Bioengineering in the Industrial Informatics Lab

Prof. Eng. Vitoantonio Bevilacqua, Ph.D.

Full Professor, Scientific Coordinator

Vitoantonio Bevilacqua is Full Professor in Electronic and Information Bioengineering at the Electrical and Information Engineering Department of Polytechnic University of Bari (DEI-POLIBA) and the Coordinator of the Master’s Degree in Medical Systems Engineering.
He obtained the Laurea Degree in Electronic Engineering, the Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and the Post-Doc in Industrial Informatics from Polytechnic University of Bari and National Scientific Habilitation (ASN) as Full Professor of Information Processing Systems.
In March 2019 he founded Apulian Bioengineering srl, a start-up and spin-off company of Polytechnic University of Bari and is currently its Chief Executive Officer. In September 2019 he joined the BioRobotics Institute of Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna di Pisa as Affiliate Professor.
Currently he is the Head of Industrial Informatics Lab and also the Unique Representative and Scientific Coordinator of the Public-Private Laboratory “Cognitive Diagnostics” founded in a partneship between Polytechnic University of Bari and Comau s.p.a.
He published more than 240 scientific papers.

MAIN RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

Since 1996 he has been working and investigating in the field of computer vision and image processing, bioengineering, human-machine interaction based on machine learning and soft computing techniques (neural networks, evolutionary algorithms, hybrid expert systems, deep learning).
The main applications of his research are in medicine, in biometry, in bioinformatics in ambient assisted living and industry. In July 2000 he was involved as Visiting Researcher in an EC funded TMR (Trans-Mobility of Researchers) network (ERB FMRX-CT97-0127) called CAMERA (CAd Modeling Environment from Range Images) and worked in Manchester (UK) at UK Robotics Ltd, in the field of geometric feature extraction and 3D objects reconstruction. He published more than 190 international papers and chaired several sessions such as Speech Recognition, Biomedical Informatics, Intelligent Image Processing and Bioinformatics in international conferences.
In July 2011, he was invited as lecturer at International School on Medical Imaging using Bioinspired and Soft Computing-Miere (Spain) MIBISOC FP7-PEOPLE-ITN-2008. GA N. 238819— where presented his research on Intelligent Tumors Computer Aided Early Diagnosis and Therapy: Neural Network and Genetic Algorithms frameworks.

RECENT DIDACTIC ACTIVITIES

Medical Image Processing, Advanced Bioinformatics,  Systems for Rehabilitation and Assisted Therapy, Bioinformatics and Big Data Analytics, Human-Machine Interaction, Medical Informatics, Expert Systems, C/C++ Programming, Algorithms and Data Structure in Java at DEI-POLIBA and Bioengineering: Analysis of Movement, Bioengineering and Information for Rehabilitation at School of Medicine – University of Bari.

For a complete list of publications: Scopus, PubMed and Google Scholar.

Prof. Eng. Antonio Brunetti, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Antonio Brunetti is a junior assistant professor (fixed term) at the Department of Electrical and Information Engineering of the Polytechnic University of Bari. He received the Bachelor’s Degree, in computer science and automation engineering, and the Master’s Degree (cum laude), in Computer Science Engineering, at the Polytechnic University of Bari. His final dissertation in Human-Computer Interaction concerned the design and implementation of an intelligent system able to adapt the living environment of subjects with mild cognitive impairment based on cognitive analyses based on event-related potentials measured on the EEG signal stimulated via an innovative protocol based on Virtual Reality.
Since December 2015 to October 2016, he was a Research Fellow at the Polytechnic University of Bari working on the GCESYS – “Green Community Efficiency Systems” project, working on designing and developing optimization algorithms applied to energy consumption scheduling in smart buildings with systems fueled by mixed traditional and renewable sources.
In February 2020, he got the PhD degree in Electrical and Information Engineering at the Doctoral School of the Polytechnic University of Bari. Under the supervision of Prof. Vitoantonio Bevilacqua, his PhD thesis dealt with the design and implementation of Intelligent Frameworks, based on Image Processing, Machine Learning and Deep Learning algorithms, for supporting clinical diagnosis in the Precision Medicine Era.
From April 2020 to December 2021, he was a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow working on research activities in the fields of Electronic and Informatics Bioengineering, and Bioinformatics.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Some of his professional experience includes several collaborations at the Department of Electrical and Information Engineering (DEI) of the Polytechnic University of Bari, where he worked on the design and development of intelligent algorithms for biomedical image and signal processing, working on several research projects, such as RESCAP – “Residual Capabilities” (LINK), PRE.C.I.O.U.S. – “PREdictive Computer aIded scOring sUpport System” (LINK) and Recall (LINK).
He also had several collaborations on contracts from external companies, such as PRE.MED – “PREdictive MEDicine” project, where he has to design and develop an operating environment for the extraction and processing of morphological features of patients affected by Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease (ADPKD) and to validate the diagnostic classification framework (LINK), or COMAU Robot Company.
In March 2019, he founded Apulian Bioengineering Srl, a spin-off company of the Polytechnic of Bari, as a shareholder (http://www.apulianbioengineering.com).

TEACHING ACTIVITIES

He teaches Healthcare Information Systems for the Master’s Degree in Medical Systems Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Bari (since a.y. 2019/20) and Electronic and Informatics Bioengineering for the Bachelor’s Degrees in Audiometric Techniques, Audioprosthetic Techniques, Neurophysiopathology Techniques (since a.y. 2019/20 to date) and Cardiocirculatory and Cardiovascular Perfusion Techniques (a.y. 2019/20 and 2020/21) at the Medical School of the University of Bari.

For a complete list of publications: Scopus, PubMed and Google Scholar.

Prof. Eng. Domenico Buongiorno, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Domenico Buongiorno is an Assistant Professor (RTDa – fixed term) in Electronic and Information Bioengineering at the Department of Electrical and Information Engineering of Polytechnic University of Bari. He received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. (cum laude) degrees in automation and control theory engineering from Politecnico di Bari, Bari, Italy, in 2011 and 2014, respectively. His bachelor and master theses, both supervised by the Prof. Vitoantonio Bevilacqua, concerned machine learning-based optimization techniques for energy consumption optimization and human neuromusculoskeletal modeling, respectively.
In 2017, he received the Ph.D. degree in Emerging Digital Technologies from Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa, Italy (PERCeptual RObotics laboratory – PERCRO). His PhD thesis concerns the control of robotic interfaces for interaction with virtual environments, robot-aided neurorehabilitation (EMG based control – Myocontrol) and bilateral multi-DoF teleoperation in disaster scenario.  In 2017, he has been a visiting PhD Student at the Biorobotics Laboratory, UCI Irvine, California, under the sypervision of the Prof. David Reinkensmeyer. In 2019, he received the Italian National Bioengineering Group award for best doctoral thesis.
From November 2017 to July 2022, he was a Research Fellow working on research activities in the fields of Electronic and Informatics Bioengineering, Informatics and Applied Mechanics.
He is and has been involved in a number of research project funded both at regional, national and international level. His research interests include robotic-assisted surgery, medical data processing, explainable AI, human-machine interaction and biomedical engineering.
In March 2019, he founded Apulian Bioengineering srl, a spin-off company of the Polytechnic University of Bari.

RECENT DIDACTIC ACTIVITIES

Biomedical Instrumentation, Technologies for Bioengineering and Computer Science at the DEI Department of Polythechnic University of Bari.
Electronic and Information Bioengineering at School of Medicine – University of Bari.

For a complete list of publications: Scopus, PubMed and Google Scholar.

Prof. Daniele Di Mascolo, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Daniele Di Mascolo is an Assistant Professor at the Electrical and Information Engineering Department of Politecnico di Bari (DEI-POLIBA). He obtained a Bachelor’s (cum laude) and a Master’s Degree (cum laude) in Biological Science (Pathological-Molecular curriculum) at the “Università della Calabria”, Arcavacata di Rende (Cosenza, Italy) in 2008 and 2010, respectively. In 2011, he joined the Doctoral School in Biomedical and Computer Engineering at the “Università Magna Graecia” in Catanzaro (Italy) in his desire to combine new technological advancements and his biological background to offer new solutions to complex problems such as human diseases. He received his Ph.D. in 2014, after spending the last period (starting from 2012) in the Department of Translational Imaging, at The Houston Methodist Research Institute Houston (THMRI), TX – U.S.A, in the biggest medical center in the United States.
His activities continued as a postdoctoral fellow, first at TMHRI and then, from the end of 2014, at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Genova.
After being awarded by Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action (MSCA) with the Seal of Excellence, he became a Researcher at IIT in 2018. In February 2022, he got the National Scientific Habilitation (ASN) as an Associate Professor of (i) BioEngineering; (ii) Drugs Technology, Socio-Economics and Regulations; and (iii) Sciences of Healthcare Professions and Applied Medical Technologies.
He is a member of the Editorial Board of “Artificial Cells, Nanomedicine and Biotechnology” and Guest Editor or Guest Associate Editor for journals and Special Issues in the field of Nanomedicine and BioEngineering.

MAIN RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

Besides the first studies conducted with a more biological approach, focused on Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and the quest for genetic risk factors correlating AD and cardiovascular diseases, his research activities mainly focus on Nanomedicine for therapeutic applications (especially in cancer) and immune system modulation. In particular, he worked on the realization of nanoparticles and on the fabrication of novel hierarchical and modular microparticles, which integrate pharmacological and mechanical features for the treatment of pathological conditions, among which also osteoarthritis and diabetes. Recently, he started to develop nanomedicine systems for the combinatorial treatment of tumors through a chemo-immunotherapy approach and a local device for Glioblastoma Multiforme therapy. He participated at different levels in several research projects funded at the national (e.g., AIRC) and international (e.g., ERC, MSCA, NIH) levels, collaborating with multiple groups and Institutes, both European and American. He published more than 30 papers, including book chapters, and orally presented his results at several international conferences, both acknowledged with prizes and Journal covers (as Nature Nanotechnology and Journal of Controlled Releases). He also has 1 patent.

RECENT DIDACTIC ACTIVITIES

He teaches Materials for Bioengineering and Transport Phenomena and Instrumentation for Biological Systems for the Master’s Degree in Medical Systems Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Bari.

For a complete list of publications: Scopus, Google Scholar, and Pubmed.

Prof. Eng. Stefano Mazzoleni, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Stefano Mazzoleni is Associate Professor in Electronic and Information Bioengineering at the Department of Electrical and Information Engineering of Polytechnic University of Bari (DEI-POLIBA). He received the University degree (Laurea) in Computer Engineering from the University of Pisa (Italy) in 2002 and the Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Genoa (Italy) in 2007. In 2005 he received the “Student Travel Award” at the IEEE 9th International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics in Chicago, USA. From May 2015 to March 2020 he was Assistant Professor at the BioRobotics Institute of Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna (Pisa, Italy). He was head of the joint “Rehabilitation Bioengineering Laboratory” between Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna and “Auxilium Vitae” Rehabilitation Centre in Volterra (Italy) from January 2011 to March 2020.

MAIN RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

His research interests include rehabilitation robotics, bioengineering, human-machine interfaces, motor control, motor recovery, human-robot interaction, ICT systems for telerehabilitation and telemonitoring applications. He is author of more than 100 scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals and international conferences. He is member of several Editorial Boards of international scientific journals in the fields of robotics, bioengineering and automation.
He is member of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (IEEE RAS), IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS), IEEE Brain Community and Italian Robotics NeuroRehabilitation Group (IRNRG). He is member of research group in Neurobioethics coordinated by the Ateneo Pontificio Regina Apostolorum in Rome, Italy.

TEACHING ACTIVITIES

Bioinformatics and Big Data Analytics, Rehabilitation Robotics, Robot Companions for Assisted Living, Human Robot Interaction, Rehabilitation Bioengineering.

For a complete list of publications: Scopus and Google Scholar.

Nicola Altini, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Nicola Altini received the B.Sc. degree (cum laude) in Computer Science and Automation Engineering and the M.Sc. degree (cum laude) in Computer Engineering from Politecnico di Bari, Bari, Italy, in 2017 and 2019, respectively. In December 2022, he obtained the Ph.D. in Electrical and Information Engineering at Politecnico di Bari, with the final dissertation “Computational imaging for precision medicine: the emergence of radiomics, pathomics and deep learning”, under the supervision of Prof. Vitoantonio Bevilacqua and Prof. Francescomaria Marino.
He is actually an Assistant Professor (RTDa – fixed term) in Electronic and Information Bioengineering at the Department of Electrical and Information Engineering of Polytechnic University of Bari.
His main research interests include Medical Image Analysis, Computer Vision, Deep Learning, Radiomics and Pathomics.
In the period November 2022 – March 2023, he has been a Research Fellow on the subject “Intelligent Next Generation Human Machine Interfaces (HMI) for Industrial Machinery” (SSD: ING-INF/06).
In the period December 2019 – July 2020, he worked as research assistant at the Polytechnic University of Bari on SOS – “Smart Operating Shelter” project.
He has worked as contract worker at the Polytechnic University of Bari on the research projects CT_MASMEC_ARONA (2021) and CT_MASMEC_BEVILACQUA_MASMART (2022 and 2023), where he respectively focused on algorithms for segmentation and automatic recognition of vertebrae from Computed Tomography scans and multimodal diagnostic systems based on ultrasound and X-rays.
He has worked as Teaching Assistant at the Polytechnic University of Bari for the course “Bioinformatics and Big Data Analytics”, 6 ECTS, Bachelor’s Degree in Medical Systems in 2020 and for the course “Sistemi per la riabilitazione e la terapia assistita”, 6 ECTS, Master’s Degree in Medical Systems Engineering in 2021.
In September 2020 he received the Master’s Thesis Award “Nearlab” 2020, Politecnico di Milano, during the XXXIX School from Italian National Bioengineering Group (September 6-10, 2020, Bressanone), for his master thesis “Design and Implementation of a Deep Learning-Based Computer-Aided Diagnosis System for Global Glomerulosclerosis Assessment in Kidney Biopsies”.
In September 2020 he was also the Team Leader of the Winning Team in the Datathon organized during the XXXIX School from Italian National Bioengineering Group (September 6-10, 2020, Brixen, Italy).
In September 2022 he was a member of the Winning Team in the Online Contest organized during the Bioengineering National Group (GNB) XLI Annual School, September 12-15, 2022, Brixen, Italy.

For a complete list of publications: SCOPUS and Google Scholar.

Gian Maria Zaccaria, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Gian Maria Zaccaria is junior Assistant Professor at the Electrical and Information Engineering Department of Polytechnic University of Bari (DEI-POLIBA). He obtained a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering in 2007 at the “Università Politecnica delle Marche” and a master’s degree in biomedical engineering in 2010 at the Polytechnic University of Turin.
In 2011 he obtained a second level master’s degree in “E-Business and ICT for Management” from the Polytechnic University of Turin. In 2014, he joined the Doctoral School in Biomedical Engineering and Health Sciences of the unified doctorate school of the Polytechnic University of Turin and the University of Turin with the objective to design and implement a data-platform aimed at managing translational clinical trials in onco-hematology. He received his Ph.D. in 2018, after a professional visit to the Centre of Personalized Medicine of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, USA.
His activities continued as a postdoctoral fellow, first at the Hematology Unit of the Department of Molecular Biotechnology and Health Sciences of the University of Turin and, later, at the Hematology and Cell Therapy Unit of the IRCCS Istituto Tumori ‘Giovanni Paolo II’ in Bari, Apulia, Italy.

MAIN RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

His research activities concern data integration/analysis/science in onco-hematology field. From 2014, main activities were focused on design and development of relational data-platforms managing data retrieved from multicentric, open-labeled, randomized, controlled, phase II-III clinical trials on lymphomas sponsored by the Fondazione Italiana Linfomi (FIL) as well as on multiple myeloma sponsored firstly by the Fondazione Italiana delle Neoplasie del Sangue (Fo.Ne.Sa.) and, later, by the European Myeloma Network (EMN). He contributed to develop novel machine-learning-based prognostic scores in onco-hematology.
Recently, he built-up an automated pipeline based on NLP to accelerate data-collection from “real-life” onco-hematology patients to design novel prognostic studies on clinical and biological determinants (Tumor Micro-Environment) in collaboration with the Hematology and Cell Therapy Unit of the IRCSS Istituto Tumori ‘Giovanni Paolo II’, Bari, Apulia, Italy.

For a complete list of publications: SCOPUS and Google Scholar.

Eng. Berardino Prencipe

PhD Student in Electrical and Information Engineering

Berardino Prencipe received the B.Sc. degree in Computer Science and Automation Engineering and the M.Sc. degree (cum laude) in Computer Engineering from Politecnico di Bari, Bari, Italy, in 2017 and 2020, respectively. His master’s thesis concerned the adoption of Deep Learning techniques for Liver Parenchyma, Vessels and Segments delineation from CT scans, under the supervision of Prof. Andrea Guerriero and Prof. Vitoantonio Bevilacqua. 
Since November 2020, he is a Ph.D. Student in Electrical and Information Engineering at the Industrial Informatics Laboratory, DEI, Politecnico di Bari, Bari. His main research interests include Medical Imaging, Deep Learning and Bioinformatics.

For a complete list of publications: SCOPUS and Google Scholar.

Information

Eng. Elena Sibilano

PhD Student in Electrical and Information Engineering

Elena Sibilano received the B.Sc. degree (cum laude) in 2019 and the M.Sc. degree (cum laude) in 2021 in Medical Systems Engineering from Politecnico di Bari, Bari, Italy. Her master’s thesis focused on the development of Deep Learning algorithms to classify EEG signals for early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. The work was supervised by Prof. Vitoantonio Bevilacqua, Prof. Antonio Brunetti and Prof. Alberto Mazzoni from the BioRobotics Institute at Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa. 
Since November 2021, she is a Ph.D. Student in Electrical and Information Engineering at the Industrial Informatics Laboratory, DEI, Politecnico di Bari, Bari. Her main research interests include neurodegenerative diseases, Deep Learning and Medical Imaging.

For a complete list of publications: Scopus and Google Scholar.

Eng. Francesco Berloco

PhD Student in Electrical and Information Engineering

Francesco Berloco received the B.Sc. degree in Computer Science and Automation Engineering and the M.Sc. degree (cum laude) in Computer Engineering from Polytechnic University of Bari, Bari, Italy, in 2018 and 2021, respectively. His master’s thesis concerned the analysis and the development of a Big Data Processing Pipeline for logistics processes under the supervision of Prof. Simona Colucci and Eng. Enrico Fais.
In 2020, he worked as graduate research fellow at the Lab IoT 4.0 at Polytechnic University of Bari, in collaboration with ISIRES and Elettric80 – “Software Architecture to support IoT Systems for the integrated logistic” project, studying and analysing the information system of Elettric80 to re-engineer it and developing a Machine Learning pipeline using Apache Spark in order to process the big data generated by logistic processes.
Since November 2021, he is a Ph.D. Student in Electrical and Information Engineering at the Industrial Informatics Laboratory, DEI, Polytechnic University of Bari, Bari. His main research interests include Big Data Analysis, Deep Learning and Bioinformatics.

For a complete list of publications: Scopus and Google Scholar.

Eng. Vladimiro Suglia

PhD Student in Electrical and Information Engineering

Vladimiro Suglia received the B.Sc. degree in Computer Science and Automation Engineering and the M.Sc. degree in Automation Engineering from Politecnico di Bari (both cum laude), Bari, Italy, in 2018 and 2021, respectively. His master’s thesis concerned the implementation of an EMG-based motion-intent recognition algorithm for gait-mode classification, under the supervision of Prof. David Naso and Prof.ssa Loredana Zollo.
Since November 2021, he is a Ph.D. Student in Electrical and Information Engineering at the Industrial Laboratory, DEI, Politecnico di Bari, Bari. His main research interests include human-robot interaction, assistive and rehabilitative robotics and Machine Learning.

For a complete list of publications: Scopus and Google Scholar.

Information

Dr. Michela Prunella

PhD Student in Autonomous Systems

Michela Prunella received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degree (both cum laude) in Medical Systems Engineering from Polytechnic University of Bari, in 2020 and 2022, respectively. Her master thesis provided an algorithm for the automatic 3D segmentation of patient-specific renal blood vessels and parenchyma from CTA scans. In 2022 she had been a research fellow developing defect detection deep neural networks, feature engineering and Computer Vision algorithms in “Cognitive Diagnostics”, a Public Private Laboratory in cooperation with Comau S.p.A.
Since November 2022, she is a Ph.D. Student in Autonomous Systems at the Industrial Laboratory, DEI, Polytechnic University of Bari. Her research aims at the development of Intelligent Systems for diagnosis and precision surgery by creating an adaptive biological Digital Twin from the elaboration of biomedical data, signals, images and videos, based on Machine and Deep learning frameworks. Advanced control methods are further involved in the phases of surgical planning, simulation and test with robotic guidance.
received the B.Sc. degree (cum laude) in 2020 in Medical Systems Engineering from Politecnico di Bari, Bari, Italy where she is now a Master’s student in Medical Systems Engineering. Her research interests are in image analysis, biomedical signal processing, intelligent systems (Deep learning algorithms) for precise diagnosis and treatments.

For a complete list of publications: Scopus and Google Scholar.

Dr. Roberto Maria Scardigno

PhD Student in Autonomous Systems

Roberto Maria Scardigno received the B.Sc. degree and the M.Sc. degree (cum laude) in Medical Systems Engineering, in 2020 and 2022, respectively. During his master thesis, he developed a Serious Game to assess the Sense of Agency in children with Cerebral Palsy. The work was supervised by Prof. Domenico Buongiorno, Prof. Vitoantonio Bevilacqua, Prof. Antonio Brunetti and Dr. Guido Pasquini from the Fondazione “Don Carlo Gnocchi” based in Florence.
Since November 2022, he is a Ph.D. Student in Autonomous Systems at the Industrial Laboratory, DEI, Polytechnic University of Bari. His research is focused on Intelligent Systems for automated diagnosis in the industrial and biomedical sectors.

For a complete list of publications: Scopus and Google Scholar.

Information

+39 080 596 3397

a.campione1@phd.poliba.it

Dr. Arianna Campione

PhD Student in Electrical and Information Engineering

Arianna Campione received the B.Sc. degree and the M.Sc. degree (cum laude) in Medical Systems Engineering in 2020 and 2023, respectively, from Polytechnic of Bari. Her master’s thesis focused on the application of advanced deep learning techniques for the segmentation and classification of Circulating Multiple Myeloma Cells (CMMC) and nuclei of solid cancers. The work was supervised by Prof. Vitoantonio Bevilacqua, Prof. Antonio Brunetti, Eng. Nicola Altini and Dr. Luca Biasiolli from Menarini Silicon Biosystems S.p.A (BO).
Since November 2023, she is a Ph.D. Student in Electrical and Information Engineering at the Industrial Informatics Laboratory, DEI, Polytechnic University of Bari.
Her research topic is focused on intelligent systems for organoids modelling and analysis.

Information

Dr. Claudia Delprete

PhD Student in Autonomous Systems

Claudia Delprete received the B.Sc. degree and the M.Sc. degree (cum laude) in Medical Systems Engineering in 2021 and 2023, respectively, from Polytechnic of Bari. During her master’s thesis, she developed a radiogenomic framework to detect the presence of KRAS and EGFR mutations using radiomic features extracted from Computed Tomography images of patients affected by lung adenocarcinoma. The work was supervised by Prof. Vitoantonio Bevilacqua, Prof. Antonio Brunetti, Eng. Nicola Altini, and Eng. Berardino Prencipe in collaboration with Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria ‘Ospedali Riuniti’ of Foggia.
Since November 2023, she is a Ph.D. student in Autonomous Systems at the Industrial Informatics Laboratory, DEI, Polytechnic University of Bari. Her research is focused on autonomous systems for guided endoscopic navigation and theranostics.

For a complete list of publications: Scopus.

Information

+39 080 596 3397

v.mancazzo@phd.poliba.it

Dr. Valeriana Mancazzo

PhD Student in Autonomous Systems

Valeriana Mancazzo received the B.Sc. degree and the M.Sc. degree (cum laude) in Medical Systems Engineering in 2021 and 2023, respectively, from Polytechnic of Bari. Her master’s thesis focused on the development of a registration algorithm for implementing a cardiovascular navigation system, based on electromagnetic tracking, specifically tailored for the transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) procedure. The work was supervised by Prof. Vitoantonio Bevilacqua, Prof. Domenico Buongiorno, Prof. Antonio Brunetti and Eng. Roberta Epifania from Masmec S.p.A.
Since November 2023, she is a Ph.D. Student in Autonomous Systems at the Industrial Informatics Laboratory, DEI, Polytechnic University of Bari. Her research is focused on the development of Digital Twins in the context of Digital Driven Diagnostics, prognostics and therapeutics for sustainable Health care (D34H) project.

Information

+39 080 596 3397

p.marvulli@phd.poliba.it

Dr. Pietro Maria Marvulli

PhD Student in Autonomous Systems

Pietro Maria Marvulli received the B.Sc. and the M.Sc. degree (cum laude) in Medical Systems Engineering, in 2020 and 2023 from Polytechnic of Bari, respectively. For his master’s thesis he developed an algorithm for the removal of metal artifacts from CT images. The work was supervised by Prof. Domenico Buongiorno and Prof. Vitoantonio Bevilacqua.
Since November 2023, he is a Ph.D. Student in Autonomous Systems at the Industrial Informatics Laboratory, DEI, Polytechnic University of Bari. His research is focused on robotic systems for minimally invasive and interventional surgery.

Professors collaborating with the Industrial Informatics Laboratory

Dott. Nicholas Caporusso
Fellow Reasearcher at University of Salford formerly collaborator on PRECIOUS project

Nicholas Caporusso got his BSc and MSc in Informatics (both cum laude) from the University of Bari (Italy) and obtained a PhD in Computer Science and Engineering from IMT – Institute for Advanced Studies (Lucca, Italy). His Master and PhD theses received two awards by the Italian Association for Automatic Calculus (AICA).
In 2011, he obtained a Fulbright Scholarship in Technology Entrepreneurship at Santa Clara University (California, USA). In 2015, Nicholas was nominated by MIT Technology Review Italy among the 10 best innovators under 35. In 2017, he received a prestigious Marie Curie fellowship in robotics and automation at the University of Salford (Manchester, UK).
Nicholas published over 50 scholarly articles and 5 patents. Also, he founded 4 businesses in the IT space and a non-profit organization devoted to supporting innovation among youth; his companies received more than 20 international awards.
Currently, he is an Assistant Professor in Computer Science at Northern Kentucky University and he serves as an Adjunct Professor in Informatics at Fort Hays State University, where he received 5 best faculty awards. His teaching and research interests include Interactive systems design, human factors, and pervasive Human-Machine Interaction.

Scientific Research

Prof. Eng. Leonarda Carnimeo
Associate Professor

Leonarda Carnimeo is Professor at the Engineering Faculty of the Politecnico di Bari, Bari, Italy. Since 1988 her scientific activity has dealt with various aspects in the field of Circuit Theory and Applications. In particular, her research interests concern with various aspects of analysis and decoupling of electric networks of large size, stability analysis of continuous-time and discrete-time cellular neural networks, associative memories design, synchronization of chaotic circuits with applications to secure communications. Her interests deal with various research activities aiming at the development of new techniques for the design of Sparsely-connected NN-based associative memories with application to artificial vision systems. At present, she is Responsible of the PRIN project:”Synthesis of a cellular neural system and development of innovative techniques for a real-time ophthalmic image processing as a support in retinal pathology diagnostics and laser therapy”. She was previously involved in various PRIN projects in the field of neural/nonlinear circuits. Her scientific work is proved by several scientific contributions published on international reviews and proceedings.

Scientific Research

Prof. Eng. Andrea Guerriero
Associate Professor

Andrea Guerriero, born in Padua on 7/8/1962, obtained the Laurea Degree in Electronics Engineering at the University of Bari on June 16, 1989, discussing a thesis titled “Assessments on Multiprocessor Architectures for SAR data processing”. In November 1990 he passed the qualification exams for the profession of engineer. From January 1990 to January 1991 he has been fellow researcherer at INFM as part of research programs on special computer architectures and related algorithms at the Department of Electrotechnics and Electronics at the University of Bari.
In 1990 he participated in the competition for a researcher at the University of Bari for the I250 discipline group, resulting as winner. He has been working at the University of Bari’s Faculty of Engineering from November 1, 1991, at the Politecnico di Bari since May 10, 1991, and later opted for the Department of Electrotechnics and Electronics (DEE). In December 2004, he was the winner of a public competition for the 1st place of Associate Professor (disciplinary field ING-INF/05) currently in service at the Faculty of Engineering of the Politecnico di Bari.

Scientific Research

Prof. Eng. Pietro Guccione
ASSOCIATE Professor

Pietro Guccione is Associate Professor at the Electrical and Information Engineering Department of Politecnico di Bari, Italy, since 1999. In the same University he achieved the master degree in Electronic Engineering in 1996 defending a thesis in signal processing of synthetic aperture radar. He qualified to the examination to engineers register in 1997; in 2000 he graduated PhD in Electronic Engineering with a thesis on radar interferometry. Since 1999 his interests concerned synthetic aperture radar processing and interferometry; he designed, developed and implemented systems and algorithms for advanced processing, in the framework of international cooperations; he was involved in projects concerning ERS (European Remote Sensing Satellite), ENVISAT (Environment Satellite), Cryosat, SARAT, Sentinel-1, Cosmo SkyMed and BIOMASS with European Space Agency, Italian Space Agency and other national spatial agencies and international companies.
His interests have touched: radar design, SAR simulation, focusing, interferometric processing, calibration, on-board processing and data compression for Earth Observation sensors, modelling of C- and X-band SAR images. Other research interests concern(ed): multivariate statistical techniques on sensor networks data, Information Theory, biomedical processing and image processing, watermarking, speech signal processing and functional Magnetic Resonance Images, analysis of protein sequences, X-ray diffracted spectra.

Scientific Research

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Dr. Mine Saraç

Mine Saraç (Eng., Ph.D.) is an Assistant Professor in Mechatronics Engineering at Kadir Has University in Istanbul, Turkey. She has completed her Bachelor degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Yeditepe University (2011, Istanbul, Turkey), MSc degree Mechatronics at Sabancı University (2013, Istanbul, Turkey), and Ph.D. degree in Perceptual Robotics at Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna (2017, Pisa, Italy). During her Ph.D., she joined Multimodal Simulation Lab at Universidad Rey Juan Carlos as a visiting researcher (2016, Madrid, Spain). After receiving her Ph.D. degree, she has worked as a postdoctoral researcher in Perceptual Robotics at Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna (2017-2018, Pisa, Italy) and Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University (2019-2021, Stanford, USA). In 2017, she has received the Best Student Paper award at IEEE World Haptics Conference with one of her international conference articles “Proxy-based haptic rendering for underactuated haptic devices”. Her main research interests are human-machine interaction, haptics, robotics, rehabilitation robots, and haptic-assisted virtual interactions.

For a complete list of publications: SCOPUSPubMed and Google Scholar.

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Dr. Fabio Stroppa

Fabio Stroppa (Eng., Ph.D.) is a researcher in the area of Human-Machine Interaction. He received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in Computer Science Engineering from Polytechnic University of Bari, Bari (supervisor Prof. Vitoantonio Bevilacqua), Italy, in 2011 and 2013, respectively, and the Ph.D. in Perceptual Robotics from Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa, Italy in 2018. He received postdoc training at CHARM Lab, Stanford University, California, USA from 2019 to 2021. He is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Engineering at Kadir Has University, Turkey. His publications and main research interests deal with computer vision for control purposes of robotic devices, robotic-based neurorehabilitation, bioinformatics, virtual reality, search and optimization methods, and artificial intelligence.

For a complete list of publications: SCOPUSPubMed and Google Scholar.

External Collaborators

Eng. Giacomo Donato Cascarano, PhD

Giacomo Donato Cascarano received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. (cum laude) degrees computer in engineering from Politecnico di Bari, Bari, Italy, in 2014 and 2017, respectively. His bachelor and master theses concerned the development of Human Computer Interaction device based on low-cost hardware and image processing algorithms and machine learning-based techniques for biomedical data processing, respectively. Both were supervised by Prof. Vitoantonio Bevilacqua.
On March 2019 he founded Apulian Bioengineering srl, a spin-off of Polytechnic of Bari, as shareholder.
On March 2021, he got Ph.D. in Electrical and Information Engineering at the Politecnico di Bari, Bari. His main research interests include multivariate signal and data processing, machine learning and biomedical data analysis.

For a complete list of publications: SCOPUS, PubMed and Google Scholar.

Eng. Irio De Feudis, PhD

Irio De Feudis received the Bachelor Degree in Computer Science and Automation Engineering, and the Master Degree (cum laude) in Computer Science Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Bari. His final dissertation in Human-Computer Interaction concerned the design and development of a framework for automated bin picking in industry.
In 2016, he worked as collaborator at the Polytechnic University of Bari on GCESYS – “Green Community Efficiency Systems” project, with a task concerning the design of a domestic platform for energy consumptions scheduling in a system supplied by traditional and renewable sources.
In 2017, he worked as collaborator at the Polytechnic University of Bari on PRE.C.I.O.U.S. – “PREdictive Computer aIded scoring sUpport System” project working on the design and development of interfaces for the interoperability of medical devices with web applications.
In 2018, he worked as collaborator at the Polytechnic University of Bari on GCESYS – “Green Community Efficiency Systems” project, designing and developing optimization algorithms for energy consumption scheduling on a domestic platform.
On March 2019 he founded Apulian Bioengineering srl, a spin-off of Polytechnic of Bari, as shareholder.
On 2022, he got the Ph.D. in Electrical and Information Engineering at the Industrial Informatics Laboratory, DEI, Politecnico di Bari, Bari. His main research interests include Smart technologies enabling ergonomic and usable human-machine interaction and computer vision solutions for automation and industrial bioengineering.

For a complete list of publications: SCOPUS, PubMed and Google Scholar.

Dr. Simona De Summa

Simona De Summa is a molecular biology, whose Bachelor and Master’s Degree were obtained at the University of Study of Parma, respectively in 2003 and 2009. For her Master’s degree worked on a project for thesis regarding the study of gene expression profiling through microarray in prostate cancer cell lines. This was her first contact with high-throughput data and in 2014, after a two-year high specialization course at University of Study of Pavia, she started to work as bioinformatician in IRCC-Istituto Tumori “Giovanni Paolo II”.
She is the institutional referent for the working group “ACC-Bioinformatics” for projects related to Alleanza Contro il Cancro, a national network including IRCCS institutes.
Her work is specifically dedicated to the analysis of genomic, transcriptomic and epigenomic data coming from next-generation sequencing platforms, as demonstrated by her publication record. Shortly, she is involved in projects in the field of “Precision Medicine”, whose main aims are the integration of multi-level genomic data to improve diagnosis and prognosis of malignancies as melanoma, breast cancer and onco-hematological diseases.
Moreover, in the Molecular Diagnostics and Pharmacogenetics Unit (directed by Dr. Stefania Tommasi), she is also involved in clinical bioinformatics, a field related to the setting up of reliable pipelines for molecular diagnostics, from raw data to the clinical report. Indeed, the build-up of a user-friendly annotation tool of alterations in genes related to hereditary/familial cancer syndromes is currently ongoing.

For a complete list of publications: SCOPUSPubMed and Google Scholar.

Eng. Nicola Longo

Nicola Longo graduated with full marks in Control Engineering at Electronic and information Department of Polythecnic of Bari.
During this period he spent 8 months in the NYU Tandon School of Engineering where, under the supervision of professors Rizzo A.and M. Porfiri, he carried out researches in multi-agent formation control.
After a period of two years as Vision System engineer in Mermec S.p.a. he moved to Turin where he started working as Technical Leader for Comau S.p.a.
His specialization concerns industrial vision systems, robotics and Industry 4.0.
On March 2019 he founded Apulian Bioengineering srl, a spin-off of Polytechnic of Bari, as shareholder.

Eng. Gianpaolo Francesco Trotta, PhD

Gianpaolo Francesco Trotta received the Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science and Automation Engineering, and the Master’s Degree in Computer Science Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Bari. His final dissertation in Human-Computer Interaction concerned the design and implementation of the interactions of subjects with mild cognitive impairment in a virtual scenario.
On January 2019 he received the Ph.D. degree in Mechanical and Management Engineering at the Doctoral School of the Polytechnic University of Bari under the supervision of Prof. Vitoantonio Bevilacqua, Prof. Antonio Emanuele Uva and Prof. Michele Fiorentino. His PhD thesis concerns the design and the implementation of interactions in virtual, augmented and mixed reality in medical field applications and the design and the implementation of systems able to objectify measures during medical examinations by means of low-cost devices.
Some of his professional experience includes several collaborations at the Department of Electrical and Information Engineering (DEI) of the Polytechnic University of Bari where he worked on Study and Implementation of Information Extraction Algorithms of Editorial Interest from Multimedia Information Content, working on SKIN – “System of Knowledge delivered by an Innovative Network” project and Study and implementation of a web platform for the management and processing of vital parameters and biomarkers, working on PRE.C.I.O.U.S. – “PREdictive Computer aIded scOring sUpport System” project.

For a complete list of publications:  SCOPUS and Google Scholar.

Visiting Professors

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Prof. Eng. Huang De-Shuang
CHAIR Professor

De-Shuang Huang received the B.Sc., M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees all in electronic engineering from Institute of Electronic Engineering, Hefei, China, National Defense University of Science and Technology, Changsha, China and Xidian University, Xian, China, in 1986, 1989 and 1993, respectively. During 1993-1997 period he was a postdoctoral student respectively in Beijing Institute of Technology and in National Key Laboratory of Pattern Recognition, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. In Sept, 2000, he joined the Institute of Intelligent Machines, Chinese Academy of Sciences as the Recipient of “Hundred Talents Program of CAS”. In September 2011, he entered into Tongji University as Chaired Professor. From Sept 2000 to Mar 2001, he worked as Research Associate in Hong Kong Polytechnic University. From Aug. to Sept. 2003, he visited the George Washington University as visiting professor, Washington DC, USA. From July to Dec 2004, he worked as the University Fellow in Hong Kong Baptist University. From March, 2005 to March, 2006, he worked as Research Fellow in Chinese University of Hong Kong. From March to July, 2006, he worked as visiting professor in Queen’s University of Belfast, UK. In 2007, 2008, 2009, he worked as visiting professor in Inha University, Korea, respectively. At present, he is the head of Machines Learning and Systems Biology Laboratory, Tongji University.

Dr. Huang is currently a Senior member of the IEEE. He has published over 200 papers. Also, in 1996, he published a book entitled “Systematic Theory of Neural Networks for Pattern Recognition” (in Chinese), which won the Second-Class Prize of the 8th Excellent High Technology Books of China, and in 2001 & 2009 another two books entitled “Intelligent Signal Processing Technique for High Resolution Radars” (in Chinese) and “The Study of Data Mining Methods for Gene Expression Profiles” (in Chinese), respectively. In addition, he was the PhD advisors in Tongji University and University of Science and Technology of China. His current research interest includes bioinformatics, pattern recognition and machine learning.

For a complete list of publications: SCOPUS and Google Scholar

Prof. Eng. Filippo Menolascina
READER

Prof. Filippo Menolascina is a Reader in Engineering Biology at The Univeristy of Edinburgh.
He was awarded a “Laurea cum laude” Degree in Computer Engineering from the Technical University of Bari in 2008 and a PhD in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics from the University of Naples in 2011.

Education
2008–2011 Doctor of Philosophy in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, University of Naples, Italy. Title: Synthetic Gene Networks Identification and Control by means of Microfluidic Devices, Advisor: Dr. Diego Di Bernardo; Co-advisors: Prof. Sandro Banfi, Prof. Mario Di Bernardo.
2006-2008 Master in Computer Engineering, Intelligent and Bioinspired Systems. Thesis System Identification in Systems and Synthetic Biology. Supervisors: Prof. V. Bevilacqua and Prof. G. Mastronardi. Mark 110/110 “Magna cum Laude”
2003-2006 Bachelor in Computer Engineering. Thesis Intelligent Systems and Distributed Paradigms in Bioinformatics. Supervisor: Prof. V. Bevilacqua.

For a complete list of publications: SCOPUS and Google Scholar.