Staff:
Gianluca Serafini, Full Professor
Andrea Aguglia, Associate Professor
Andrea Amerio, Associate Professor
Andrea Escelsior, Fixed-term Researcher
Riccardo Guglielmo, Fixed-term Researcher
Research topics:
The research areas of the SSD MEDS/11/A Psychiatry department mainly focus on the following topics:
- Identification of clinical, biohumoral, and neuroimaging markers that influence the response to psychopharmacological therapy and the development of cognitive impairment in patients with mood disorders, particularly bipolar disorder, in order to ensure more targeted, effective, and safe solutions in the field of precision psychiatry.
- Study of the course of major psychoses, particularly schizophrenia, with a focus on the personalization of therapeutic interventions and the factors that most influence patients' psychosocial functioning.
- Identification of clinical, biohumoral, and neuroimaging biomarkers that influence response to psychopharmacological therapy and the development of drug resistance in patients with major depression.
- Identification of clinical, biohumoral, and neuroimaging markers underlying suicide risk, particularly in the most vulnerable population groups, such as patients with psychiatric disorders, adolescents, and the elderly, as well as promotion of training activities aimed at the general population and general practitioners with the aim of conveying clear and accurate information on the recognition and management of individuals at risk of suicide.
- Early recognition of adolescent distress with the detection of neuropsychological, biohumoral, and neuroimaging predictors involved in the onset and subsequent evolution of the main psychopathological disorders characteristic of this age group.
- Study of the peripersonal space in individuals with major psychiatric disorders, with particular attention to body representation and sensorimotor integration in physical interactions between individuals and external stimuli; in particular, focus on adolescents, individuals with personality disorders, and individuals who engage in non-suicidal self-harm.
- In-depth study of tools aimed at promoting the rehabilitation of individuals with major psychiatric disorders, with a particular focus on the cognitive-behavioral approach and the development of rehabilitation technologies through “multisensory training for the improvement of perceptual skills.”
- Study of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of functioning, both at the individual and population level, with particular regard to the neurocognitive, somatic, and laboratory correlates of various psychopathological manifestations.
An integral part of the research activity of SSD MEDS/11/A Psychiatry is represented by multidisciplinary neuroscience studies conducted by JointLab ANTARES (Applied Neuroscience for Technological Advances in Rehabilitation Systems), the first multisensory research laboratory in the field of neuroscience and psychiatry in Italy, established in 2022 as a joint initiative between the Psychiatry Section of the DINOGMI-UniGE Department of Neuroscience, the San Martino Polyclinic Hospital, and the Unit for Visually Impaired People (U-VIP) of the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT). The research activities of the JointLab ANTARES Laboratory, conducted in collaboration with various university departments and national and international institutes of high scientific standing, are divided into six macro areas of research: Psychiatry, Neuroimaging, Neurosciences, Psychology, Biology, Rehabilitation, and Experimental. The JointLab ANTARES laboratory investigates the role of sensory perception alterations in individuals with major psychiatric disorders in order to understand how these alterations are involved in the determinism of psychiatric disorders and thus be able to intervene precisely through the use of new technologies aimed at ‘integrated sensory psychiatric rehabilitation’. This makes it possible to create integrated sensory cognitive training programs with workstations and wearable technologies that use multimedia, virtual, and augmented reality tools to investigate in depth, for rehabilitation purposes, the interaction of patients with objects and their environment. The main objective of the ANTARES JointLab is therefore to improve the sensory-perceptual abilities of individuals with major psychiatric disorders through the creation and co-design of protocols and new rehabilitation paradigms and their validation in the clinical context for the diagnosis, assessment, and early treatment of major psychoses and to improve the disability, psychosocial impairment, and quality of life of those affected by mental disorders.