Research questions. How unpredictable environmental exposures - from digitalization of the caregiving niche to polluted and green environments - affect the psychobiology and the neurobehavioral development of infants in the first year of life?

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Synopsis. Through four different studies we investigate how prenatal exposure to stress, pollution, greenness affect the trajectories of socio-cognitive and socio-affective development through diverse psychobiological mechanisms. This research program mixes the most innovative approaches from neuroscience (hyperscanning paradigms) and psychobiology (behavioral epigenetics) within a framework inspired by infant research.​

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Budget. 1.294.500 €

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Funding. Fondo Italiano per la Scienza (FIS) 3, 2025

Research questions. How can we supporto continuity of family-centered care for parents of infants born preterm after the discharge from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)?​​

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Synopsis. We co-design, develop, deploy and test a companion app for caregivers of preterm infants to support the transition from NICU stay to home.​

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Budget. 150.000 €

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Funding. Ricerca Finalizzata Starting Grant 2024, MoH

Research question. How do parents and infants synchronize their brains? What happens to brain-to-brain synchrony when developmental risk conditions (e.g., preterm birth) are present? Is an early parenting intervention capable of protect synchrony in at-risk conditions?

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Synopsis. This study integrates video-feedback intervention and EEG hyperscanning technique to the study of parent-infant interaction to investigate how the brain of parents and infants couple together and resonate during face-to-face interactions in full-term and preterm infants. 

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Budget. 450.000 €

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Funding. Ricerca Finalizzata Giovani Ricercatori 2021, MoH

Research questions. How can we translate our knowledge about development and early infant-parent interactions into a reliable companion app to support parenting and to nurture the parentome - the place where development ?​​

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Synopsis. We co-design, develop, deploy and test an app for both Android and Apple ecosystems to feature a series of functionality: from monitoring development together with parents to support them with tailored support remotely, using both chat-based and video-based tools.​

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Budget. 60.000 €

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Funding. Liberal contributions by Fondazione Banca del Monte di Lombardia and Welcomed

Research question. How caregivers contribute to the emergence of symbolic play through behavioral and autonomic co-regulation?

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Synopsis. By contingently exploring behavioral and autonomic correlates of parental sensitivity and mind-mindedness, the project explores the emergence of symbolic play in preschool children.

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Budget. n.a.

Research questions. How prenatal and postnatal exposure to stress, pollution and environmental greenness affect long-term development at 6 years? Which epigenetic mechanisms are involved?​​

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Synopsis. We explore the epigenetic (DNA methylation and mithocondria allostatic load markers) correlates of prenatal and postnatal exposure to pandemic-related stress, environmental pollution and green spaces contributions to emotional, social and cognitive development at 6 years in large longitudinal cohorts.​

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Budget. 1.000.000 €

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Funding. FRRB Consolidator Grant 2025

Research question. What are the priorities, needs, challenges and resources of families of preterm infants after they exit from the NICU environment?

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Synopsis. This survey explores the challenges and resources reported by parents of preterm infants,  their needs of continuity of care as well as their daily experience of caregiving after NICU hospitalization. The project also includes communication outputs such as webinars and podcasts. 

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Budget. 30.000 €

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Funding. Liberal contributions by Chiesi Italia

Research question. How do infants and their caregiver co-regulate their body temperature during face-to-face interactive exchanges? How is this physiological co-regulation affected by technoference - as the use of smartphone by the caregiver during the interaction?

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Synopsis. By using plug-in thermocameras we will record technoferenced mother-infant interactions obtaining synchronous layers of behavioral and physiological co-regulation and we will explore how the use of a smartphone by the caregiver affects such dyadic regulatory processes.

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Budget. n.a.

Research questions. What is the role of acoustic elements to shape infant relational meanging-making processes? How processed acoustic inputs from the physical and social environment contribute to emotional and cognitive development of infants with typical and less typical developmental conditions?

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Synopsis. We explore different features of the acoustic environment the sorrounds first-year and second-year infants and how they relate and associate with different dimensions of emotional and cognitive development - including stress regulation, socio-cognitive precursors, and language outcomes.

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Budget. n.a.​​

Research question. How do parents and infants synchronize their brains? What happens to brain-to-brain synchrony when developmental risk conditions (e.g., preterm birth) are present? Is an early parenting intervention capable of protect synchrony in at-risk conditions?

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Synopsis. This study integrates video-feedback intervention and EEG hyperscanning technique to the study of parent-infant interaction to investigate how the brain of parents and infants couple together and resonate during face-to-face interactions in full-term and preterm infants. 

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Budget. 450.000 €

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Funding. Ricerca Finalizzata Giovani Ricercatori 2021, MoH