Ongoing Activities:

1) Neuroprotection for drug abuse-induced toxicity and in neuro-degenerative diseases (in collaboration with Sigma Tau SpA, Italy).  A poster has been presented recently (year 2008) to the Neuroprotective Agents Conference, USA.  An oral talk has been also presented to the I° Convegno Nazionale “Sostanze Naturali", ISS, Roma, 2009.

2) Behavioural effects of drugs modulating the endocannabinoid system (in collaboration with Sigma Tau SpA, Italy).  Some papers already published are available on our site. In line with the abstract presented to EWCR 2007 (Nottingham, UK), one nice paper (Marco et al., Brain Research, 2009) is now available for download ; one experiment is currently running.

 4) Magnetic resonance and the brain: pharmacological imaging of areas activated by psychoactive drugs. Abstract presented to the BCN-ISS congress, Roma 2007, and to the Translational Medicine congress held at ISS, Roma 2008. One pilot paper (Canese et al., Psychopharmacology 2008) describes MPH-induced BOLD effect in adolescent and adult rats (studied with in vivo ph-MRI) and is available for download from here. Now, this Activity is run under the ADHD-sythe project, whereby we aim to perform magnetic resonance (MR) measures in brains of both ADHD childrens and animal models, to draw possible useful correlations. You can track these "clinical" progresses.  

5) Modulation of behavior by anti-neural auto-antibodies : immunization with fragments of neuro-receptors.  You can read the paper published first: Capone et al., 2008 Psychopharmacology on morphine in mice. One paper (Koot et al., Behavioral Brain Research 2008) describes the latest refinement for running impulsivity tasks in mice and is now available for download (ScienceDirect). One other paper about DAT-fragment immunization, and consequent changes in behavior and brain neurochemical parameters, is currently SUBMITTED to Brain Behavior and Immunity (july 2010).     

6) Screening of behavior in the home cage : development of an operant panel for motivated decisions. The announcement of this new home cage panel is also available now and you can follow our further validation studies. Also go & have a look to our partner (the small company PRS ITALIA) website.  

7) Development of a diagnostic kit for alcoholism / ADHD. A poster on recent advancements will be shown during the Translational Medicine congress ISS, Roma, 2008. The validation of this novel diagnostic kit will be run under the ADHD-sythe project, aimed to assess levels of DAT / SERT aAbs in plasma samples from ADHD children. This kit could exploit a potential auto-immune biomarker in human ADHD.  You can now track these "clinical" progresses.

8) Development of a novel non-psychostimulant drug to treat depression, anxiety, and ADHD in children. Following abstract to the Bioactive Peptides 2008 congress, Napoli, IT, one paper is being prepared (NPJ) on cortexin, the Russian medication to ADHD children. Further experiments are planned (2009-2012) under the ADHD-sythe project, whose main aim is to select novel possible receptor targets, development of new molecules/peptides, and their preclinical evaluation. Basic knowledge for new therapies in ADHD will be gathered, and you can track these progresses !!!

The announcement of congresses is available on our site (see column on the right).

On the "publications" page you will find papers originated from activities of past years.