The Computational Neuroengineering Laboratory studies information processing in the nervous system. We combine methods from Computational Neuroscience - decoding and information analysis of biological and artificial neural data, spiking neuronal networks simulations - with the application-driven approach of Biomedical Engineering and Neuro Robotics. Understanding information processing is indeed a key feature for the development of neural interfaces, and such interfaces can in turn be used to validate neural models. Moreover, capturing neural coding dynamics is a basic step toward the development of biomimetic software/hardware for data processing.
Theoretical studies on the origin of neural signals, information transmission, and dynamics of neuronal networks are then complemented by a broad range of Biorobotic applications, spanning from invertebrates to humans, from sensory processing to decision making.

As examples of such applications, we are working on the analysis of healthy and pathological neural dynamics in the autonomic nervous system and in the basal ganglia to shed light on metabolic and neurodegenerative diseases, and we are contributing with the analysis of behavioral and neural responses to external stimuli to the development of novel upper and lower limb neuroprostheses. Recent modeling works include instead:  sleep/wake transition in thalamic networks, synaptic and network factors determining the local field potential, and phase-of-firing code in single neurons.

Principal Investigator

Prof. Alberto Mazzoni  
e-mail: alberto.mazzoni@santannapisa.it

Research team

Assistant Professors
Dr. Nicolò Meneghetti

PhD Students
Lorenzo Gaetano Amato
Laura Caffi
Salvatore Falciglia
Federico Fattorini
Rita Habib
Fabio Taddeini

Research Assistants
Dr. Michael Lassi

Alumni
Mahboubeh Ahmadipour
Federica Barberi
Marina Cracchiolo
Lorenzo Fruzzetti
Ahmet Kaymak
Elena Manferlotti
Federico Micheli
Sahana Prasanna
Elena Hilary Rondoni
Udaya Bhaskar Rongala
Matteo Saponati
Alberto Vergani
Matteo Vissani

Grants

• FRESCO FOUNDATION RESEARCH GRANT - assessing the role of Deep Brain Stimulation and the effects of transcranial Direct Current Stimulation in speech degradation in Parkinson's Disease;
• GENTE – Gamma ENtrainment against Tumor Expansion. Investigating the role of visual stimulation to counteract the progression of glioblastoma. Fondo di Beneficenza Intesa San Paolo
• PROTECTION: interplay between visual cortex spontaneous and induced activity and glioma progression. Progetto di Ricerca di Interesse Nazionale (PRIN)
• PREVIEW: predicting the probability of evolution from Mild Cognitive Impairment to Alzheimer's disease with EEG analysis. Bando Salute Regione Toscana
• ONDA - Origin of Neural Dysfunctions of Upper Limb in a Mouse Model of Parkinson Disease. Fondo di Beneficenza Intesa San Paolo

Recent and selected publications 

Consult the full list of publications 

Parkinson's disease

• Ahmadipour M, Fattorini F, Meneghetti N, Mazzoni A, In silico model of basal ganglia deep brain stimulation in Parkinson’s disease captures range of effective parameters for pathological beta power suppression, PLOS Computational Biology (2026)
• Falciglia S, Caffi L, Baiata C, Palmisano C, Isaias IU, Mazzoni A, Transformer-based long-term predictor of subthalamic beta activity in Parkinson’s disease, npj Parkinson's Disease (2025)
• Minetti A*, Montagni E*, Meneghetti N*, Macchi F, Coulomb É, Martello A, Tiberi A, Capsoni S, Mazzoni A, Mascaro A.L.A., Spalletti C, Parkinsonism disrupts cortical function by dysregulating oscillatory, network and synaptic activity of parvalbumin positive interneurons, npj Parkinson's Disease (2025)
• Taddeini F, Ordali E, Govoni A, Piattellini F, Valente S, Caremani L,Vergani A A, Kaymak A, Rustichini A, Russo E, Rapallini C, Ramat S, Mazzoni A, Dopaminergic therapy disrupts decision-making in impulsive-compulsive Parkinsonian patients, Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology (2025)
• Gambosi B, Jamal Sheiban F, Biasizzo M, Antonietti A, D’Angelo E, Mazzoni A, Pedrocchi A, A model with dopamine depletion in basal ganglia and cerebellum predicts changes in thalamocortical beta oscillations, International Journal of Neural Systems (2024)
• Caffi L, Romito LM, Palmisano C, Aloia V, Arlotti M, Rossi L, Marceglia S, Priori A, Eleopra R, Levi V, Mazzoni A, Isaias IU, Adaptive versus conventional deep brain stimulation: one-year subthalamic recordings and clinical monitoring in a patient with Parkinson’s disease, Bioengineering (2024)
• Isaias IU, Caffi L, Borellini L, Ampollini AM, Locatelli M, Pezzoli G, Mazzoni A, Palmisano C, Case report: Improvement of gait with adaptive deep brain stimulation in a patient with Parkinson’s disease, Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology (2024)
• Ortone A, Vergani AA, Ahmadipour M, Mannella R, Mazzoni A, Dopamine depletion leads to pathological synchronization of distinct basal ganglia loops in the beta band, PLOS Computational Biology (2023)
• Avantaggiato F, Farokhniaee AA, Bandini A, Palmisano C, Hanafi I, et al., Intelligibility of speech in Parkinson's disease relies on anatomically segregated subthalamic beta oscillations, Neurobiology of Disease (2023)
• Fasano A, Mazzoni A, Falotico E, Reaching and grasping movements in Parkinson’s disease: a review, Journal of Parkinson’s Disease (2022)
• Vissani M, Palmisano C, Volkmann J, Pezzoli G, Micera S, Isaias UI*, Mazzoni A*, Impaired reach-to-grasp kinematics in parkinsonian patients relates to dopamine-dependent, subthalamic beta bursts, npj Parkinson’s Disease (2021)
• Micheli F, Vissani M, Pecchioli G, Terenzi F, Ramat S, Mazzoni A, Impulsivity markers in parkinsonian subthalamic single-unit activity, Movement Disorders (2021)
• Canessa A, Palmisano C, Isaias UI, Mazzoni A, Gait-related frequency modulation of beta oscillatory activity in the subthalamic nucleus of parkinsonian patients, Brain Stimulation (2020)
• Vissani M, Isaias UI, Mazzoni A, Deep brain stimulation: a review of the open neural engineering challenges, Journal of Neural Engineering (2020)

Dementia

• Amato LG et al., Digital Twins support cross-modal and cross-centric classification of mild cognitive impairment, Communications Medicine (2026)
• Amato LG et al., Digital Twins and non-invasive recordings enable early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, Alzheimer's Research & Therapy (2025)
• Lassi M et al., Degradation of EEG microstates patterns in subjective cognitive decline and mild cognitive impairment: Early biomarkers along the Alzheimer's disease continuum?, Neuroimage Clinical (2023)
• Sibilano E et al., An attention-based deep learning approach for the classification of subjective cognitive decline and mild cognitive impairment using resting-state EEG, Journal of Neural Engineering (2023)

Movement Disorders

• Romito LM, Telese R, Kaymak A, Colucci F, Elia AE, Rinaldo S, Devigili G, Cilia R, Zorzi G, Mazzoni A, Leta V, Zech M, Carecchio M, Garavaglia B, Levi V, Andreasi NG, Eleopra R, Sex-related differences in the short and long-term outcome of internal pallidus stimulation for dystonia, Neurological Sciences (2026)
• Svorenova T, Romito LM, Kaymak A, Mulroy E, Cif L, Moro E, et al., Deep Brain Stimulation for VPS16-Related Dystonia: A Multicenter Study, Annals of Neurology (2025)
• Ahmadipour M, Romito LM, Elia AE, Andreasi NG, Eleopra R, Mazzoni A, Colucci F, Genetic Profile and Symptom Pattern Explain Variability of Deep Brain Stimulation Effect in Dystonia, Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology (2025)
• Kaymak A, Colucci F, Ahmadipour M, Andreasi NG, Rinaldo S, Israel Z, et al., Spiking patterns in the globus pallidus highlight convergent neural dynamics across diverse genetic dystonia syndromes, Annals of Neurology (2025)
• Kaymak A, Romito LM, Colucci F, Andreasi NG, Telese R, Rinaldo S, et al., Genetic Etiology Influences the Low-Frequency Components of Globus Pallidus Internus Electrophysiology in Dystonia, European Journal of Neurology (2025)
• Kaymak A, Vissani M, Lenge M, Melani F, Fino E, Cappelletto P, et al., Patterns of neural activity and clinical outcomes in a juvenile Huntington’s disease patient undergoing deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus, Deep Brain Stimulation, (2023)
• Vissani M., Cordella R., Micera S., Eleopra R., Romito L.*, Mazzoni A.*, Spatio-temporal structure of single neuron subthalamic activity identifies DBS target for anesthetized Tourette syndrome patients, Journal of Neural Engineering (2019)

Neuroengineering

• Cracchiolo C, Ottaviani MM, Panarese A, Strauss I, Vallone F, Mazzoni A*, Micera S*, Bioelectronic medicine for the autonomic nervous system: clinical applications and perspectives, Journal of Neural Engineering (2021);
• Meneghetti N, Dedola F, Gavryusev V, Sancataldo G, Turrini L, de Vito G, Tiso N, Vanzi F, Carpaneto J, Cutrone A, Pavone FS, Micera S, Mazzoni A, Direct activation of zebrafish neurons by ultrasonic stimulation revealed by whole CNS calcium imaging, Journal of Neural Engineering (2020);
• Cracchiolo M, Valle G, Petrini FM, Strauss I, Granata G, Stieglitz T, Rossini PM,  Raspopovic S, Mazzoni A, Micera S, Decoding of grasping tasks from intraneural recordings in trans-radial amputee, Journal of Neural Engineering (2020);
• Dedola F, Ulloa Severino FP, Meneghetti N, Lemaire T, Cafarelli A, Ricotti L, Menciassi A, Cutrone A, Micera S, Mazzoni A, Ultrasound stimulations induce prolonged depolarization and fast action potentials in leech neurons, IEEE Open Journal of Engineering in Medicine and Biology (2020);
• D’Anna E., Valle G., Mazzoni A., Strauss I., Iberite F., Patton J., Petrini FM, Raspopovic S., Granata G., Di Iorio R., Controzzi M., Cipriani C., Stieglitz T., Rossini PM., Micera S., A closed-loop hand prosthesis with simultaneous intraneural tactile and position feedback, Science Robotics 4:27 eaau8892 (2019);
• Valle G., Mazzoni A., Iberite F., D’Anna E., Strauss I., Granata G., Controzzi M., Clemente F., Rognini G., Cipriani C., Stieglitz T., Petrini FM., Rossini PM., Micera S., Biomimetic Intraneural Sensory Feedback Enhances Sensation Naturalness, Tactile Sensitivity, and Manual Dexterity in a Bidirectional Prosthesis, NEURON 37-45 1 :100 (2018);
• Mazzoni A., Rosa M., Carpaneto J., Romito LM., Priori P., Micera S., Subthalamic neural activity patterns anticipate economic risk decisions in gambling, eNeuro. 0366-17.2017 (2018).

Network models

• Fabbrizzi M, Amato LG, et al., A Digital Twin Approach for Simultaneous Reconstruction of Brain Anatomy and Dynamics from Neural Data, PLOS Digital Health (2026)
• N Meneghetti, AE Rimehaug, GT Einevoll, A Mazzoni, TV Ness, Kernel-based LFP estimation in detailed large-scale spiking network model of mouse visual cortex, Neural Networks (2025)
• Romeni S, Valle G, Mazzoni A, Micera S., Tutorial: a computational framework for the design and optimization of peripheral neural interfaces, Nature Protocols (2020);
• Saponati M., Garcia-Ojalvo J., Cataldo E., Mazzoni A., Integrate-and-Fire Network Model of Activity Propagation from Thalamus to Cortex, Biosystems 183: 103978 (2019);
• Stellino F., Mazzoni A., Storace M., Phase analysis methods for burst onset prediction, Physical Review E 95 (2), 022412 (2017);
• Barardi A, Garcia-Ojalvo J, Mazzoni A.,Transition between Functional Regimes in an Integrate-And-Fire Network Model of the Thalamus, PLoS ONE 11(9) e0161934 (2016);
• Mazzoni A., Lindén H., Cuntz H., Lansner A., Panzeri S., Einevoll GT., Computing the Local Field Potential (LFP) from Integrate-and-Fire network models, PLoS Comp Biol 11 e1004584 (2015).