CNR Institute of Neuroscience · LENS · University of Florence
Neurological and neurodevelopmental disorders leave distinctive fingerprints in cortical activity — if you know how to read them. We build mesoscale imaging tools to map those signatures brain-wide, discover novel biomarkers of dysfunction, and translate them into targeted therapeutic strategies, from non-invasive brain stimulation to pharmacological intervention.
What we do
What does a disordered brain look like from above? Using wide-field fluorescence microscopy and genetically encoded calcium indicators, we watch neuronal activity unfold across the entire dorsal cortex — in real time, at the scale of whole networks. This mesoscale vantage point reveals how cortical connectivity breaks down in autism spectrum disorder, and lets us track the emergence of novel functional biomarkers that capture disease severity and treatment response. We then leverage these readouts to evaluate therapeutic strategies — including transcranial electrical stimulation and pharmacological approaches — aiming to restore healthy cortical dynamics. Across all of this, we ask how brain state shapes what we measure, and harness the cerebellum as an underexplored partner in cortical network regulation.
We map cortical network alterations — hyperconnectivity, disrupted sensory processing, impaired motor planning — across genetic ASD mouse models (Shank3, Angelman syndrome, Down syndrome). Cortex-wide calcium imaging reveals how inter-areal communication breaks down and guides the identification of functional biomarkers that reflect disease severity and therapeutic response.
The cerebellum is increasingly recognized as a critical node in autism, contributing to sensorimotor integration, social cognition and repetitive behaviours. We explore cerebellar circuit dysfunction — and its crosstalk with cortical networks — in ASD mouse models, using imaging and electrophysiological approaches.
Wakefulness, anesthesia, and spontaneous up/down oscillations profoundly reshape how the cortex processes incoming sensory information. We map this dependence cortex-wide, disentangling genuine network dysfunction from state-induced confounds in ASD models — and using anesthesia as a non-invasive probe of network excitability.
We evaluate strategies to restore healthy cortical dynamics in ASD models. Transcranial electrical current stimulation (tDCS/tACS) is applied non-invasively to modulate network excitability, while pharmacological interventions target synaptic and circuit-level imbalances. Cortex-wide imaging provides quantitative readouts of treatment efficacy.
Mesoscale GCaMP imaging across the entire dorsal cortex, capturing cortex-wide activity dynamics in single trials and across brain states.
Seed-based correlation and network-based statistics to map inter-areal coupling across the dorsal cortex and track how connectivity is altered in ASD mouse models.
Dimensionality reduction (CNMF-E, NMF) to extract recurring low-dimensional activity patterns — cortical motifs — that capture the dominant spatiotemporal dynamics of mesoscale recordings.
Combining wide-field calcium imaging with optogenetic stimulation at arbitrary cortical sites for all-optical motor mapping, causal interrogation of cortical circuits, and targeted stimulation protocols that promote circuit remapping as a therapeutic strategy.
People
Principal Investigator
Senior Researcher at the CNR Institute of Neuroscience, affiliated with LENS. She leads the lab's work on mesoscale cortical imaging and all-optical approaches to uncover biomarkers and therapeutic strategies for neurodevelopmental disorders. Full bio ↓
Postdoctoral Researcher
Investigating cerebellar dysfunction in autism spectrum disorder, exploring the contribution of cerebellar circuits to the sensorimotor and cognitive deficits observed in ASD mouse models and their interplay with cortical dynamics.
PhD Student
Working on therapeutic interventions aimed at recovering cortical and behavioral dysfunction in autism, combining wide-field calcium imaging with optogenetic and pharmacological approaches in genetic mouse models of ASD.
Master's Student
Psychology student at the University of Florence, conducting her thesis research on behavioural phenotyping of genetic mouse models of autism spectrum disorder — characterising motor, social and sensory behaviours to bridge circuit-level findings with behavioural outcomes.
Anna Letizia Allegra Mascaro is a systems neuroscientist driven by one question: how does the brain rewire itself, and how can we guide that plasticity when development goes wrong? Her training spans chemistry, optics and neuroscience. Drawing on all three, she combines optical imaging and manipulation with molecular and behavioural approaches to study cortical plasticity in mice, using wide-field and two-photon microscopy as everyday tools.
She received her Bachelor's degree in Chemistry (2005) and her Master's degree in the Chemistry of Biological Molecules (2007) from the University of Florence, followed by a PhD in Atomic and Molecular Photonics at LENS, University of Florence (2011). She is now a Senior Researcher (Primo Ricercatore) at the Institute of Neuroscience of the National Research Council (CNR-IN), affiliated with LENS, where she leads her research group.
Her research ranges from basic neuronal mechanisms to brain dysfunction in neurodevelopmental disorders, with a focus on autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The lab uses wide-field fluorescence microscopy with genetically encoded activity reporters to image the entire dorsal cortex at once, mapping functional connectivity and the sensory responses of specific neuronal populations. By pinning down how these patterns change in ASD models, the group aims to find new biomarkers and develop new therapies. The lab also uses optogenetic and electrical stimulation to promote cortical rewiring and restore sensory processing, and studies how brain state shapes the way the cortex responds to sensory input.
Selected publications · 2021–2026
Get in touch
We welcome enquiries from prospective students, postdoctoral researchers, and collaborators interested in cortical dynamics, wide-field neuroimaging, or neurodevelopmental disorders.
Location
CNR Institute of Neuroscience
Via G. Moruzzi 1, 56124 Pisa, Italy
Affiliation
LENS — European Laboratory for
Non-linear Spectroscopy, Florence
Web
CNR Institute of Neuroscience
Via G. Moruzzi 1, Pisa
LENS — European Laboratory for
Non-linear Spectroscopy, Florence
mascaro@in.cnr.it
allegra@lens.unifi.it
Funding & support
