Development and validation of “Minimal" models of the glucose system to measure signals and parameters (such insulin sensitivity, beta-cell function, hepatic insulin extraction, hepatic glucose production, glucose utilization and rate of appearance of ingested glucose) from intravenous/oral tolerance tests.
Development and validation of "Maximal" models of the glucose-insulin system for in silico simulation.
Development and validation of Models of the glucose-insulin system for use in control applications (artificial pancreas).
Neuroimaging is a crucial method of investigation for studying the human brain in healthy and impaired populations. Cutting edge improvements in imaging are, for instance, integral to intervention and prognostication in the neuro-oncology field. Our research activities include development and application of statistical methods for modeling and integrate the complexity of the physiological information provided from MRI, PET and electrocortical data.
Confocal microendoscopy in Barrett’s esophagus: methods for the evaluation of the cellular architecture and of the functional and morphological alterations of the esophageal mucosa. Identification and classification of mucosal alterations (gastric metaplasia, intestinal metaplasia, high grade displasia, neoplasia) to provide a target for biopsies and quantitative markers for cancer surveillance.
Small joint morphology: detection of markers from 2D and 3D images of the small joints. Automatic assessment of synovial shape and dimension
Synovial perfusion: perfusion identification and modelling of the local perfusion within the synovia. Detection and characterization of perfusion patterns linked to different underlying diseases or substrates. Develop methods for an accurate differential diagnosis of rheumatic diseases based on the perfusion patterns and imaging biomarkers.
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI): functional connectivity, dynamic causal modelling to study the effective connectivity during tasks or in resting state; assessment of cerebral hemodynamic impairment thought fMRI data analysis, methods to integrate EEG & fMRI.
Development of novel models and estimation methods for quantitative PET imaging: compartmental models, input/output models, Variational Bayesian methods for voxel-wise quantification, Non-linear mixed effect modelling approach, Multi-scale hierarchical approaches for parametric mapping.
