Lab members

Soraya Martin Suarez, PhD

Juan Manuel Sustacha, PhD student

Our projects

Since July 2015, Dr. P. Bonifazi joined the Computational Neuroimaging laboratory at the Biocruces Health Research Institute as an Ikerbasque Tenure-Track (Bilbao) where he opened a new line of research on the macro-scale brain networks, based on the firm believe that understating how brain circuits operate require a multi-scale approach trying to bind activities emerging from microcircuits to larger brain network dynamics. During this period, the PI provided new evidence on the structural-functional match in resting-state brain networks (Sci. Rep. 2015) and he discovered the major role of the fronto-striato-thalamic circuit in brain aging (HBM, 2018). Using a similar approach, he has been leading as PI a project aimed at studying the multi-scale nature of epileptic networks in human patients combining deep electrode recordings and magnetic resonance imaging (funded by Spanish Ministry). The results of this study (under revision in peer-reviewed journals) could provide new tools for more accurate and non invasive identification of epileptic networks. In one of the most recent work (PNAS, 2018), we provided an in-vitro demonstration of how astrocytes can restore connectivity and synchronization in dysfunctional networks. This study represents a clear evidence in the literature of how astrocytes impact the structural and functional topology of neuronal circuits. In our last work, we report the communication from artifical to biological neuronal networks through patterned optogenetics (Sci. Rep. 2020). The PI in July 2019 I was promoted to Associate Ikerbasque professor.

The group lead by Dr. P. Bonifazi is part of the Computational Neuroimaging laboratory (lead by prof. JM Cortes), which is in the category of “Consolidado de Excelencia” according to indicators from Health National Institute Carlos III, equivalent to Category A given to Excellence Groups by the Department of Education in the Basque Country .

The group research interests are focused on understanding the relationship between structure and function of brain circuits and networks, with a special attention on how neural systems elaborate, compute and communicate information at the different spatial scales (from synapsis to large brain networks), and on the impact of neurological diseases. Main research lines:

1. Brain networks in health and disease: structural-functional networks from human resting state fMRI and dMRI (tractography) in combination with deep electrode recordings from human epileptic subjects (funded by the Spanish Government grant “multi-scale epileptic networks”)
2. Developing and in-vitro circuits: hub neurons (first demonstration, Science 2009), synchronizations and the emergence of patho-topologies from dysfunctional astrocytes (PNAS 2018) (previously supported by EU Marie-Curie Fellowship IEF and Italy-Israel joint lab on Neuroscience)
3. Neuroengineering: engineered circuits and neuroprosthetic devices (previously funded by EU FET-OPEN project “Brainbow”)
4. Modeling circuits dynamics inspired by complex networks: computational models of how hub neurons are funcitonally emergent and impact circuits’ synchronizations (Plos Comp Biol 2014, 2018)

Last Publications

Sierra-Torre V, Plaza-Zabala A, Bonifazi P, Abiega O, Díaz-Aparicio I, Tegelberg S, Lehesjoki AE, Valero J, Sierra A. Microglial phagocytosis dysfunction in the dentate gyrus is related to local neuronal activity in a genetic model of epilepsy. Epilepsia 2020. doi: 10.1111/epi.16692. 

Mosbacher Y, Khoyratee F, Goldin M, Kanner S, Malakai Y, Silva M, Grassia F, Ben Simon Y, Cortes J, Barzilai A, Levi T, Bonifazi P Toward neuroprosthetic real-time communication from in silico to biological neuronal network via patterned optogenetic stimulation. Sci Rep.10:7512, 2020 doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-63934-4

He Ch,Duan X, Uddin L, Erramuzpe A, Bonifazi P, GuoX, Xiao J, Chen H, Sheng W, Liao W, Cortes JM, Chen H. Structure-Function Connectomics Reveal Aberrant Developmental Trajectories in the Developing Autistic Brain Cereb Cortex pii: bhaa098, 2020 doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhaa098

Buccelli S, Bornat Y, Colombi I, Ambroise M, Martines L, Pasquale V, Bisio M, Tessadori J, Nowak P, Grassia F, Averna A, Tedesco M, Bonifazi P, Difato F, Massobrio P, Levi T, Chiappalone M. A Neuromorphic Prosthesis to Restore Communication in Neuronal Networks. iScience 19:402-414, 2019 doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2019.07.046.

Lozovaya N, Nardou R, Tyzio R, Chiesa M, Pons-Bennaceur A, Eftekhari S, Bui T, Billon-Grand M, Rasero J, Bonifazi P, Gaiarsa J-L, Ferrari DC and Ben-Ari Y. Early alterations in a mouse model of Rett syndrome: the GABA developmental shift is abolished at birth. Sci Rep 9:9276, 2019. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-45635-9.

Cloarec R, Riffault B, Dufour A, Rabiei H, Gouty-Colomer LA, Dumon C, Guimond D, Pons-Benaceur A, Bonifazi P, Eftekhari S, Lozovaya N, Ferrari DC, Ben-Ari Y. Abrupt growth for neurons and major brain structures during birth in a rat model of autism. Science Advances 5:1eaav0394, 2019 doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aav0394

Piasetzky Y, Bisio M, Kanner S, Olivenbaum M, Ben-Jacob E, Chiappalone M, Barzilai, and Bonifazi P. The emergence of dynamical instantaneous memory in the spontaneous activity of spatially confined neuronal assemblies in-vitro. Under revision and pre-published in BioRxiv in 2018; doi.org/10.1101/412320

Fernandez A, Dumon C, Guimond D, Tyzio R, Bonifazi P, Lozovaya N, Burnashev N, Ferrari DC, Ben-Ari Y.  The GABA developmental shift is abolished by maternal immune activation already at birth. , Oxford University Press (OUP), 2018, pp.1 – 11. ffhal-01963851f

Luccioli S, Angulo-Garcia D, Cossart R, Malvache A, Modol L, Sousa VH, Bonifazi P¹ and Torcini A¹. Modeling driver cells in developing neuronal networks. PLoS Comput Biol. 14:e1006551, 2018. doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1006551. (¹ equal senior author contribution)

Camino-Pontes B, Diez I, Jimenez-Marin A, Rasero J, Erramuzpe A, Bonifazi P, Stramaglia S, Swinnen S and Cortes JM. Interaction information along lifespan of the resting brain dynamics reveals a major redundant role of the default mode network. Entropy 20(10), 742, 2018. doi.org/10.3390/e20100742.

Kanner S, Goldin M, Galron R, Hanein Y, Ben Jacob E, Bonifazi P¹ and Barzilai A¹. Astrocytes restore connectivity and synchronization in dysfunctional cerebellar networks. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci.115:8025-8030, 2018 doi: 10.1073/pnas.1718582115 (¹ equal senior author contribution)  

Bonifazi P¹, Erramuzpe A¹, Diez I, Gabilondo I, Boisgontier M, Pauwels L, Stramaglia S, Swinnen S, Cortes J. Structure–function multi‐scale connectomics reveals a major role of the fronto‐striato‐thalamic circuit in brain aging. Human Brain Mapping 39:4663-4677, 2018. doi.org/10.1002/hbm.24312 (¹ equal first author contribution)

Levi T, Bonifazi P, Massobrio P and Chiappalone M. Closed-loop systems for next-generation neuroprostheses (editorial article for a featured Research Topic with 27 papers and 196 authors). Front. Neurosci. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2018.00026