Claudia Cecchetto

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Verified

Claudia verified their affiliation via an institutional email.

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• PhD in BioEngineering
• Professor (Assistant) at University of Padua

Rodents explore their surroundings through whisking by localizing objects and detecting textures very precisely. During such tactile exploration, whisker deflection is first mechanically transduced by receptors and then information encoded throughout the somatosensory pathway ending in the somatosensory ‘barrel’ cortex. In the barrel cortex, tactil...

CMOS-based neural tissue in-vivo recording chips with a purely capacitive interface are presented with 256 sites resp. 256 recording channels. A 3D post-CMOS ALD-based process allows to provide a highly efficient sensor dielectric and to realize a protective insulation layer for the non-active part of the fabricated devices. A simple interconnect-e...

This paper focuses on ultra-low power embedded classification of neural activities. The machine learning (ML) algorithm has been trained using evoked local field potentials (LFPs) recorded with an implanted 16×16 multi-electrode array (MEA) from the rat barrel cortex while stimulating the whisker. Experimental results demonstrate that ML can be suc...

General anesthesia in animal experiments is an ethical must and is required for all the procedures that are likely to cause more than slight or momentary pain. As anesthetics are known to deeply affect experimental findings, including electrophysiological recordings of brain activity, understanding their mechanism of action is of paramount importan...

To understand brain functions and diagnose brain disorders, scientists have developed various probing tools and techniques. This development has been facilitated by the rapid growth of micro- and nano-technology over the last two decades and allowed the scientists to record neuronal signals at multiple scales and simultaneously from hundreds of cha...

High-resolution recordings of extracellular potentials are fundamental for the study of neuronal networks, the basis of neuronal coding and transmission. Here we present an innovative method for an in vivo electrical imaging of Local Field Potentials using novel implantable neural interfaces with a high-density array of 256 recording sites and a sp...

In the perspective of neuroprosthetics and other applications such as adaptive neuromodulation, spike-based neuromorphic computing architectures represent a great option for power efficient and highly adaptable brain-machine interfaces. Among them, artificial networks of spiking neurons share with biological neurons the spike-based language and syn...

Electrical recordings proved to be an optimal technique to investigate neuronal networks and complex functions as sensory processing, memory and behavior (add ref). In the last 20 years, many advances were made in electrode production, starting from few channels to thousands of sensors embedded on the same probe. The technology behind probe manufac...

Neuronal population activity, both spontaneous and sensory-evoked, generates propagating waves in cortex. However, high spatiotemporal-resolution mapping of these waves is difficult as calcium imaging, the work horse of current imaging, does not reveal subthreshold activity. Here, we present a platform combining voltage or calcium two-photon imagin...

Innovation of neurotechnological tools during the last two decades, especially in the realm of micro-and-nano-machined devices, has allowed the neuroscientific community to study the brain with neuronal probes having thousands of recording sites integrated at very high spatial resolution. The capability of these next generation probes is not only l...

Purpose Theoretical and experimental evidences support the hypothesis that Extremely Low-Frequency Electromagnetic Fields (ELF-EMF) can modulate voltage-gated channels. In this work we investigated the effect of ELF-EMF on Kv1.3, a member of the family of the voltage-gated potassium channels that is thought to be involved in key physiological funct...

The aim of this project is to develop an innovative dual approach to study the neocortex, combining VSD imaging and high-resolution (HR) LFP recordings. Sensory-evoked activity is known to manifest in the cortex as propagating waves, but up to now there are no studies directed towards a HR mapping of these waves in the BC in vivo. A chronic cranial...

A novel approach to the study of sensory information encoding in living neuronal networks through an innovative Brain-Chip Interface developed in collaboration with TU Berlin. The talk also presented the idea and basic principles behind GRACE MSCA-EU Project (ID: #796177). Seminar held by dr. Claudia Cecchetto at OIST, Okinawa in 2018. Symposium...

One of the most ambitious goals of neuroscienceand its neuroprosthetic applications is to interface intelligentelectronic devices with the biological brain to cure neurologicaldiseases. This emerging research field builds on our growingunderstanding of brain circuits and on recent technological ad-vances in miniaturization of implantable multi-elec...

High-Resolution Electrical Imaging of Local Field Potentials across the Rat Barrel Cortex

Background: Local field potentials (LFPs) evoked by sensory stimulation are particularly useful in electrophysiological research. For instance, spike timing and current transmembrane current flow estimated from LFPs recorded in the barrel cortex in rats and mice are exploited to investigate how the brain represents sensory stimuli. Recent improvem...

Lymphocyte subpopulations producing cytokines and exerting regulatory functions represent key immune elements. Given their reciprocal interdependency lymphocyte subpopulations are usually assayed as diagnostic panels, rather than single biomarkers for specialist clinical use. This retrospective analysis on lymphocyte subpopulations, analyzed over t...

Neuronal networks are at the base of information processing in the brain. They are series of interconnected neurons whose activation defines a recognizable linear pathway. The main goal of studying neural ensembles is to characterize the relationship between the stimulus and the individual or general neuronal responses and the relation amongst the...

Local field potentials (LFPs) contain relevant information about neuronal population activity [1]. They are commonly measured in the brain to investigate information processing by neural circuits and for neuroprosthetics applications. We present a novel method allowing for in vivo ???electrical imaging??? of LFPs. An oxide-insulated neural probe wa...

Theoretical and experimental evidences support the hypothesis that extremely low-frequency electromagnetic fields can affect voltage-gated channels. Little is known, however, about their effect on potassium channels. Kv1.3, a member of the voltage-gated potassium channels family originally discovered in the brain, is a key player in important biolo...

Local field potentials (LFPs) recorded in the barrel cortex in rats and mice are important to investigate somatosensory systems, the final aim being to start to understand mechanisms of brain representation of sensory stimuli in humans. Parameters extracted from LFP of particular interest include spike timing and transmembrane current flow. Recent...

Local field potentials (LFPs) recorded in the barrel cortex in rats and mice are important to investigate somatosensory systems, the final aim being to start to understand mechanisms of brain representation of sensory stimuli in humans. Parameters extracted from LFP of particular interest include spike timing and transmembrane current flow. Recent...

The rat barrel cortex is a widely used model of information processing in the somatosensory area, thanks to its precise and easily recognizable organization. However, evoked Local Field Potentials (LFPs) generated in the barrel cortex by repetitive deflections of rat whiskers show large variability in shapes and timings. Moreover, anesthetics can d...

Recent improvements in microelectrodes technology have enabled neuroscientists to record electrophysiological signals from hundreds of neurons and simultaneously from a large number of channels. However, several environmental factors may introduce noise and artefacts and affect proper interpretation of recordings. Thus, the development of appropria...

Presentation on brain-chip interfaces and electrophysiological recordings from the brain. Held in Padua (Italy) in 2015 for the Brain Awareness Week.

Neural circuits of the rat barrel cortex, a specific area of the primary somatosensory cortex, are processing input information from the rat’s whiskers. Animals interact with their changing surrounding environment by trying to synthesize the huge amount of information coming from their sensory organs into simple and manageable brain maps. Electroph...

Despite a growing clinical and research interest in magnetotherapy and overall effects of magnetic fields on mammalian systems, the mechanisms behind remain elusive. In this study we discuss the effect of a weak and low-frequency (f=20 Hz) magnetic field on the dynamics of voltage-gated ion channels. Electrophysiological patch-clamp measurements of...