In Vitro Neuronal Networks

Michela Chiappalone research interests are in the field of Neuroengineering. She obtained a PhD in Electronic Engineering and Computer Science from University of Genova (Italy) in 2003. In 2002 she has been visiting scholar at the Department of Physiology, Northwestern University (Chicago, IL, USA). After a Post Doc at the University of Genova, in 2007 she joined the Neuroscience and Brain Technologies Dept at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) as a Post Doc. In 2013 she got a group leader position ('Researcher') in the same Institution. In 2015 she has been visiting Professor at KUMED (Kansas City, KS, USA), hosted by Prof. R.J. Nudo. From 2012 to 2015 M. Chiappalone has been Coordinator of the FET Open European Project BrainBow, judged excellent. In 2017, M. Chiappalone joined the Rehab Technologies IIT-INAIL Joint Lab of IIT to lead a group aimed at interfacing robotic devices with the nervous system for applications in neuroprosthetics, neuromodulation and neurorehabilitation. In 2018 she got the national scientific habilitation as Full Professor of Bioengineering. She authored 60 papers published in International Journals, 50 peer-reviewed contributions to International Conferences, 8 Book Chapters and she gave more than 60 scientific talks at International/National Conferences and Research Institutions.

1. Past, present and future of neuronal models in vitro.- 2. In vitro models of neural disorders.- 3. Neuronal cultures and nanomaterials.- 4. Advances in Human Stem Cell Derived Neuronal Cell Culturing and Analysis.- 5. Large scale, high-resolution microelectrode arrays for interrogation of neurons and networks.- 6. Multi-site intracellular recordings.- 7. From MEAs to MOAs: the next generation of bioelectronic interfaces for neuronal cultures.- 8. Scaling spike detection and sorting for next generation electrophysiology.- 9. Burst detection methods.- 10. Reconstruction of functional connectivity from multi-electrode recordings and calcium imaging.- 11. Open-source tools for processing and analysis of in vitro extracellular neuronal signals.- 12. Screening chemicals for potential neurotoxicity and developmental neurotoxicity using neural networks grown on MEAs.- 13. Long-term activity dynamics of single neurons and networks.-14. Electrical and optical closed-loop systems.