LABORATORY FOR BRAIN NETWORK PHYSIOLOGY

Innovation in brain imaging techniques has led to the availability of a broad set of tools to characterize the functional organization of complex networks across the whole brain. Among them, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has become the primary modality for mapping human network activity and is a fundamental tool to expand our knowledge on brain-behaviour relationships. Over the past three decades, human fMRI has studied how thought, cognition and movement are traced in brain networks, through the study of psychological correlates of network activity. The mission of my laboratory is to answer a complementary question: what are the biological bases of brain network activity? To answer this, we develop MRI techniques that can detect the structural organization and the function of the brain and use them in combination with viral (chemo- and optogenetics) and electrical (temporal interference) neuromodulation approaches, rodent models, machine-learning algorithms, optical readouts, electrophysiology and behavioral tests. We use this worldwide-unique combination of engineering and biology to describe and understand network signatures underpinning the pathophysiology of different neurological and psychiatric conditions, including Autism, Fragile-X, RETT syndrome, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease.