Massimo Grattarola

Massimo Grattarola (1950-2002) was an Italian born multidisciplinary engineer & scientist who pioneered the fields of bioelectronics^[1] and neurobioengineering (also referred to as neuroengineering)^[2], who established Europe's first Neuroengineering research facility in the mid-1990s.

Founder of Bioelectronics in Italy

Massimo Grattarola thrived at the cutting edge of research. Massimo's ambition was to unite engineers and physicists into neurophysiology and neuroscience... which he christened: Neurobioengineering or Neuroengineering^[3]. Mr Grattarola was the only scientist in Italy to have a chair in Bioelectronics for the Biomedical Engineering degree, pioneering the field of Bioelectronics with his textbook publication "Bioelectronics Handbook: MOSFETs, Biosensors and Neurons", edited in 1998 by Mc-Graw Hill^[4]. Massimo then proposed an International Research Center on Neuroengineering in Genova.

His peers described him as a soft-spoken, personable man with an intense mind who: "... transmitted to his students not only his knowledge but also, and even more, his enthusiasm for research and his creative way of doing science."^[5]

Pioneer - First Bio-Artificial Brain

In September 2001, European Commission appointed Mr Grattarola as an F.E.T. (Future and Emerging Technologies) Programme Project Leader, to study neuronal plasticity at the network level (A Bio-artificial Brain), to train cultured neuronal tissue to support behavior of an artificial body.^[6]

Biography - Overview

Born, January 27th, 1950, in Genova, Italy.
Graduated from the University of Genova, Italy (Physics) in 1975.
Research Associate, Institute for Biophysics & Cybernetics in Camogli, Italy.
Research Associate, Department of Biophysics, Temple University, Philadelphia, U.S.A.
Effects of electromagnetic fields at cellular and molecular level in 1977.
Assistant Professor, Applied Biophysics & Engineering, University of Genova.
Co-founder, Department of Biophysical & Electronic Engineering (DIBE) in 1982.
In 1986 he Associate Professor, Bioelectronics for Electronic Engineering, 1986.
Visiting Professor, by Prof. G. Kovacs, Stanford University - microelectrode arrays 1991-1997.
Associate Professor, Bioelectronics & Bioelectrochemistry, Biomedical Eng Degree, since 1995.
Founder, Neural and Bioelectronic Technologies Group in Genova, Italy.
As of 1995, Mr Grattarola's focused upon coupling microelectronic devices and excitable cells.
Full Professor, Electronic Bioengineering, University of Genova, 1998.
Chairman, PhD programme in Bioelectronics & Bioengineering, University of Genova, Italy.
Died of cancer in Genova, Italy. February 15th 2002.

Post-humous: 1st, 2nd & 3rd European School of Neuroengineering - 2004, 2005, 2006 ^[7][8]
Post-humous: Neuroengineering School & Humanoid Technologies PhD Program in Genova^[9]

Accreditation

More than 70 publications, contributions to conferences, workshops and contributor to various university course textbooks, including: Bioelectronics^[4] and journals^{[10][11][12][13][14]} among others...

See also

• Neurobioengineering

References

1. ^ Dr. Marco Bove, In Memoriam Website for Dr. M. Grattarola, University of Genova, Italy - http://google.com/search?q=cache:gfBr6MynT4MJ:www.bio.dibe.unige.it/people/Grattarola/grattarola.htm+massimo+grattarola+death&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=ca.
2. ^ # Dr. Marco Bove, In Memoriam Website for Dr. M. Grattarola, University of Genova, Italy - http://google.com/search?q=cache:gfBr6MynT4MJ:www.bio.dibe.unige.it/people/Grattarola/grattarola.htm+massimo+grattarola+death&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=ca.
3. ^ Dr. Marco Bove, In Memoriam Website for Dr. M. Grattarola, University of Genova, Italy - http://google.com/search?q=cache:gfBr6MynT4MJ:www.bio.dibe.unige.it/people/Grattarola/grattarola.htm+massimo+grattarola+death&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=ca.
4. ^ ^{a b} http://www.amazon.com/Bioelectronics-Handbook-MOSFETs-Biosensors-Neurons/dp/0070031746
5. ^ Dr. Marco Bove, In Memoriam Website for Dr. M. Grattarola, University of Genova, Italy - http://google.com/search?q=cache:gfBr6MynT4MJ:www.bio.dibe.unige.it/people/Grattarola/grattarola.htm+massimo+grattarola+death&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=ca.
6. ^ Institute of Physics, Journal of Neural Engineering Vol 5, Issue 4. http://www.iop.org/EJ/article/1741-2552/2/4/E01/jne5_4_e01.pdf?request-id=6f3a87c4-a31f-486e-b2b0-3756a52e060c
7. ^ Abstract Paper Neuroengineering School http://www.neuroinf.org/lists/comp-neuro/2003/0037.shtml
8. ^ Neuroengineering School http://www.neuro-it.net/pipermail/general/2003-April/000018.html
9. ^ www.neuroengineering.it
10. ^ Michele Giugliano, Massimo Grattarola, Gwendal Le Masson: Electrophysiological activity to cell metabolism signal transduction. Neurocomputing 38-40: 23-30 (2001)
11. ^ Michele Giugliano, Marco Bove, Massimo Grattarola: Activity-Driven Computational Strategies of a Dynamically Regulated Integrate-and-Fire Model Neuron. Journal of Computational Neuroscience 7(3): 247-254 (1999)
12. ^ Michele Giugliano, Marco Bove, Massimo Grattarola: Fast Calculation of Short-Term Depressing Synaptic Conductances. Neural Computation 11(6): 1413-1426 (1999)
13. ^ Molecular Crystals and Liquid Crystals Authors: Massimo Grattarola; Sergio Martinoia; Giuseppe Massobrio; Marco Bove; Carlo Ciccarelli. DOI: 10.1080/10587259308055215
14. ^ Interfacing Biological Membranes To Silicon Devices, Grattarola, M.; Martinoia, S.; Massobrio, G. Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 1992. Vol.14. Proceedings of the Annual International, Conference of the IEEE, Volume 1, Issue , 29 Oct-1 Nov 1992 Page(s):180 - 181

External links

• University of Genova - Neuroengineering School

Persondata
Name	Grattarola, Massimo
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1950
Place of birth
Date of death	2002
Place of death