Prof. Mattia Ferro

Department of Psychology, Sigmund Freud University, 20143 Milan, Italy

Prof. Mattia Ferro

Department of Psychology, Sigmund Freud University, 20143 Milan, Italy

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Academic Career Length

17Years (2010-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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18 April 2017 in Journal of Immunology Research

Journal Article

Bacteriophages and Their Immunological Applications against Infectious Threats

Roberto Burioni

Bacteriophage therapy dates back almost a century, but the discovery of antibiotics led to a rapid decline in the interests and investments within this field of research. Recently, the novel threat of multidrug-resistant bacteria highlighted the alarming drop in research and development of new antibiotics: 16 molecules were discovered during 1983–87, 10 new therapeutics during the nineties, and only 5 between 2003 and 2007. Phages are therefore being reconsidered as alternative therapeutics. Phage display technique has proved to be extremely promising for the identification of effective antibodies directed against pathogens, as well as for vaccine development. At the same time, conventional phage therapy uses lytic bacteriophages for treatment of infections and recent clinical trials have shown great potential. Moreover, several other approaches have been developed in vitro and in vivo using phage-derived proteins as antibacterial agents. Finally, their use has also been widely considered for public health surveillance, as biosensor phages can be used to detect food and water contaminations and prevent bacterial epidemics. These novel approaches strongly promote the idea that phages and their proteins can be exploited as an effective weapon in the near future, especially in a world which is on the brink of a “postantibiotic era.”

16 November 2021 in Journal of Neural Transmission

Journal Article

Synaptic plasticity mechanisms behind TMS efficacy: insights from its application to animal models

Mattia Ferro

Jacopo Lamanna

Sara Spadini

Alessio Nespoli

Simone Sulpizio

Antonio Malgaroli

26 February 2023 in Brain Sciences

Journal Article

Neural Correlates of Delay Discounting in the Light of Brain Imaging and Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation: What We Know and What Is Missed

In decision making, the subjective value of a reward declines with the delay to its receipt, describing a hyperbolic function. Although this phenomenon, referred to as delay discounting (DD), has been extensively characterized and reported in many animal species, still, little is known about the neuronal processes that support it. Here, after drawing a comprehensive portrait, we consider the latest neuroimaging and lesion studies, the outcomes of which often appear contradictory among comparable experimental settings. In the second part of the manuscript, we focus on a more recent and effective route of investigation: non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS). We provide a comprehensive review of the available studies that applied transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to affect subjects’ performance in DD tasks. The aim of our survey is not only to highlight the superiority of NIBS in investigating DD, but also to suggest targets for future experimental studies, since the regions considered in these studies represent only a fraction of the possible ones. In particular, we argue that, based on the available neurophysiological evidence from lesion and brain imaging studies, a very promising and underrepresented region for future neuromodulation studies investigating DD is the orbitofrontal cortex.

31 October 2017 in Nature Communications

Journal Article

Functional mapping of brain synapses by the enriching activity-marker SynaptoZip

Mattia Ferro

Jacopo Lamanna

Maddalena Ripamonti

Gabriella Racchetti

Alessandro Arena

Antonio Malgaroli

Ideally, elucidating the role of specific brain circuits in animal behavior would require the ability to measure activity at all involved synapses, possibly with unrestricted field of view, thus even at those boutons deeply located into the brain. Here, we introduce and validate an efficient scheme reporting synaptic vesicle cycling in vivo. This is based on SynaptoZip, a genetically encoded molecule deploying in the vesicular lumen a bait moiety designed to capture upon exocytosis a labeled alien peptide, Synbond. The resulting signal is cumulative and stores the number of cycling events occurring at individual synapses. Since this functional signal is enduring and measurable both online and ex post, SynaptoZip provides a unique method for the analysis of the history of synaptic activity in regions several millimeters below the brain surface. We show its broad applicability by reporting stimulus-evoked and spontaneous circuit activity in wide cortical fields, in anesthetized and freely moving animals.

1 April 2019 in Physiology & Behavior

Journal Article

Behavioral assessment of activity-based-anorexia: how cognition can become the drive wheel

Simone Sulpizio

Riccardo Martoni

1 October 2024 in Behavioral Sciences

Journal Article

Epigenetic Modifications and Neuroplasticity in the Pathogenesis of Depression: A Focus on Early Life Stress

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a debilitating mental illness, and it is considered to be one of the leading causes of disability globally. The etiology of MDD is multifactorial, involving an interplay between biological, psychological, and social factors. Early life represents a critical period for development. Exposure to adverse childhood experiences is a major contributor to the global burden of disease and disability, doubling the risk of developing MDD later in life. Evidence suggests that stressful events experienced during that timeframe play a major role in the emergence of MDD, leading to epigenetic modifications, which might, in turn, influence brain structure, function, and behavior. Neuroplasticity seems to be a primary pathogenetic mechanism of MDD, and, similarly to epigenetic mechanisms, it is particularly sensitive to stress in the early postnatal period. In this review, we will collect and discuss recent studies supporting the role of epigenetics and neuroplasticity in the pathogenesis of MDD, with a focus on early life stress (ELS). We believe that understanding the epigenetic mechanisms by which ELS affects neuroplasticity offers potential pathways for identifying novel therapeutic targets for MDD, ultimately aiming to improve treatment outcomes for this debilitating disorder.

About Me

Mattia Ferro is deputy director of the Bachelor's degree program at Sigmund Freud University, Milan campus. He is a Lecturer of the Neuroscience and Cognitive Science I and Neuroscience and Cognitive Science II courses at Sigmund Freud University, Milan campus. He graduated in Cognitive Neuroscience from the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan. He obtained his Ph.D. in Physiology from the University of Milan with a thesis concerning the development of new methodologies for the functional analysis of synaptic transmission in transgenic animal models, developing the project in the Units of Neurobiology of Learning and Molecular Genetics of Neural Development, at San Raffaele Hospital, Milan. Subsequently, he was a research fellow at the University Vita-Salute San Raffaele, in the Unit of Neurobiology of Learning directed by Prof. A. Malgaroli. At the same university, he taught in the courses on Physiology (Master’s Degree in Dentistry and Dental Prosthetics, Faculty of Medicine), Neuroscience I (Bachelor’s Degree in Psychological Sciences and Techniques, Faculty of Psychology), and the Neurobiology of Memory (Master’s Degree in Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology) and is currently Adjunct Professor of the course on Using Experimental Models for the Study of Behavior in Psychology (Bachelor’s Degree in Psychological Science and Techniques, Faculty of Psychology). Please check intended meaning retained.

Prof. Mattia Ferro

Prof. Mattia Ferro

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