PhD students

Marialaura De Grazia

Marialaura De Grazia is a Ph.D student in Biomedical Sciences at the Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences of the University of Pavia. Her Ph.D. project is focused on multiscale modelling for relevant cerebellar disorders, mainly ataxia, and investigation of the effects of promising therapeutic tools such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). She holds a degree in Physics and then a master’s degree in Physics of Complex Systems at the University of Pisa.

Camilla Ciapponi

Camilla is a PhD student of the CEN training network. She received her B.Sc in Biology from Università di Milano and went on to do a M.Sc in Neurobiology at Università di Pavia. During her M.Sc thesis at Erasmus MC in Rotterdam she investigated the role of the cerebellum in orofacial behaviours using in vivo MEA in awake mice. She then worked in the Suvrathan Lab at McGill University exploring the heterogeneity of plasticity rules across the cerebellum using patch clamp. Her PhD project aims at investigating the contribution of the cerebellum to the brain’s emotional networks by performing microendoscopic calcium imaging in freely moving mice.

Dianela Osorio

Dianela is a PhD student of the CEN (Cerebellum and Emotional Networks) Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network at the University of Pavia. She holds a degree in Physics at the University of the Andes (ULA) Mérida-Venezuela and master degree in Physics of Complex Systems at the Institute For Cross- Disciplinary Physics And Complex Systems (IFISC) – University Of The Balearic Island (Uib) Palma De Mallorca-Spain.

Yuhe Li

Yuhe is a PhD student at the University of Pavia in the CEN (Cerebellum and Emotional Networks) programme. After earning her Bachelor of Science in Laboratory Medicine in China, she attended the University of Edinburgh for her MScR in Integrative Neurobiology. Her PhD project focuses on the characterization of cerebellar cortical network activity in different lobules in order to investigate the specific properties of regions involved in processing emotional responses. The primary technique utilised is extracellular recordings of network activity through the implementation of a high-density multielectrode array (HD-MEA).

Francesco Mainardi

Francesco is a PhD student in Biomedical Sciences. He achieved his B.Sc. in Biotechnology and his M.Sc. in Neurobiology from University of Pavia. Currently, Francesco is passionately engaged in his PhD project, which is centered on unraveling the mechanisms governing synaptic plasticity in various types of cells within the cerebellar cortex. To achieve this, he employs cutting-edge technologies such as High-Density Multi Electrode Array (HD-MEA) recordings and two photon calcium imaging.

Maria Conforti

Maria Conforti is a Ph.D student in Biomedical Sciences at the Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences of the University of Pavia. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences at the University of Genova and then a master’s degree in Neurobiology at the University of Pavia. Her Ph.D project aims at investigating the cerebellar interaction with other brain areas by performing In Vivo electrophysiological recordings combined with optogenetic stimulation in anesthetized mice. She is also exploring the cerebellar contribution over the Prefrontal Cortex activity in the IB2 KO mouse model of autism.

Elena Grosso

Elena Grosso is a Ph.D. student in Biomedical Sciences at the Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences of the University of Pavia, Italy. She holds a degree in Physics at the University of Genova and a master’s degree in Biomedical Physics at the University of Pavia.
Her master’s degree thesis, which has the title “Physics and physiology: the effect of water
diffusion model assumptions on MRI-derived microstructure parameters”, was focused on MRI Diffusion models, expecially on Neurite Orientation Dispersion and Density Imaging (NODDI) model and its assumptions.
Elena is now focused on her Ph.D. project “Advanced modeling of magnetic resonance imaging data to study the underpinning of neurological symptoms of long-COVID”, which is part of the MODEL-COV Project at UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology (London).

Gökçe Korkmaz

Gökçe Korkmaz, is a PhD student in Biomedical Sciences, Neuroimaging & Brain Modelling Lab at the University of Pavia. Her PhD project includes the brain modelling for inferring the causal brain architecture of coupled or distributed dynamical systems by using the Dynamic Causal Modelling framework. She had her Master’s degree in Psychology, Neuroscience and Human Sciences at the University of Pavia and obtained her degree in Psychology from the Middle East Technical University in Turkey.

Eleonora Lupi