The CENIMINT (Centro Neuroimmagini Multimodali Integrate) aims to apply a multimodal approach to the study of the brain by combining advanced non-invasive neuroimaging techniques (with 3 Tesla Magnetic Resonance Imaging) with neuroelectric signal analysis (electroencephalogram). The combination of these investigation methods will allow researchers to study brain structure, functioning and connectivity in relation to the various mental phenomena of interest to psychology - for example, how mental images, thoughts, memories, and emotions are created and implemented in the various networks of brain areas. It will be possible to study the development of the brain from paediatric age (from 10 years old) to old age by measuring the changes underlying the main neurological diseases that occur in childhood (e.g. ADHD, autism) and adulthood (neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's) and the consequences of injuries to the nervous system (e.g. a stroke).

The project also includes the study of the effects of different types of psychological and neuropsychological interventions aimed at enhancing cognitive functions even in healthy people, by identifying best practices for the diagnosis and prevention of neurological diseases and appropriate neurorehabilitation strategies - for example, by studying the cognitive reserve, i.e. the wealth of knowledge, skills and functions accumulated by the brain over a lifetime, which is an important protective factor in the case of diseases of the central nervous system.

What made the project possible is the openness to innovation and research of the Department of Psychology combined with the availability at the Fondazione Santa Lucia IRCCS of technology and expertise in the field of neuroimaging. Three prerequisites were necessary to start the project: advanced instrumentation, such as 3 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging equipment, expertise for the calibration, changes and adaptation of the equipment necessary for the experiments; the presence in a single institute of sufficient multidisciplinary expertise (psychologists, radiologists, neurologists, technicians, physicists) necessary for the research; the coexistence with high-level research activity and a large patient pool.

The centre also aims to train a new generation of neuroscientists and will involve graduands, doctoral students and postgraduates in frontier research activities by encouraging the early involvement of future researchers and practitioners in laboratory activities.

"The creation of a research centre in the field of neuroimaging," says Professor Anna Maria Giannini, psychologist and Director of the Department of Psychology at Sapienza University of Rome, "is one of the essential points of the Department's multi-year development project, which includes the purchase of sophisticated scientific instruments and the recruitment of young researchers: thanks to this project we have recently obtained recognition as a Department of excellence for the second time in a row. Our Department has historically been characterised by a strong interest in the study of the neurological bases of mental processes and by courses aimed at training psychologists with solid skills in cognitive neuroscience and neuropsychology. The possibility for our researchers and students to have access to state-of-the-art instrumentation for the in vivo study of the human brain in an interdisciplinary context represents a turning point for us, which strengthens the Department's position in the national and international neurocognitive research scene and inaugurates a new stage in the historic collaboration with the Fondazione Santa Lucia".

Professor Carlo Caltagirone, neurologist and Scientific Director of the Fondazione Santa Lucia IRCCS, says, "The close cooperation of clinicians and researchers aimed at the common objective of studying the neurobiology of the brain in normal conditions and diseases at the structural, functional and molecular level, using state-of-the-art neuroimaging and signal processing techniques is what makes the project so novel. Being within the Fondazione Santa Lucia IRCC allows direct access to a context where basic research and clinical translational research coexist, firmly basing the project on the expertise developed in the service of the more than 2000 patients admitted every year to our neurorehabilitation hospital and the vast number of people with nervous system disorders who come to our outpatient clinics".

The educational collaboration between the Department of Psychology of Sapienza University of Rome and the Fondazione Santa Lucia IRCCS began in the late 1990s with the establishment at the Roman hospital of the School of Specialisation in Neuropsychology, the branch of psychology that studies cognitive and behavioural alterations in patients affected by nervous system disorders.

Further Information

Anna Maria Giannini
Department of Psychology
annamaria.giannini@uniroma1.it