On Wednesday the 27th of September, Simone Pittaccio gives a talk entitled "Smart Materials for Neuroscience" in Pav 7 at 1.30 p.m.

Smart materials for Neuroscience

The properties of modern functional materials allow finding of new solutions for the clinical and scientific aspects of Neurology and Neural Sciences. In particular, studying the interactions between the human body and mechanical systems that display nonlinear behaviours can provide new opportunities to investigate motor control mechanisms both peripherally and in the brain.

This talk will summarise some recent experience in the production and clinical evalution of wearable rehabilition devices exploiting pseudo-elastic materials to support motor control in upper-motoneuron syndromes and movement disorders. Furthermore, it will discuss some applications of shape memory materials to create compatible actuators for neuroscience studies, including MEG, EEG and MRI.

Simone Pittaccio - a short curriculum Vitae

After obtaining a BA in Mandarin Language and Culture in 1996, he graduated from Politecnico di Milano in Biomedical Engineering in 2001 and was awarded a Ph.D. from University College London in 2004. He has been with the National Research Council of Italy (CNR-ICMATE) since 2004 and leads a research group working on the design of wearable sensorised devices for neuromuscular rehabilitation and the optimisation of functional metallic materials for biomedical applications. He has published several scientific papers on subjects ranging from Computational Fluid Dynamics to Biomechanics, Materials Science and Neuroscience. He is also adjunct professor of 'Metals Science and Sustainability' at University of Milano-Bicocca.