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Massimo Grattarola was born on January 27, … Massimo Grattarola was born on January 27, 1950 in Genova, Italy. He graduated in Physics in 1975 at the University of Genoa, with the final dissertation on “Computer simulation of the cerebral linguistic circuit”, advisor Prof. Antonio Borsellino, father of the “Cybernetics” in Italy. Since then, Grattarola showed a great scientific curiosity for the interdisciplinary approach between the worlds of Biophysics and Neurosciences. After a training period at the research center of Biophysics and Cybernetics in Camogli (Genova), he spent one year as a research associate at the Department of Biophysics and Physiology, Temple University, Philadelphia, U.S. During this period, he focused his research activities on optical cytometry. He worked on a research field we can now define as ”Cellular Engineering”, by investigating the effects of the electromagnetic fields at cellular and molecular level. In 1978 he came back to Italy as Assistant Professor in Applied Biophysics at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Genoa, and in 1982 he was one of the co-founders of the Biophysical and Electronic Engineering Department where he worked till the end (He died in Genova, on February 15th, 2002). In 1986 he became Associate Professor: he taught Bioelectronics for the Electronic Engineering degree and, since 1995, Bioelectrochemistry for the Biomedical Engineering degree. During this period, he set up a research group on Neural and Bioelectronics Technologies, drawing an ever-increasing number of PhD students working on research activities focused on the coupling between microelectronic devices and excitable cells. In the years, he got and kept in contact with international research groups interested in the cross-fertilization and synergies coming from the mixture of different know-how and disciplines. In 1991 and 1997 he was invited, by Prof. Gregory Kovacs, as a visiting professor at the Centre for Integrated System, Stanford University, U.S. Here, following the pioneering works carried out by Prof. Guenter W. Gross, he started a project aiming to exploit the potentialities of the Microelectrode Arrays technique in the field of the in vitro electrophysiology to investigate networks of cultured neurons. In 2000, he was appointed full professor of Electronic Bioengineering, and became the chairman of the PhD program in Bioelectronics and Bioengineering at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Genova. His scientific curriculum is well emphasized by more than 70 papers issued in international journals, by several contributions to scientific books, and by invited talks in workshops and conferences. He introduced, first in Italy, the concept of Bioelectronics. He was the only one in Italy to have a chair in Bioelectronics for the Biomedical Engineering degree. He was firmly convinced that Bioelectronics is the result of the cross-fertilization between micro-/nano-electronics and molecular biology of the cell. This idea led to the publication of the book: “Bioelectronics Handbook: MOSFETs, Biosensors, and Neurons" edited by McGraw-Hill, 1998. Indeed, the book deals with phenomena occurring in semiconductor materials, biological materials, aqueous solutions and solid-liquid junctions, and represents the conceptual framework for the design of hybrid bio-electronic devices and of biologically-inspired artificial devices and systems. The book is intended to provide a contribution to the foundation of this new discipline (Bioelectronics), by describing all the aforementioned phenomena by means of a common elementary physico-mathematical language; in this way MOSFETs, biosensors and neurons are viewed under a common perspective. The book represents a self-consistent reference for teachers of courses dealing with bioengineering, biotechnology, applied biophysics, and microelectronic biosensors. During the mid and late 90s, Grattarola renewed and further developed his keen interests in mathematical modelling of neural systems and bioelectronics hybrids. His early contributions to develop equivalent electrical circuit models accounting for the biophysics of the interface between microelectrodes and excitable cell membranes are notable. His intuitions towards novel developments in the field of computational neurosciences inspired subsequent academic careers of several of his collaborators to combine experimental research with the use of computers and electrical circuit simulator software tackling neurobiological questions as well as in the study of pancreatic beta-cells. More recently, he devoted his efforts and attention to the Neuroengineering field, by proposing initiatives both at local and international level, as joint research projects and as the proposal of an International Research Center on Neuroengineering in Genova which unfortunately did not see to come to light because of his premature death. The Neuroengineering Summer School he organized for the first time in 2001 at the University of Genova is one of his achievements he was proud of. Even during his struggle against cancer, he kept worrying about the organization of the 2nd edition which was successfully held in Genova in June 2002. The International Summer School of Neuroengineering, held every two years in Genova, is dedicated to his memory. His spirit of enthusiast researcher, tireless worker, and indomitable dreamer can be summarized by a citation he loved: “And having turned our stern unto the morning,We of the oars made wings for our mad flight,"(Inf. XXVI, Dante Alighieri)r mad flight,"(Inf. XXVI, Dante Alighieri)
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Massimo Grattarola was born on January 27, … Massimo Grattarola was born on January 27, 1950 in Genova, Italy. He graduated in Physics in 1975 at the University of Genoa, with the final dissertation on “Computer simulation of the cerebral linguistic circuit”, advisor Prof. Antonio Borsellino, father of the “Cybernetics” in Italy. Since then, Grattarola showed a great scientific curiosity for the interdisciplinary approach between the worlds of Biophysics and Neurosciences. After a training period at the research center of Biophysics and Cybernetics in Camogli (Genova), he spent one year as a research associate at the Department of Biophysics and Physiology, Temple University, Philadelphia, U.S. During this period, he focused his research activities on optical cytometry. He worked on a research field we can now define as ”Cellular Engh field we can now define as ”Cellular Eng
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