In Vitro Neuronal Networks / Advances in Neurobiology Bd.22 (PDF)

advancing the design of future brain-machine interfaces and brain prostheses. Currently, she has been working as senior post-doc in Dr. Tommaso Fellin's lab (Optical Approches to Brain Function). Her interests include in vivo studies combining optogenetics and electrophysiology for a deeper understanding of inhibitory interneurons' contribution to the generation and control of sleep waves. She is also involved in the design and development of technological tools for patterned optical stimulation through light phase modulation.

Monica Frega received her PhD in Bioengineering from the University of Genova in 2014. During her PhD, she developed a novel 3D neuronal model and she demonstrated the possibility of coupling cultured 3D-networks to micro-electrode arrays devices and functionally monitoring their electrophysiological activity. Her thesis "Neuronal network dynamics in 2D and 3D in vitro neuro-engineered systems", carried out under the supervision of prof. dr. Sergio Martinoia, was judged 'excellent' by the PhD committee and recognized as 'outstanding PhD research' from Springer.

Between 2014 and 2018, she worked as a postdoctoral researcher in the group of prof. dr. Nael Nadif Kasri at RadboudUmc (Nijmegen, the Netherlands), where she applied her expertise in bioengineering to state-of-the-art stem cell biology to study neurodevelopmental disorders. While her academic path and PhD allowed her to develop engineering and technical capabilities, during the Post Doc she acquired expertise in stem cell biology. Through these working experiences, Monica Frega became a truly interdisciplinary researcher.



In 2018, Monica Frega started her job at the University of Twente as Assistant Professor in the Clinical Neurophysiology group. Her research mainly focuses on neurological disorders, with the aim to bridge the gap between research and clinic. She makes use of human in vitro models (neuronal cells derived from human induced pluripotent stem cell from healthy subject and patients grown on micro-electrode arrays) in combination with EEG data recordings from patients to study basic physiological processes involved in neurological disorders.