Nicola Vanello

Nicola Vanello, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell’Informazione and in the Research Center “E. Piaggio” at the University of Pisa. He received his Degree in Electronic Engineering, with a curriculum in Biomedical Engineering, in 2001 from the University of Pisa, Italy. He received his PhD in Automatics, Robotics and Bioengineering from the Department of Electrical Systems and Automation of University of Pisa, on 2006. His research activity is related to models and methods for biomedical signal and image processing, with special focus in the field of Magnetic Resonance Imaging. In particular, his skills concern the design of experimental paradigms for the study of cerebral functions in complex cognitive tasks, and the development of exploratory and confirmatory models for fMRI data analysis.  He collaborated in studies on multimodal perception and brain disorders (e.g. anxiety and social phobia) with fMRI and EEG. His research interests include methods for the integration of fMRI and EEG data, both with correlation approaches and with source analysis methods. He worked on fMRI compatibility of mechatronic devices with the aim of stimulating subjects under investigations, in a controlled and reproducible fashion. He has collaborated on a clinical program for surgical planning of head diseases by means of fMRI, and he is currently involved on a research project for the study of brain functions in chronic heart failure patients. He is author of several papers, contributions to international conferences and chapters in international books.