CIMeC - Center for Mind/Brain Sciences

On this page you can find the internship projects currently available at CIMeC:

Projects' Lists

PI Raffaella Bernardi
E-mail raffaella.bernardi@unitn.it
Group website Cimec
General topic Computational Linguistics and Computer Vision
Methodology In depth evaluation of Computational Multimodal Models 
Project description Construction of a dataset  containing visual and textual information conveying complementary information.  Evaluation of current multimodal models against this challenging dataset
Type of intership Curricular/Post-graduate/
Open positions 1
Period February 2019-June 2019 and September 2019-December 2019
PI Yuri Bozzi
E-mail yuri.bozzi@unitn.it
Group website http://www.cimec.unitn.it/206/ndr-neurodevelopmental-disorders-research-group
General topic Mouse models of autism spectrum disorders
Methodology Gene expression studies (RT-PCR, in situ hybridization, immunohistochemistry, immunoblotting) on brain tissues from genetically modified mice; behavioural characterization of genetically modified mice.
Project description Over-reactivity and defensive behaviors in response to tactile stimuli are common symptoms in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). These behaviors have also been observed in mice lacking ASD-associated genes such as Fmr1 (fragile X mental retardation protein 1). Recently, we showed that mice lacking the ASD-associated gene Engrailed 2 (En2-/- mice) have a reduced connectivity in somatosensory cortex, accompanied by fear and active avoidance responses to repeated whisker stimulation. Thus, impaired somatosensory processing is a common feature in mice lacking ASD-related genes. In this project, we want to extend our analyses to other monogenic mouse models of ASD, namely Cntnap2 and Shank3b knockout mice, which are known to have anatomical defects in the somatosensory cortex. By using gene expression and behavioural approaches, we aim at characterizing somatosensory defects in these mutant mouse lines relevant for ASD.
Type of intership Curricular
Open positions 2
Period All year
PI Albrecht Haase
E-mail albrecht.haase@unitn.it
Group website http://r.unitn.it/en/cimec/nphys 
General topic Neuronal coding, Network dynamics, Connectivity, Olfaction, Vision, Learning & Memory, Magnetoreception, Neurophysics, Neurotoxins
Methodology Two-photon microscopy, Calcium imaging, Optogenetics, Data analysis, Maschine Learning, small animal models (insects, fish)
Project description We offer an involvement in different projects on the above-mentioned topics.
Our core facility is a two-photon in vivo imaging platform, our standard models are honeybees,fruitflies, and zebrafish.
Students will learn all required techniques, among those: genetic engineering, animal preparation, in vivo morphological and functional imaging, immunohistochemistry, image postprocessing, advanced image analysis, programming platforms: MATLAB, LabView, maschine learning, behavioural assays, statistical data analysis, beekeeping.
Type of intership Curricular/Post-graduate
Open positions 4
Period All year
PI Uwe Mayer
E-mail uwe.mayer@unitn.it
Group website https://www.cimec.unitn.it/493/neurobiology-of-comparative-cognition-group
General topic Neurobiology of Comparative Cognition
Methodology Behavioural measurements and training of domestic chicks, neuronanatomical and histological preparations, neuroanatomical staining procedures, immunohistochemistry, mapping neuronal activity on the basis of immediate early gene products (e.g. c-Fos), lesioning and tracing, electrophysiological recordings of single unit and low field potentials in the brain of domestic chicks.
Project description We are constantly running various projects investigating the neurobiological basis of spatial and social cognition in domestic chicks. We are focusing on visually guided behaviours and pay particular attention to lateralisation of brain functions. If you are interested in comparative neuroscience, animal behaviour/neuroanatomy and are willing to learn neurobiological methods used in our lab, please don't hesitate to write an email to Dr. Uwe Mayer who will provide you more specific infos about currently available projects. Please visit also our Group website. 
Type of intership Master/Bachelor thesis internships and volunteers
Open positions 6
Period Minimum 6 month
PI Veronica Mazza
E-mail veronica.mazza@unitn.it
Sito web del gruppo di ricerca https://r1.unitn.it/apa/en/projects/
Gneeral topic Attention, Perception, Aging, visual working memory, training
Methodology EEG and behavioral measures
Project description Please see group website for more detail
Type of intership Curricular- Post-graduate-Professional training
Open positions 2 per year
Period All year round
PI Carlo Miniussi
E-mail carlo.miniussi@unitn.it
Group website http://www.cimec.unitn.it/CoNeCo
General topic Non-invasive transcranial brain stimulation (TBS) techniques and their combination with other imaging techniques (e.g. TMS-EEG coregistration)
Methodology TMS, tES, TMS-EEG coregistration
Project description Recording/Data Analysis
Type of intership Curricular/Post-graduate/Professional training
Open positions 4
Period All year
PI Manuela Piazza
E-mail manuela.piazza@unitn.it
Group website http://r.unitn.it/en/cimec/per2con
General topic Symbol processing in the brain
Methodology fMRI, psychophysics
Project description We study through fmri the neural code of semantic representations
Type of intership Curricular/Post-graduate/Professional training
Open positions 3
Period 2019-2020
PI Stefania Pighin
E-mail stefania.pighin@unitn.it
Group website https://www.cimec.unitn.it/533/reasoning-and-decision-group-rad
General topic Mental simulation, decision-making under stress, medical decision-making
Methodology Behavioral studies
Projects description We are currently working on different projects on the above-mentioned topics. Students are offered the opportunity to be involved in various experimental phases (from experimental planning, to data collection and data analysis) by running experiments both inside and outside the laboratory.
Type of internship Curricular/Post-graduate
Open positions 2
Period All year
PI Paola Sgadò
E-mail paola.sgado@unitn.it 
Group website www.cimec.unitn.it/585/molecular-and-cellular-cognition-mc2-group 
General topic Models of neuropsychiatric disorders, molecular bases of social cognition
Methodology  Gene expression analysis, epigenetic, genome editing, viral transduction, immunohistochemistry, social behaviour
Project description Early predispositions in chicks: molecular and a cellular mechanisms and link to autism spectrum disorders;
Development of novel strategies for genome editing in domestic chicks.
(See group website for further details)
Type of intership Curricular/Post-graduate
Open positions 4
Period All year
PI Valeria Anna Sovrano
E-mail valeriaanna.sovrano@unitn.it
Group website http://www.cimec.unitn.it/593/fish-group
General topic Animal cognition
Methodology Behavioral observation, visual discrimination test, operating conditioning
Project description Studying fish: spatial representation, categorization of objects, perception of visual illusions, numerical skills
Type of intership Curricular/Post-graduate/Professional training
Open positions 5
Period All year
PI Katya Tentori  
E-mail katya.tentori@unitn.it
Group website https://www.cimec.unitn.it/533/reasoning-and-decision-group-rad
General topic Probabilistic reasoning, decision and reasoning fallacies, medical decision-making
Methodology Behavioral studies
Project description Research projects will cover the topics listed above. Students will be offered the opportunity to be involved in various experimental phases (from literature search and experiment design, to data collection and data analysis). 
Only students who have already taken (at least) a course in the “thinking area” (i.e., “reasoning”, “decision making”, “logic”, etc) will be accepted. 
Type of intership Curricular/Post-graduate
Open positions 2
Period From September to March
PI Marco Tettamanti
E-mail marco.tettamanti-1@unitn.it
Group website https://www.cimec.unitn.it/en/node/744
General topic Neurobiology of language
Methodology Multimodal MRI, behavioural
Project description To investigate the spatio-temporal brain dynamics of natural language faculties, with particular focus on language acquisition, syntactic computation principles, concept formation and the role of personal experience in grounding conceptual-semantic representations, and syntax-semantics interface mechanisms.
Type of intership Curricular/Post-graduate 
Open positions 3
Period

All year
PI Massimo Turatto
E-mail massimo.turatto@unitn.it
Group website http://www.cimec.unitn.it/557/attention-learning-and-motivation-group 
General topic Habituation of cognitive functions
Methodology Response times, oculomotor responses, EEG
Project description The research addresses how we avoid distraction, namely the mechanisms of distractors filtering
Type of internship Curricular/Post-graduate
Open positions 4
Period All year
PI Luca Turella
E-mail luca.turella@unitn.it
Group website http://www.cimec.unitn.it/608/motor-control-group
General topic Motor Control - Action & Intention Understanding
Methodology fMRI/MEG
Project description he student can be involved in two different types of projects. The first project aims at characterizing the neural representations of the actions we perform in everyday life.
The second project aims at characterizing the neural networks underlying the understanding of the action and intentions of others.
Type of internship Curricular/Post-graduate/Professional training
Open positions 4
Period All year
PI Giorgio Vallortigara
E-mail giorgio.vallortigara@unitn.it
Group website https://r.unitn.it/en/cimec/abc
General topic Neural bases of animacy and numeracy in animal models
Methodology Behaviour, early gene expression, electrophysiology
Project description The projects aim at unveiling the neural mechanisms underlying number cognition and animacy recognition
Type of intership Curricular/Post-graduate/Professional training
Open positions 3
Period All year