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Alessandro Gozzi

Director, Center Coordinator
Senior Researcher Tenured - Principal Investigator
Functional Neuroimaging
Indirizzo
Research center
Interests
Biografia

How does the brain work as an integrated network? And how does this network activity affect behaviour and mental health? My interest in these questions began during my work at GlaxoSmithKline, a research-based pharmaceutical company, where I pioneered the use of functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging to map how pharmacological agents affect functional brain connectivity in rodents and humans.

My laboratory at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia uses advanced tools like resting state fMRI, functional ultrasound imaging (fUSI), optogenetics, chemogenetics, electrophyiology and computational modelling to map and manipulate brain network activity in the mouse. Crucially, the use of non-invasive functional imaging methods like fMRI enable us to translate findings between mice and humans. Supported by two back-to-back European Research Council (ERC) grants (DISCONN, BRAINAMICS), our work seeks to understand the fundamental principles governing brain network activity, and its disruption in developmental disorders like autism.

With my own multidisciplinary background (holding an MSc in Biotechnology and a PhD in Biomedical Imaging), I lead a team composed of researchers from all over the world, similarly multidisciplinary in their expertise. If you are interested in joining our lab, please drop me an email -  we do have openings at all levels (technician, data analyst, PhD student, postodcs).

Website of my lab: https://www.iit.it/it/web/functional-neuroimaging

Top Publications
2024
Gutierrez-Barragan D., Ramirez J.S.B., Panzeri S., Xu T., Gozzi A.
Evolutionarily conserved fMRI network dynamics in the mouse, macaque, and human brain
Nature Communications, vol. 15, (no. 1)
Article Journal
2024
Montani C., Balasco L., Pagani M., Alvino F.G., Barsotti N., de Guzman A.E., Galbusera A., de Felice A., Nickl-Jockschat T.K., Migliarini S., Casarosa S., Lau P., Mattioni L., Pasqualetti M., Provenzano G., Bozzi Y., Lombardo M.V., Gozzi A.
Sex-biasing influence of autism-associated Ube3a gene overdosage at connectomic, behavioral, and transcriptomic levels
Science advances, vol. 10, (no. 28)
2022
Rocchi F., Canella C., Noei S., Gutierrez-Barragan D., Coletta L., Galbusera A., Stuefer A., Vassanelli S., Pasqualetti M., Iurilli G., Panzeri S., Gozzi A.
Increased fMRI connectivity upon chemogenetic inhibition of the mouse prefrontal cortex
Nature Communications, vol. 13, (no. 1)
2022
Gutierrez-Barragan D., Singh N.A., Alvino F.G., Coletta L., Rocchi F., De Guzman E., Galbusera A., Uboldi M., Panzeri S., Gozzi A.
Unique spatiotemporal fMRI dynamics in the awake mouse brain
Current Biology, vol. 32, (no. 3), pp. 631-644.e6
2021
Pagani M., Barsotti N., Bertero A., Trakoshis S., Ulysse L., Locarno A., Miseviciute I., De Felice A., Canella C., Supekar K., Galbusera A., Menon V., Tonini R., Deco G., Lombardo M.V., Pasqualetti M., Gozzi A.
mTOR-related synaptic pathology causes autism spectrum disorder-associated functional hyperconnectivity
Nature Communications, vol. 12, (no. 1)
Awards and Achievements
2024
Gozzi A.
ERC Consolidator Grant - Neuromodulatory control of brain network dynamics - DisConn, 2025-2030
2018
Gozzi A.
ERC Starting Grant, Neural basis of functional disconnectivity in brain disorders - DisConn, 2019-2024
2017
Gozzi A.
NARSAD Indpendent Investigator Grant 2017
2016
Gozzi A.
Simmons Foundation for Autism Research (SFARI) explorer award (2016)
2014
Gozzi A.
Simmons Foundation for Autism Research (SFARI) explorer award (2014)