
Neuroscience
Psychiatry and clinical psychobiology

Our clinical research group gathers researchers working at the interface between neuroscience and behavioral disorders, with the aim of increasing scientific knowledge and developing effective diagnosis and treatment options in the broad field of Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences. We use genetics, in vivo imaging, clinical psychobiology, pharmacology, neuropsychology, neurophysiology, and clinical research instruments to face the questions of modern clinical psychiatry.
This unit also includes the researchers affiliated to the clinical units at the Ospedale San Raffaele Turro - Directors: Laura Bellodi, OCD and Eating Disorders; Roberto Cavallaro, General Psychiatry and Psychotic Disorders; and Cristina Colombo, Mood Disorders.
Research activity
The unit main research interests are within the field of translational and reversetranslational research in psychiatry, and include brain imaging and neural correlates of psychiatric diseases and therapeutics, psychiatric genetics, chronobiology and chronotherapeutics of mood disorders, alongside with developing new treatment techniques based on the administration of environmental stimuli to synchronize the biological clock.
Other areas of interest include clinical neuropsychology and animal models of psychiatric diseases.
Benedetti F, Poletti S, Hoogenboezem TA, Locatelli C, de Wit H, Wijkhuijs AJM, Colombo C, Drexhage HA. Higher baseline pro-inflammatory cytokines mark poor antidepressant response in bipolar disorder. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 2017 Sep/Oct;78(8):e986-e993.
Benedetti F, Poletti S, Hoogenboezem TA, Mazza E, Ambrée O, de Wit H, Wijkhuijs AJM, Locatelli C, Bollettini I, Colombo C, Arolt V, Drexhage HA. Inflammatory cytokines influence measures of white matter integrity in Bipolar Disorder. Journal of Affective Disorders 2016 Sep 15;202:1-9.
Benedetti F, Bollettini I, Poletti S, Locatelli C, Lorenzi C, Pirovano A, Smeraldi E, Colombo C. White matter microstructure in bipolar disorder is influenced by the serotonin transporter gene polymorphism 5-HTTLPR. Genes Brain and Behavior 2015 Mar;14(3):238-50.
Benedetti F, Riccaboni R, Locatelli C, Poletti S, Dallaspezia S, Colombo C. Rapid treatment response of suicidal symptoms to lithium, sleep deprivation, and light therapy (chronotherapeutics) in drug-resistant bipolar depression. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 2014 Feb;75(2):133-40.
Benedetti F, Bollettini I, Radaelli D, Poletti S, Locatelli C, Falini A, Smeraldi E, Colombo C. Adverse childhood experiences influence white matter microstructure in patients with bipolar disorder. Psychological Medicine 2014 Oct;44(14):3069-82.
Benedetti F, Riccaboni R, Poletti S, Radaelli D, Locatelli C, Lorenzi C, Pirovano A, Smeraldi E, Colombo C. The serotonin transporter genotype modulates the relationship between early stress and adult suicidality in bipolar disorder. Bipolar Disorders 2014 Dec;16(8):857-66.
Benedetti F, Bollettini I, Barberi I, Radaelli D, Poletti S, Locatelli C, Pirovano A, Lorenzi C, Colombo C, Smeraldi E. Lithium and GSK3 promoter gene variants influence white matter microstructure in bipolar disorder. Neuropsychopharmacology, 38(2):313-27, 2013.
Benedetti F, Ping-Hong Y, Bellani M, Radaelli D, Nicoletti MA, Poletti S, Falini A, Dallaspezia S, Colombo C, Scotti G, Smeraldi E, Soares JC, Brambilla P. Disruption of white matter integrity in bipolar depression as a possible structural marker of illness. Biological Psychiatry 2011 Feb 15;69(4):309-17.
Benedetti F, Absinta M, Rocca M, Radaelli D, Poletti S, Bernasconi A, Dallaspezia S, Pagani E, Falini A, Colombo C, Comi G, Smeraldi E, Filippi M. Tract-specific white matter structural disruption in patients with bipolar disorder. Bipolar Disorders 2011 Jun;13(4):414-24.
Benedetti F, Bernasconi A, Blasi V, Cadioli M, Colombo C, Falini A, Lorenzi C, Radaelli D, Scotti G, Smeraldi E. Neural and genetic correlates of antidepressant response to sleep deprivation: a fMRI study of moral valence decision in bipolar depression. JAMA Psychiatry 2007 Feb;64(2):179-87.