AV is full Professor Human Anatomy at the University of Torino since 2015, and Scientific Director of the Cavalieri Ottolenghi Foundation since 2014. He is also Past President of the Italian Society of Neuroscience (2024-2025). He has been acting as Deputy Rector for Biomedical Research of UNITO from 2019 to 2024, President of the Spinoff Committee of UNITO since 2020. From Oct 2024 he will serve as Director of the Department of Neuroscience R.Levi Montalcini.
He got a MD in 1986 and a doctorate in Ophthalmology in 1990 with G. Filogamo, and a doctorate in Anatomy with G.M.Innocenti. He was medical assistant in Lausanne (CH) with GM Innocenti, and spent several research periods in the lab of S. Jhaveri, at MIT. He participated in several European and national projects (see cv for details).
He was elected as Effective member of the Turin Academy of Medicine in 2021.
Research focus
He worked on cerebral cortex and the spinal cord, from development to disease. In particular, he worked on spinal cord injury, motoneuron diseases, stroke and healthy and pathological ageing. From a molecular point of view he studied neuronal cell death (apoptosis, necrosis and autophagy) and biomarkers of neurodegenerative diseases. He studies brain connectivity with volume EM, neuronal tracers and fMRI. Recently, he also worked with medical devices and robots for elderly care. He also worked on mesenchymal stem cell transplantation in neural diseases.
His main achievements are a) development of callosal connections and pyramidal neurons; b) the role of JNK in neuronal cell death; c) the effect of SMN depletion in the brain in spinal muscular atrophy.
