an external stimulus are differentially affected by ongoing brain states. He is also interested in understanding how plasticity can be modulated in an optimal way by applying brain state-dependent, closed loop real time network modulation. To this aim, he performs non-invasive brain stimulation (EEG-TMS: TMS triggered by EEG states) in healthy and pathological adult brains. In recent years, thanks to manufacturing of dedicated hardware, remarkable progresses have been made in the effective use of this methodology. However, some major issues need to be addressed in order to achieve a profound understanding of the mechanisms of action of brain state-dependent stimulation. First, a deeper insight of the relationship between anatomy and function needs to be undertaken. This will allow us to ground the neurophysiological mechanisms to the anatomy of cortex in future researches in this field. Second, the definition of what represents a “brain state” suitable for stimulation presents several technical and neuroscientific issues. My aim is to systematically study how the state of a brain network right before the stimulus influences the both peripheral (muscles) and cortical outcomes. The final goal of this research line is represented by a new real-time application of EEG-TMS, for understanding the main brain functions and for improving the outcomes of restorative and rehabilitative approaches in patients with Stroke or psychiatric diseases. Keywords: neuroscience; neuroplasticity; connectivity; human neurophysiology; electrophysiology - EEG; non-invasive/transcranial magnetic stimulation – Real-Time EEG-TMS; MEG; multimodal imaging |
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Attività di ricerca |
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Paolo Belardinelli’s main expertise is the analysis of EEG-MEG signals at source level and the combination of them with non-invasive brain stimulation techniques to modulate activity of functional networks in the human brain. He has extensive experience in the development and application of EEG-TMS paradigms, with a focus on the sensorimotor network. He has also interest in combining information from multiple neuroimaging methodologies (EEG, EMG, TMS, MRI), to integrate information from structure and function. |
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Appartenenza a società e comitati scientifici |
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Premi e riconoscimenti |
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Grants won as a PI: Title: The modulatory effect of performance rate on brain motor network functional connectivity. 35000 € from CIN, Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, Eberhard-Karls-University of Tübingen, Germany. Title: Mapping human brain functions: optimized Bayesian filters for source localization. 37000 € from CIN, Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, Eberhard-Karls-University of Tübingen, Germany. Title: Bayesian Models for Source reconstruction. 24000 € from Jan and Antti Wihuri Foundation, Finland. Title: MEG and EEG Functional Connectivity. 10000 € from Regione Abruzzo, Italy. Title: MEG Brain Activity Reconstruction. 12000 € from “La Sapienza”, Italy. |
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Convegni e conferenze |
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Altre attività |
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2021-2022 Supervisor of PhD students: Martina Amerighi and Arianna Brancaccio 2021-22: Internal supervisor of the Master Theses of Prince Okyere and Elena Fenoglio 2021-2022: Supervisor of the “Tirocinio Post-Lauream” of Cecilia Comoli. |
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Allegati |
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