Antwerp seen from the MAAS museum

Welcome!
This is my online resume
and personal web presence.



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Bio sketch

My name is Michele GIUGLIANO and I am Principal Investigator at the International School of Advanced Studies (SISSA) of Trieste, Italy. Download here my full CV, which includes a list of publications. Continue reading a brief biographical sketch below, scroll down or jump to one of the sections of my resume by clicking on the navigation bar on your left.

Image of myself

I was born in Genova (Italy) in 1974, I received my scientific high-school diploma in 1992, and I graduated in Electronic Engineering in 1997 at the Univ. of Genova (Italy), specializing in Biomedical Engineering. In 2001, after I received a PhD in Bioengineering, with a thesis in Computational Neuroscience by the Polytechnic of Milan (Italy), I decided to move abroad to continue my academic training.

In the same year, I received an award from the Human Frontiers Science Program Organization to pursue postdoctoral training in experimental Electrophysiology and Neurobiology at the Inst. of Physiology of the Univ. of Bern (Switzerland), where I had the opportunity to work with Prof. Hans-Rudolf Luescher and Prof. Stefano Fusi. In 2005, I moved to the Brain Mind Institute at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne where I joined the experimental lab of Prof. Henry Markram as junior group leader.

Three years later, in 2008, I was appointed faculty member at the University of Antwerp (Belgium), taking over the Theoretical Neurobiology lab as a successor of Prof. Erik De Schutter, to extend its scope to interdisciplinary research in experimental Neuroscience and Neuroengineering. During the period 2013-2015, I was visiting scientist at the Neuroelectronics Flanders Institute at IMEC, Leuven (Belgium). Over the years, I retained visiting appointments at the Department of Computer Science of the University of Sheffield (UK) and at the Brain Mind Institute of the EPFL (Switzerland). In 2012, I received my tenure and later, in 2016, I was promoted to full professor.

From 2008 until 2019, I have directed the Laboratory for Theoretical Neurobiology and Neuroengineering, founding in 2017 a new research unit on Molecular, Cellular, and Network Excitability research.

Since 2019, I moved to the International School of Advanced Studies (SISSA) of Trieste, where I started the Neuronal Dynamics Laboratory.

Research Focus

As a Neuroscientist and Bioengineer, with extensive cross disciplinary experience, I contribute to the understanding, repairing, replacing, and enhancing of the electrical properties of neural systems. I am particularly interested in the biophysics and electrophysiology of nerve cells as well as of networks, which compose the mammalian cortex. Besides fundamental investigations, aimed at clarifying the most appropriate levels of description of the complex operations of cells and microcircuit, I am also interested in the interfacing of living neural tissue and artificial systems and exploring the use of nanotechnologies in advancing brain research. My team and I also develop and apply novel theoretical approaches, computer simulation techniques, and biological experiments to understand the brain.

Selected Publications

Pampaloni NP, Lottner M, Giugliano M, Matruglio A, D’Amico F, Prato M, Garrido JA, Ballerini L, Scaini D (2017) Single-layer graphene modulates neuronal communication and membrane ion channels expression via its cation−π interactions, Nature Nanotechnology, 13:755–64.

Linaro D, Biró I, Giugliano M (2018) Dynamical response properties of neocortical neurons to conductance-driven time-varying inputs, European Journal of Neuroscience 47(1):17–32

Pulizzi R, Musumeci G, Van den Haute C, Van De Vijver S, Baekelandt V, Giugliano M (2016) Brief wide-field photostimuli evoke and modulate oscillatory reverberating activity in cortical networks, Scientific Reports vol. 6:24701

Peelaerts W, Bousset L, Van der Perren A, Moskalyuk A, Pulizzi R, Giugliano M, Van den Haute C, Melki R, Baekelandt V. (2015) α-Synuclein strains cause distinct synucleinopathies after local and systemic administration. Nature 522(7556):340-4

Couto, J., Linaro, D., De Schutter, E., Giugliano, M. (2015) On the Firing Rate Dependency of the Phase Response Curve of Rat Purkinje Neurons In Vitro. PLoS Comp Biology 11(3):e1004112

Testa-Silva, G., Verhoog, M.B., de Kock, C.P.J., Baayen, J.C., Meredith, R.M., Giugliano, M., Mansvelder, H.D. (2014) High bandwidth synaptic communication and frequency tracking in human neocortex. PLoS Biology 12(11):e1002007

Linaro, D., Storace, M., Giugliano, M. (2011) Accurate and fast simulation of channel noise in conductance-based model neurons by diffusion approximation PLoS Computational Biology 7(3):e1001102

Education and Degrees

  • 2017-23              Italian Academic Habilitation, “1 Fascia” (Full Prof.): Bioengineering (09/G2)
  • 2017-23              Italian Academic Habilitation, “2 Fascia” (Assoc. Prof.): Bioengineering (09/G2)
  • 2017-23              Italian Academic Habilitation, “2 Fascia” (Assoc. Prof.): Physiology (05/D1)

  • 2001                    Polytechnic of Milan, (I): PhD in Bioengineering
  • 1998                    Univ. of Genova, (I): Habilitation as Chartered Engineer (score 110/110)
  • 1997                    Univ. of Genova, (I): Electronic Engineering Laurea, MEng eq., 110/110 cum laude
  • 1992                    Liceo M. Champagnat, Genova: Diploma di Maturità Scientifica (score: 57/60)

Current Positions

Past Research Experience

Honors and awards

  • 2009                        Ghent, Belgium: Best poster Award, sponsored by Cochlear
  • 2008                        Univ. La Sapienza, Rome, Italy: Science Award to Young Investigators
  • 2003                        Swiss Physiological Society, Asher-Hess Young Investigator Award (2nd prize)
  • 2001 2004          Human Frontier Science Program, France, Long-term Fellowship
  • 1997                        Dignity of Publication and Highest Honors for MEng Thesis
  • 2004                        Italian Society for Neurosci., Travel grant for attending the FENS Congress
  • 1997 1999          Univ. of Genova, Travel grants for PhD training activities
  • 1998                        Polytechnic of Milan, Grad School admission natl. exam, 1st rank (score: 114/120)
  • 1997                        Univ. of Genova (I), Grad School admission natl. exam, 1st rank (score:114/120)

Invited talks

  • 2018                        Department of Computer Science, University of Nottingham (UK)
  • 2018                        University of Verona (Italy)
  • 2018                        OCNC: OIST Computational Neuroscience Course, OIST, Okinawa (Japan)
  • 2018                        ICM Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle épinière, Paris (F)
  • 2018                        “Neurotechnologies and computational methods” school, Univ. Genova (I)
  • 2018                        I3S Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Porto (Portugal)
  • 2018                        Lecture on “Physics of the Brain”, University of Ghent (Be)
  • 2018                        Research Club, UZA, University Hospital of Antwerp (Be)
  • 2017                        Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste (Italy)
  • 2017                        ICANN 2017 - The 26th Intl. Cond. on Artificial Neural Net., Alghero (Italy), invited keynote
  • 2017                        FisMat 2017, Italian Natl. Conf. on the Physics of Matter, ICTP, Trieste (Italy)
  • 2017                  Workshop on “Theory in the HBP”, OCNS Intl. Comp Neurosci Conf., Antwerp (Belgium)
  • 2017                 VII Neuron Technology Summer School: from E-physiology to Imaging & Bionanotechnology, SISSA, Trieste (Italy)
  • 2017                        WiBrain Conference, ICM Institute for Brain and Spinal Cord, Paris (France)
  • 2017                        The Cognitive Neuromorphic Engineering Workshop, Capocaccia (Italy)
  • 2017                        Epilepsy Genetic Network Meeting, Edegem (Belgium)
  • 2016                        NeuroMath: Theoretical & Computational Neuroscience, Cortona (Italy)
  • 2016                        Interuniversity Initiative on Optogenetics, KULeuven, Leuven (Belgium)
  • 2016                        Laboratory of Computational Neuroscience, BMI, EPFL Lausanne (Switzerland)
  • 2016                        Opto- & other genetic approaches in systems neuroscience, Nijmegen (NL)
  • 2016                        University of Padua (Italy), Neurotechniques School
  • 2015                        2nd Belgian Neuroinformatics Congress, Leuven (B)
  • 2015                    In vitro Microelectrode Array Recording Techniques Symposium, SfN satellite, Chicago (US)
  • 2015                        Neurosurgery. Clinical research at the University Hospital Antwerp (B).
  • 2015                        37th Annual Conference of the IEEE Eng. in Medicine & Biology Soc., Milan (I)
  • 2015                        “Spike initiation: models and experiments” CNS2015 Workshop, Prague (CZ)
  • 2015                        B-Debate: “A Dialogue with the Cerebral Cortex: Function & Interfacing” (Spain)
  • 2015                        University of Padua (Italy), Neurotechniques School
  • 2015                        Donders Centre for Neuroscience, Nijmegen (The Netherlands)
  • 2015                        BENEFRI Neuroscience Workshop, Univ. Bern (Switzerland)
  • 2015                        NETT Winter School on Neural Engineering, Imperial College London (UK)
  • 2015                        University of Padua (Italy), Neurotechniques School
  • 2014                       BRAIN-FETs: Clustering Workshop on Future Emerging Neurotechnologies (Italy)
  • 2014                        Neuroinformatics 2014 Workshop, Leiden (The Netherlands)
  • 2014                        Laboratory of Computational Neuroscience, BMI, EPFL Lausanne (Switzerland)
  • 2014                       NERF Neurotechnology Symposium, Leuven (Belgium)
  • 2013                       Dept. Bioengineering, Imperial College London (UK)
  • 2013                       Congress of the Italian Society for Neuroscience (Italy)
  • 2013                       NAMASEN Marie Curie Training Network Workshop, University of Sheffield (UK)
  • 2013                       Russian Acad. Sci. - Inst. of Physics: Topical problems of Biophotonics (Russia)
  • 2013                       “Network Neurosciences: structure and dynamics” CNS2013 Workshop (France)
  • 2013                       NETT Marie Curie Training Network Workshop, University of Nottingham (UK)
  • 2013                       “Guru Lecture series” in Neuroscience, The University of Sheffield (UK)
  • 2013                       Department of Computer Science, The University of Sheffield (UK)
  • 2013                       Institute of Neuroinformatics Colloquium, ETHZ/University of Zürich (Switzerland)
  • 2012                       60 Years of the Hodgkin-Huxley Model, Trinity College, Cambridge UK, speaker
  • 2012                       European School of Neuroengineering “Massimo Grattarola”, Genova (I), faculty
  • 2012                       Belgian Physical Society Congress, Brussels (Belgium)
  • 2012                       VIB - KULeuven, Leuven (Belgium)
  • 2011                       Univ. Bruxelles, Leuven (Belgium)
  • 2011                       IMEC, invited speaker, Leuven (Belgium)
  • 2011                       Polish Neuroscience Society, Lodz, (Poland)
  • 2011                       Max Planck Institute for Biol. Cybernetics, Tübingen (Germany)
  • 2011                       CNRS-Laboratory of Neurophysics and Physiology in Paris (France)
  • 2011                       University of Sheffield (UK), Dept. Computer Science
  • 2011                       University of Padua (Italy), Neurotechniques School
  • 2011                       The Israeli Institute of Technology (Technion), Haifa (Israel)
  • 2010                       Session Opening Lecture, NanoMed 2010, Berlin (Germany)
  • 2010                       Keynote speaker, Intel European Res. & Innovation Conference, Dublin (Ireland)
  • 2010                       European Brain Research Institute, Rome (Italy)
  • 2010                       Anniversary lecture - 20 years IMO-IMOMEC , Univ. Hasselt (Belgium)
  • 2010                       University of Mons, Materia Nova, Mons (Belgium)
  • 2009                       7th fall course on Comp. Neurosci. ,Max-Planck-Institut, Göttingen (D)
  • 2009                       EuroNanoForum 2009, Prague (Czech Republic)
  • 2009                       School on Neuroelectronic Hybrid Systems, Inst. for Advanced Studies, HUJI (Israel)
  • 2009                       Univ. of Liege, Centre de Recherches du Cyclotron, Liege (Belgium)
  • 2009                       Univ. of Leuven, Dept. of Neuroscience, Leuven (Belgium)
  • 2009                       Johnson & Johnson (Janssen Pharmaceutica), CNS Discovery
  • 2008                       Department of Physics, University of Antwerp, Antwerp (Belgium)
  • 2008                       INCF National Node Workshop (Varenna, Italy)
  • 2008                       Workshop on Bioelectronics, IMEC, Leuven (Belgium)
  • 2008                       Computation in Cortical Circuits, Monte Verita’, Ascona (Switzerland)
  • 2008                       Italian Institute of Technology, Genoa (Italy)
  • 2008                       Max-Planck-Institut, Göttingen (Germany)
  • 2008                       “FlandersBio: Neuro Café”, Mechelen (Belgium), keynote
  • 2008                       Brain Research Institute, University of Zürich (Swizterland)
  • 2008                       Faculty of Medicine and Biology, University of Lausanne (Switzerland)
  • 2007                       Institute of Neuroinformatics Colloquium, ETHZ/University of Zürich (Switzerland)
  • 2007                       Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Heraklion (Crete)
  • 2006                        European Brain Research Institute, Rome (Italy)
  • 2006                        Okinawa Computational Neuroscience Course, Okinawa (Japan), invited tutor
  • 2006                        European School of Neuro-IT and Neuroengineering Genova (Italy)
  • 2005                        Congress of the Italian Society for Neurosciences Ischia (Italy)
  • 2005                        QinetiQ UK Workshop “Demo & analysis of learning neuronal networks”
  • 2005                        Complex Systems Unit, Dept. Tech. & Health, Italian Natl Inst Health, Rome (I)
  • 2004                        Laboratory of Computational Neuroscience, BMI, EPFL Lausanne (Switzerland)
  • 2004              Neurobiology and Biophysics Group, Inst. für Biologie III, Albert-Ludwigs Univ., Freiburg (D)
  • 2003                       Neural Microcircuitry Laboratory, BMI, EPFL Lausanne (Switzerland)
  • 2001 2002           NeuroEngineering Workshop & Advanced School, Univ. Genova (Italy)
  • 2001                        Symposium at the Congress of Italian Society for Neurosciences, Torino (Italy)
  • 2000                        Dept. Communication, Computer and System Sciences, Univ. of Genova (Italy)

Funding record

  • 2020 - 2023          EC-Flagship, SGA3 - Human Brain Project, P.I. ** 2020 - 2023          EC-H2020 FET-OPEN Grant, P.I. and coordinator
  • 2018 - 2020          EC-Flagship, SGA2 - Human Brain Project, P.I.
  • 2017 - 2019          Grant G.0F15.17.N, Research Foundation Flanders (FWO), P.I.
  • 2016 - 2018          EC-Flagship, SGA1 - Human Brain Project, P.I.
  • 2015                           Congress Organisation grant, Research Foundation Flanders (FWO)
  • 2015                           Congress Organisation grant, Univ. Antwerp
  • 2012 2017              Belgian Science Policy Office, P.I.
  • 2013 2016              EC-FP7 ICT FET-OPEN Strep Grant, P.I. and coordinator
  • 2013                            Development Support Grant, Univ. Antwerp, co-P.I.
  • 2012                             PhD salary grant, Univ. Antwerp, P.I.
  • 2012 2016              Grant G.0888.12.N, Research Foundation Flanders (FWO), P.I.
  • 2012 2015              EC-FP7 ICT FET-OPEN Strep Grant, P.I.
  • 2012 2015              EC-FP7 NMP Strep Grant, P.I.
  • 2011 2015              EC-FP7 Marie Curie Initial Training Network, P.I. and coordinator
  • 2011 2015              Grant G.0136.11N, Research Foundation Flanders (FWO), co-P.I.
  • 2011                             Development Support Grant, Univ. Antwerp, P.I.
  • 2010 2013                EC FP-7 “Matera+” / IWT, PI
  • 2010 2012                “e-GAP2” grant, UK Royal Society, co-P.I.
  • 2010                               Congress Organization grant, Univ. Antwerp, P.I.
  • 2009 2013                 New Research Initiatives grant (BOF/NOI), Univ. Antwerp, P.I.
  • 2009 2011                 Grant G.0836.09, Research Foundation Flanders (FWO)
  • 2009 2010                 Congress Organization grant, “Centro Stefano Franscini”, co-P.I.
  • 2008 2011                 Professorship Mandate, Foundation “Franqui Stichting”, P.I.
  • 2008 2011                 Competitive Start-up grant, Univ. Antwerp, P.I.
  • 2008 2011                 “Stoicescu research grant”, EPFL, co-P.I.
  • 2006 2009                 Grant “NEURONANO”, EC FP-6, co-P.I.
  • 2005 2008                 Research grant, Swiss National Science Foundation, co-P.I.
  • 2001 2004                 Long-term Fellowship award, Human Frontier Science Program, France, P.I.
  • 2000 2001                 Research grant for “Young Researchers”, Univ. of Genova, P.I.