CURRICULUM
Francantonio Devoto, nato a Chiavari (GE) nel 1991, ha conseguito con lode la Laurea Magistrale in Psicologia Sperimentale e Neuroscience Cognitive presso l’Università degli Studi di Pavia, nel Luglio 2015. Da Ottobre 2015 collabora con il Dipartimento di Psicologia dell’Università di Milano-Bicocca e, da Gennaio 2016, con l’IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Galeazzi e con il Policlinico San Donato nell’ambito di uno studio clinico sperimentale circa l’uso della stimolazione transcranica magnetica profonda (deep TMS) nella riduzione del food craving. Attualmente è dottorando di ricerca in Neuroscienze Cliniche presso la Scuola di Medicina e Chirurgia dell’Università di Milano-Bicocca. Il suo principale ambito di ricerca concerne lo studio dei correlati comportamentali, cognitivi e neurofunzionali dell’obesità. In particolare, è interessato allo studio dei meccanismi di (dis)regolazione del peso corporeo attraverso tecniche meta-analitiche, di neuroimmagine funzionale e strutturale.
PROGETTO DI RICERCA
Neurofunctional biomarkers of obesity and weight loss
Curriculum: Neuroscienze Cliniche
Tutor: Prof. Eraldo Paulesu
Supervisore: Dott.ssa Laura Zapparoli
Obesity is on the rise, as almost 50% of European adults are overweight or obese, thus representing a consistent medical and economical burden. To minimize the health costs of this condition, different approaches have been employed; however, most treatments, from physical activity and lifestyle interventions to bariatric surgery, often result in only a transient weight loss. Despite the causes of overweight and obesity may appear straightforward (i.e. an individual’s intake of food exceeds the homeostatic energy needs), the mechanisms underlying the overeating behaviour remain largely unknown. Indeed, eating is a complex and multisensory experience that calls into play different interrelating factors, at either the peripheral (homeostatic) level, with the long-term and circadian fluctuations of signalling molecules (e.g. ghrelin, insulin, leptin), and central (neurocognitive) level. The hypothalamus and reticular formation, represent, of course, the interface between the humoral and the neurocognitive levels. With that said, it follows that any treatment or approach to the study of the normal and pathological eating cannot bypass the study of the brain.
The main goal of my project will be the assessment of the neurocognitive changes associated with a neurostimulation treatment in a cohort of obese patients, with particular emphasis on the intrinsic functional connectivity of the resting-brain networks and their predictive power with respect to the outcomes of the treatment. Furthermore, a characterization of the implicit and explicit cognitive biases towards food will be attempted, by means of both behavioural and neuroimaging investigation.
PUBBLICAZIONI E PARTECIPAZIONI A CONGRESSI RECENTI
Congressi
- Devoto F., Bonandrini R., Berlingeri M., Ferrulli A., Luzi L., Paulesu E., Zapparoli L. Hungry brains: a meta-analytical review of neuroimaging studies on food perception and appetite in obese individuals. European Workshop on Cognitive Neuropsychology, Brixen, January 21st – 26th. Oral presentation.
