The Gozzi lab focuses on the study of the functional organization of the mammalian brain at the macroscale. Our ultimate goal is to understand how the brain works as an integrated network, both in healthy and in pathological states.

Some of the questions we address in the lab are

(a) how do brain regions dynamically communicate with each other? Is there an intrinsic directional hierarchy that governs functional communication  between brain regions?

(b) how does communication between brain regions, often referred to as “functional connectivity”, emerges out of the fixed anatomical structure of the brain?

(c) what are the underpinnings of the functional connectivity disruption that characterizes developmental (autism) or neurological disorders (stroke, etc.)?

(c) how do brain networks reconfigure in response to internal and external perturbation? 

To achieve our goals, we have pioneered methods to map and causally perturbate large-scale brain networks in the living mouse brain as measured via functional magnetic resonance imaging - fMRI, and now also with functional ultrasound imaging - fUSI. By combining these neuroimaging methods with chemogenetics, optogenetics, large-scale electrophysiology and advance computational modelling, we can now explore how each factor causally affects brain network activity.

This is a major advancement in the field, as the vast majority of investigations of these questions in humans are based on correlational methods, and as such do not imply causality.

Demonstrating the impact and innovation of our research, our lab is one of the few in Europe to receive two consecutive European Research Council (ERC) grants (2019, #Disconn; 2023, #Brainamics). These grants are the most competitive and prestigious research awards that are available in Europe, and we are honored (and excited!) to be recognized and supported by such a prestigious institution.

--> We are recruiting! <--

We have an opening for a postdoctoral position (up to 6 years, internationally competitive salary) aimed at implementing multimodal optical imaging and functional neuroimaging in the mouse

https://www.fens.org/careers/job-market/job/120361
This position is part of a newly funded research program we are launching to understand how brain-wide networks respond to internal and external modulation (ERC project BRAINAMICS). 

We also have an opening for a laboratory technician
https://www.fens.org/careers/job-market/job/120362

For informal inquiries, please send an email to alessandro.gozzi @ iit.it