About me

I am a computational neuroscientist specializing in biophysically grounded models of cortical circuit function. My research asks how neurons and networks implement the computations underlying perception and memory — with a focus on dendritic integration, synaptic plasticity, and the cell-type specificity of cortical circuits. I build models constrained by experimental data and designed to generate testable predictions for electrophysiology and optogenetics.

Currently I am a postdoc at the Institut de l'Audition in Paris (Brice Bathellier's lab), where I investigate auditory working memory and spectrotemporal processing in the auditory cortex. Before that, I completed my Ph.D. at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen, working with Karl Magnus Petersson, Hartmut Fitz, and Peter Hagoort on the dendritic mechanisms of spoken word recognition.

---

I was born in Rome and grew up in a medieval village in the campagna romana. I studied Physics at Sapienza University, where courses with G. Parisi, P. del Giudice, and V. Loreto drew me toward complexity, statistics, and neuroscience. My BSc thesis with V. Servedio and V. Loreto analyzed the information entropy of literary texts using compression algorithms.

For my master's thesis I moved to Paris (Diderot University), working with S. Bottani and P. Del Giudice on models of neurite spatial growth, and co-developing a neuronal growth simulator with T. Fardet. The intersection of language and neuroscience then led me to Nijmegen for my PhD, where I developed the Tripod neuron — a three-compartment model capturing the dendritic nonlinearities relevant to sequence recognition and memory.

Alongside research, I have been involved in science communication throughout my career: co-editing the Het Talige Brein blog at the MPI, organizing public events blending arts and science, and writing for general audiences on neuroscience, technology, and environmental justice. During my studies I was also active in The Science Zone (experimental science education in schools) and in AvANa / Le Dita Nella Presa, a hacklab advocating for digital freedom and technological justice.

In my free time I hike, swim in lakes, visit exhibitions, and explore video projection and live performance.