Fabrizio Taffoni

I am currently Assistant Professor at the Laboratory of Advanced Robotic and Human-Centred Technologies of Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma. I work in the field of mechatronics aimed at developing new tools and methods to study motor controls in children and newborns, and thus indirectly assess their neural development. More recently, I started to work on the design and development of tools for motion augmentation or substitution in adult patients.

During my academic career, I have worked in biomedical engineering, developmental neuroscience, and developmental and cognitive psychology. These experiences have allowed me to develop a high interdisciplinary background and to reach a proven record of accomplished and productive research projects, which have led to 35 peer-reviewed published articles and to numerous articles presented in international peer-reviewed conferences. My work has so far been cited >900 times (source: Scopus, last check December 2022). My research interests mainly regard:

the development and validation of unobtrusive technologies (wearable sensors, mechatronics toys and platforms) for:

- non-obtrusive and quantitative assessment of motor development in children;

- assessment of motion performance in neurological patients;

- assessment of motion performance in athletes;

the study of how humans (in particular children) develop motor skills and how they learn to coordinate them;

the development of technological aids for clinicians and patients.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

Oct. 2021-present: Associate Professor in Industrial Bioengineering, School of Engineering, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Italy.

Oct. 2018-Sept. 2021: Tenure-track Assistant Professor in Industrial Bioengineering (RTD-b L. 240/2010, SSD: ING-IND/34), School of Engineering, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Italy.

Jul. 2017-Sept. 2019: Post-Doctoral fellowship at the Unit of Advanced Technologies and Human-Centred Technologies, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Italy (art. 22, Law n. 240/2010).

Oct. 2017-Sept 2018: Foreign research, expert in the designing of mechatronic systems for human behavioral analysis at Telematics Services Engineering Research Group, Universidad de Alcalá, Spain.

Jan. 2018-Feb. 2018: Research Associate at Fetal-Neonatal Neuroimaging & Developmental Science Center (FNNDSC) with Associated Personnel access at Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH), USA.

May 2014-Feb. 2018: Co-Founder and partner of the spin-off Jumpo srl., operating in the field of out-of-the-lab human motion tracking.

Jul. 2012-Jun. 2017: Assistant Professor in Industrial Bioengineering (RTD L. 230/2005, SSD: ING-IND/34) at the School of Engineering, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Italy.

Apr. 2012-May 2012: Research Assistant at Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Italy, Unit of Biomedical Robotics and Biomicrosystems.

Mar. 2009-Mar. 2012: Post-Doctoral fellowship at the Laboratory of Developmental Neuroscience, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Italy (art. 51 paragraph 6 of Law n. 449/1997).

Jan. 2008: Visiting Student at the Perception in Action Laboratory, Perception-Movement-Action Research Consortium (PMARC), Edinburgh University (UK). I joined the group of Prof. David N. Lee, working on wearable sensors to study spontaneous and goal directed movements in newborns.

EDUCATION

2006-2009: PhD in Biomedical Engineering, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Italy.

2003-2005: Master’s Degree in Biomedical Engineering, (110/110 cum Laude), Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Italy.

2000-2003: Bachelor Degree in Biomedical Engineering, (110/110 cum Laude), Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Italy.

TEACHING EXPERIENCES:

Oct. 2021 – to date: Lecturer of the “Bioengineering and Biomechanics of human movements” class (1 out of 6 ECTS) at the School of Engineering, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Italy.

Nov. 2018 – to date: Coordinator of the “Biodesign” class (6 ECTS) at the School of Engineering, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Italy.

Sept. 2017 – Oct. 2018: Lecturer of the “Biodesign” class (4 out of 6 ECTS) at the School of Engineering, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Italy.

Nov. 2016 – to date: Lecturer of the “Mechatronics for Biomedical systems” class (9 out of 18 ECTS) at the School of Engineering, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Italy.

Nov. 2012 – Oct. 2016: Coordinator of the “Biomechatronics” class (12 ECTS) at the School of Engineering, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Italy.

Nov. 2011 – Oct. 2012: Tutor/Teaching Assistant of the “Biomechatronics” class at the School of Engineering, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Italy.

Sept. 2008 – Oct. 2010: Tutor/Teaching Assistant of the “Anatomy and Physiology” class at the School of Engineering, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Italy.

Last 5 years:

* Billardello, R., Ntolkeras, G., Chericoni, A., Madsen, J. R., Papadelis, C., Pearl, P. L., ... & Tamilia, E. (2022). Novel User-Friendly Application for MRI Segmentation of Brain Resection following Epilepsy Surgery. Diagnostics, 12(4), 1017.

* Taffoni, F. (2021). 2021 IEEE RAS Seasonal School on Rehabilitation and Assistive Robotics Based on Soft Robotics [Education]. IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine, 28(3), 187-190.

* G. Iandolo, N. Chourasia, G. Ntolkeras, G., J.R. Madsen, C. Papadelis, C.; E. Grant, P.L. Pearl, F. Taffoni, E. Tamilia, “Changes in the Functional Brain Network of Children Undergoing Repeated Epilepsy Surgery: An EEG Source Connectivit Study.” Diagnostics 2021, Vol. 11, 1234. https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics11071234

* F. Taffoni, V. Focaroli, A. M. Visco, F. Noce, R. Lubrano, “New methods and tools to assess nutritive sucking in new-borns: effect of different feeding bottles on nutritive performance”, Journal of Biological Regulators and Homeostatic Agents, 34(5 Suppl. 3), 137-146.

* A. Costantino*, N. Di Stefano*, F. Taffoni, G. Di Pino, M. Casale, F. Keller, “Embodying melody through a conducting baton: a pilot comparison between musicians and non-musicians.” Experimental Brain Research, 238(10), 2279-2291, 2020.

* E. Tamilia, M.S. Parker, M. Rocchi, F. Taffoni, A. Hansen, P.E. Grant, P. E., C. Papadelis, “Nutritive sucking abnormalities and brain microstructural abnormalities in infants with established brain injury: a pilot study”. Journal of Perinatology, 39(11), 1498-1508, 2019.

* F. Taffoni, V. Focaroli, F. Keller, J.M. Iverson, “Motor performance in a shape sorter task: A longitudinal study from 14 to 36 months of age in children with an older sibling ASD”. PloS one, 14(5), e0217416, 2019.

* C. Massaroni, A. Nicolò, M. Girardi, A. La Camera, E. Schena, M. Sacchetti, S. Silvestri, F. Taffoni, “Validation of a wearable device and an algorithm for respiratory monitoring during exercise.” IEEE Sensors Journal, 19(12), 4652-4659, 2019.

* E. Tamilia, E. H. Park, S. Percivati, J. Bolton, F. Taffoni, J. Peters, P. Grant, P. Phillip J. Madsen, C. Papadelis “Surgical resection of ripple onset predicts outcome in pediatric epilepsy.” Annals of neurology, 84(3), 331-346, 2018.

* F. Taffoni, D. Rivera, A. La Camera, A. Nicolò, J. R. Velasco, C. Massaroni, “A Wearable System for Real-time Continuous Monitoring of Physical Activity.” Journal of Healthcare Engineering, vol. 2018, Article ID 1878354, 2018.

* L. di Biase, S. Summa, J. Tosi, F. Taffoni, M. Marano, A. Cascio Rizzo, ... & M. Tombini, “Quantitative analysis of bradykinesia and rigidity in Parkinson’s disease.” Frontiers in Neurology, Vol. 9, p.121, 2018.

* J. Tosi, F. Taffoni, M. Santacatterina, R. Sannino, D. Formica, “Performance evaluation of Bluetooth low energy: a systematic review.” Sensors, Vol. 17(12): 2898, 2017.

* F. Taffoni, L. Di Perna, D. Formica, V. Focaroli, F.Keller, N. Di Stefano, “A Sensor-Based Approach To Study Sound Perception In Children.” Int. J. Computer Applications in Technology, Vol 53(3), pp. 173-182, 2017.

* N. Di Stefano, V. Focaroli, A. Giuliani, D. Formica, F. Taffoni, F. Keller, “A new research method to test auditory preferences in young listeners: Results from a consonance versus dissonance perception study.” Psychology of Music, Vol. 45(5), pp.699-712, 2017.