The Neuroscience platform at IIT are dedicated to investigating brain function at all levels - from molecules, synapses and neurons to large-scale, multi-areal neural circuits in the intact brain. Only this integrated view can reveal the true richness of brain function.
The two neuroscience departments at IIT (Department of Neuroscience and Brain Technologies -NBT in Genova and that for Neuroscience and Cognitive Systems -NCS in Parma) will allow a deep understanding in unrevealed brain knowledge.
The brain is still considered the best performing computational device. It exhibits astonishing properties, including a highly complex, hierarchic organization, input integration, parallel computation, emergent properties, and functional and structural adaptation (plasticity). Abilities that the brain accomplishes effortlessly and flexibly, such as identifying objects, controlling fine movements, and learning and adapting to new environments, have proven extremely difficult to implement in artificial systems.
A global understanding of brain function is essential for understanding and alleviating neurological and psychiatric disorders of brain function (Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease, epilepsy, schizophrenia, autism, depression and addiction)but also for developing brain-machine interfaces, such as neural prosthetics for treating paralysis and sensory deficits, and for bio-hybrid biomimetic systems to allow bidirectional communication between neural tissue and robotic devices.
