COSIMO DEL GRATTA

Full professor


email: cosimo.delgratta@unich.it
phone: +3908713556933
building: ITAB
room: 418

Cosimo Del Gratta

 

Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, Imaging, e Scienze Cliniche,

Istituto di Tecnologie Avanzate Biomediche.

Università Gabriele D’Annunzio di Chieti e Pescara

Via Luigi Polacchi 11, 66100 Chieti

Tel: 0871-3556933

e-mail: cosimo.delgratta@unich.it

 


Current position


GSD 2024: 02/PHYS-06

SSD 2024: PHYS-06/A

Qualifica: Professore Ordinario

Università Gabriele D’Annunzio di Chieti e Pescara

Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, Imaging, e Scienze cliniche, Istituto di Tecnologie Avanzate Biomediche.

 


Titles


October 1992:    PhD: Dottorato di Ricerca in Fisica presso l’Università di Roma “La Sapienza”. Tesi: “Posizionamento di un neuromagnetometro multicanale”. Relatore: Prof. Gian Luca Romani.

February 1988:  Master in Science: Laurea in Fisica presso l’Università degli studi di Milano. Tesi: “Variabilità nell’emissione X della polare intermedia H2215-086” Relatore: Prof. Aldo Treves.

 


Academic positions


March 2014:      Professore ordinario di Fisica applicata alle scienze biologiche e ambientali e ai beni culturali (SSD FIS 07).

March 2011:      Professore straordinario di Fisica applicata alle scienze biologiche e ambientali e ai beni culturali (SSD FIS 07).

September 2002:                                                                                 Professore associato di Fisica applicata alle scienze biologiche e ambientali e ai beni culturali (SSD FIS 07).

November 1992:                                                                                  Ricercatore di Fisica applicata (SSD B01B).

 

Research interests

 

Integration of fMRI, EEG, and MEG data, functional connectivity, methods of multivariate analysis, machine learning and deep learning in MRI and fMRI, modeling of tissue microstructure for diffusion MRI imaging, and clinical applications. Analysis of multimodal MRI (anatomical, perfusion and diffusion) with machine learning and deep learning.

 


Research activity


 

My research activity belongs broadly to biomedical macroscopic imaging for clinical applications and basic research in the fields of medicine, neurosciences, and psychology.

In the beginning of my career I worked in magnetoencephalography (MEG), on various aspects of this discipline from instrumentation, to data acquisition and analysis. In this context I also worked on the integration of EEG and MEG data.

I then worked on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), mainly on data acquisition and analysis. I also worked on the methods and the applications of simultaneous EEG and fMRI. The motivation for these researches is the combination of two investigation techniques with different properties of temporal and spatial resolution.

More recently I worked on diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (DMRI) for the study of tissue microstructure. In this case I mainly worked on model for data interpretation.

Finally, I worked on the anlysis of multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (anatomical, perfusion, and diffusion) with machine learning and deep learning.

 

 


Teaching


Phisics for the Master Course in Chimica e Tecnologie Farmaceutiche. 9 CFU

Physical Methods for Cultural Heritage diagnostics in the Master Course in Cultural Heritage and History of Art. 6 CFU

 


Pubblicazioni


 



  1. de Iure, D., Conti, A., Galante, A., Spadone, S., Hilschenz, I., Caulo, M., Sensi, S., Del Gratta, C., Della Penna, S. Analyzing the sensitivity of quantitative 3D MRI of longitudinal relaxation at very low field in Gd-doped phantoms (2023) PLoS ONE, 18 (5 May), art. no. e0285391. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0285391


  2. Karami, G.; Pascuzzo, R.; Figini M.; Del Gratta C.; Zhang H.; Bizzi, A. Combining multi-shell diffusion with conventional MRI improves molecular diagnosis of diffuse gliomas with deep learning. Cancers 2023, 15(2), 482; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers15020482


  3. Karami, G.; Giuseppe Orlando, M.; Delli Pizzi, A.; Caulo, M.; Del Gratta, C. Predicting Overall Survival Time in Glioblastoma Patients Using Gradient Boosting Machines Algorithm and Recursive Feature Elimination Technique. Cancers 2021, 13, 4976. https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers13194976


  4. Oliviero, S., Del Gratta, C. Impact of the acquisition protocol on the sensitivity to demyelination and axonal loss of clinically feasible DWI techniques: a simulation study. Magn Reson Mater Phy 34, 523–543 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10334-020-00899-5


  5. Guidotti, R.; Del Gratta, C.; Perrucci, M.G.; Romani, G.L.; Raffone, A. Neuroplasticity within and between Functional Brain Networks in Mental Training Based on Long-Term Meditation. Brain Sci. 2021, 11, 1086. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11081086


  6. Javed, E., Croce, P., Zappasodi, F., Del Gratta, C. Normal Aging: Alterations in Scalp EEG Using Broadband and Band-Resolved Topographic Maps (2020) Frontiers in Physics, 8, art. no. 82, DOI: 10.3389/fphy.2020.00082


  7. Javed, E., Croce, P., Zappasodi, F., Del Gratta, C. Journal of Neuroscience Methods, Volume 325, 1 September 2019, 108317 Hilbert spectral analysis of EEG data reveals spectral dynamics associated with microstates. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneumeth.2019.108317


  8. Raffone, A., Marzetti, L., Del Gratta, C., Perrucci, M.G., Romani, G.L., Pizzella, V. Toward a brain theory of meditation (2019) Progress in Brain Research, 244, pp. 207-232. DOI: 10.1016/bs.pbr.2018.10.028


  9. Guidotti, R., Del Gratta, C., Perrucci, M.G., Romani, G.L., Raffone, A. Prediction of meditation experience using fmri functional connectivity and multivariate pattern analysis (2017) IFMBE Proceedings, 65, pp. 21-24. DOI: 10.1007/978-981-10-5122-7_6


  10. Guidotti, R; Sinibaldi, R; De Luca, C; Conti, A; Ilmoniemi, RJ; Zevenhoven, KCJ; Magnelind, PE; Pizzella, V; Del Gratta, C; Romani, GL; Della Penna, S. 2018 Optimized 3D co-registration of ultra-low-field and high-field magnetic resonance images PLOS ONE Volume: 13 Issue: 3 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0193890


  11. Tosoni A, Guidotti R, Del Gratta C, Committeri G, Sestieri C. Preferential coding of eye/hand motor actions in the human ventral occipito-temporal cortex. Neuropsychologia. 2016 Dec;93(Pt A):116-127. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2016.10.009.


  12. Pierpaolo Croce, Alessio Basti, Laura Marzetti, Filippo Zappasodi, and Cosimo Del Gratta. EEG–fMRI Bayesian framework for neural activity estimation: a simulation study. Journal of Neural Engineering, Volume 13, Number 6. 27 Ottobre 2016. doi: https://doi.org/10.1088/1741-2560/13/6/066017


  13. Roberto Guidotti, Cosimo Del Gratta, Antonello Baldassarre, Gian Luca Romani, and Maurizio Corbetta. Visual learning induces changes in resting state fMRI multivariate pattern of information. Journal of Neuroscience. 8 luglio 2015, 35(27):9786-9798; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3920-14.2015


  14. Brancucci A, Lugli V, Perrucci MG, Del Gratta C, Tommasi L. A frontal but not parietal neural correlate of auditory consciousness. Brain Struct Funct. 2016 Jan;221(1):463-72. doi: 10.1007/s00429-014-0918-2.


  15. Brunetti M., Perrucci M.G., Di Naccio M.R., Ferretti A., Del Gratta C., Casadio C., Romani G.L. Framing deductive reasoning with emotional content: An fMRI study. Brain and Cognition (2014) http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bandc.2014.03.17


  16. Nicoletta Cera, Ezio D. Di Pierro, Gianna Sepede, Francesco Gambi, Mauro Gianni Perrucci, Arcangelo Merla, Armando Tartaro, Cosimo Del Gratta, Giuseppe Galatioto Paradiso, Carlo Vicentini, Gian Luca Romani, and Antonio Ferretti. The Role of Left Superior Parietal Lobe in Male Sexual Behavior: Dynamics of Distinct Components Revealed by fMRI. J Sex Med 2012;9:1602–1612.


  17. Sepede G, De Berardis D, Campanella D, Perrucci MG, Ferretti A, Serroni N, Moschetta FS, Del Gratta C, Salerno RM, Ferro FM, Di Giannantonio M, Onofrj M, Romani GL, Gambi F. Impaired sustained attention in euthymic bipolar disorder patients and non-affected relatives: an fMRI study. Bipolar Disord 2012: 14: 764–779.


  18. Curcio G, Nardo D, Perrucci MG, Pasqualetti P, Chen TL, Del Gratta C, Romani GL, Rossini PM. Effects of mobile phone signals over BOLD response while performing a cognitive task. Clin Neurophysiol. 2012 Jan;123(1):129-36.


  19. Delli Pizzi S, Mantini D, Ferretti A, Caulo M, Salerio I, Romani GL, Del Gratta C, Tartaro A. Pharmacological functional MRI assessment of the effect of ibuprofen-arginine in painful conditions. Int J Immunopathol Pharmacol. 2010 Jul-Sep;23(3):927-35.


  20. Savini N, Babiloni C, Brunetti M, Caulo M, Del Gratta C, Perrucci MG, Rossini PM, Romani GL, Ferretti A. Passive tactile recognition of geometrical shape in humans: An fMRI study. Brain Res Bull. 2010 Oct 30;83(5):223-31. Epub 2010 Aug 7.


  21. Chen TL, Babiloni C, Ferretti A, Perrucci MG, Romani GL, Rossini PM, Tartaro A, Del Gratta C. Effects of somatosensory stimulation and attention on human somatosensory cortex: an fMRI study. Neuroimage. 2010 Oct 15;53(1):181-8. Epub 2010 Jun 18.


  22. Brunetti M, Sepede G, Mingoia G, Catani C, Ferretti A, Merla A, Del Gratta C, Romani GL, Babiloni C. Elevated response of human amygdala to neutral stimuli in mild post traumatic stress disorder: neural correlates of generalized emotional response. Neuroscience. 2010 Jul 14;168(3):670-9. Epub 2010 Apr 21.


  23. Manna A, Raffone A, Perrucci MG, Nardo D, Ferretti A, Tartaro A, Londei A, Del Gratta C, Belardinelli MO, Romani GL. Neural correlates of focused attention and cognitive monitoring in meditation. Brain Res Bull. 2010 Apr 29;82(1-2):46-56. Epub 2010 Mar 16.


  24. Mantini D, Marzetti L, Corbetta M, Romani GL, Del Gratta C. Multimodal integration of fMRI and EEG data for high spatial and temporal resolution analysis of brain networks. Brain Topogr. 2010 Jun;23(2):150-8. Epub 2010 Jan 6


  25. Sakamoto K, Nakata H, Inui K, Perrucci MG, Del Gratta C, Kakigi R, Romani GL. A difference exists in somatosensory processing between the anterior and posterior parts of the tongue. Neurosci Res. 2010 Feb;66(2):173-9. Epub 2009 Nov 6.


  26. Sepede G, Ferretti A, Perrucci MG, Gambi F, Di Donato F, Nuccetelli F, Del Gratta C, Tartaro A, Salerno RM, Ferro FM, Romani GL. Altered brain response without behavioral attention deficits in healthy siblings of schizophrenic patients: an event-related fMRI study. Neuroimage. 2010 Jan 1;49(1):1080-90.


  27. Capotosto P, Perrucci MG, Brunetti M, Del Gratta C, Doppelmayr M, Grabner RH, Klimesch W, Neubauer A, Neuper C, Pfurtscheller G, Romani GL, Babiloni C. Is there "neural efficiency" during the processing of visuo-spatial information in male humans? An EEG study. Behav Brain Res. 2009 Dec 28;205(2):468-74


  28. Sakamoto K, Nakata H, Perrucci MG, Del Gratta C, Kakigi R, Romani GL. Negative BOLD during tongue movement: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study. Neurosci Lett. 2009 Dec 11;466(3):120-3.


  29. Olivetti Belardinelli M, Palmiero M, Sestieri C, Nardo D, Di Matteo R, Londei A, D'Ausilio A, Ferretti A, Del Gratta C, Romani GL. An fMRI investigation on image generation in different sensory modalities: the influence of vividness. Acta Psychol (Amst). 2009 Oct;132(2):190-200.


  30. Nakata H, Sakamoto K, Ferretti A, Gianni Perrucci M, Del Gratta C, Kakigi R, Romani GL. Negative BOLD effect on somato-motor inhibitory processing: an fMRI study. Neurosci Lett. 2009 Sep 22;462(2):101-4.


  31. Mantini D, Corbetta M, Perrucci MG, Romani GL, Del Gratta C. Large-scale brain networks account for sustained and transient activity during target detection. Neuroimage. 2009 Jan 1;44(1):265-74.


  32. Nakata H, Sakamoto K, Ferretti A, Gianni Perrucci M, Del Gratta C, Kakigi R, Romani GL. Executive functions with different motor outputs in somatosensory Go/Nogo tasks: an event-related functional MRI study. Brain Res Bull. 2008 Oct 22;77(4):197-205.


  33. Iannilli E, Del Gratta C, Gerber JC, Romani GL, Hummel T. Trigeminal activation using chemical, electrical, and mechanical stimuli. Pain. 2008 Oct 15;139(2):376-88.


  34. Marzetti L, Del Gratta C, Nolte G. Understanding brain connectivity from EEG data by identifying systems composed of interacting sources. Neuroimage. 2008 Aug 1;42(1):87-98.


  35. de Pasquale F, Del Gratta C, Romani GL. Empirical Markov Chain Monte Carlo Bayesian analysis of fMRI data. Neuroimage. 2008 Aug 1;42(1):99-111.


  36. Ebisch SJ, Perrucci MG, Ferretti A, Del Gratta C, Romani GL, Gallese V. The sense of touch: embodied simulation in a visuotactile mirroring mechanism for observed animate or inanimate touch. J Cogn Neurosci. 2008 Sep;20(9):1611-23.


  37. Chen TL, Babiloni C, Ferretti A, Perrucci MG, Romani GL, Rossini PM, Tartaro A, Del Gratta C. Human secondary somatosensory cortex is involved in the processing of somatosensory rare stimuli: an fMRI study. Neuroimage. 2008 May 1;40(4):1765-71.


  38. Nakata H, Sakamoto K, Ferretti A, Gianni Perrucci M, Del Gratta C, Kakigi R, Romani GL. Somato-motor inhibitory processing in humans: an event-related functional MRI study. Neuroimage. 2008 Feb 15;39(4):1858-66.


  39. Brunetti M, Della Penna S, Ferretti A, Del Gratta C, Cianflone F, Belardinelli P, Caulo M, Pizzella V, Olivetti Belardinelli M, Romani GL. A frontoparietal network for spatial attention reorienting in the auditory domain: a human fMRI/MEG study of functional and temporal dynamics. Cereb Cortex. 2008 May;18(5):1139-47.


  40. Mantini D, Perrucci MG, Del Gratta C, Romani GL, Corbetta M. Electrophysiological signatures of resting state networks in the human brain. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007 Aug 7;104(32):13170-5.


  41. Mantini D, Perrucci MG, Cugini S, Ferretti A, Romani GL, Del Gratta C. Complete artifact removal for EEG recorded during continuous fMRI using independent component analysis. Neuroimage. 2007 Jan 15;34(2):598-607.


January 28, 2026

Cosimo Del Gratta




Università degli Studi di Roma "Tor Vergata" - Via Cracovia, 50, 00133 Roma RM