My research interests can be divided in three broad topics.

The first topic, which is the focus of my PhD at the Department of Cognitive and Neural Systems at Boston University, is how does the brain control behavior, and in particular how does the cerebral cortex learn. The focus of my research is to understand biological intelligence trough the study of the computations carried out by the laminar architecture of cerebral cortex and related subcortical structures, in particular the thalamus. The goal is that understanding how laminar circuits work in one part of the brain, for instance in the visual cortex, would allow to shed light into how different intelligent capabilities may interpreted as variations on a shared architecture theme. A second related topic is neuroinformatics, and in particular the design and deployment of software tools that help the modeler to run large-scale, realistic neural models.

The third aspect concerns technology transfer. Humans and animals are able to quickly, effectively and autonomously adapt to rapidly changing environments that may include rare, ambiguous, and unexpected events. The study of biological intelligence can therefore shape the design of brain-based, advanced technological applications.