Main interest of the team is the investigation of different types of neuronal plasticity under a comparative profile, with particular reference to the existence of young/newlyborn neurons in the mature brain. In the past, our research consisted of the study of persistent neurogenesis in the brain of adult mammals, contributing to the definition of morphological, molecular and functional features of adult neurogenic zones and their neural stem cell niches. The team also provided evidence for heterogeneity in adult neurogenic processes of different animal species, by highlighting their substantial decrease in large-brained mammals. In parallel, we contributed to identify a population of cortical “immature” neurons, which are generated prenatally then remaining in a “stand by mode” by continuing to express molecules of immaturity. This neuronal population is gaining interest, since it has been shown that some cells can mature through time and integrate into the neural circuits, thus representing a sort of “neurogenesis without division” within a region not endowed with “classic” neurogenesis: the cerebral cortex. We showed that in gyrencephalic brains these neurons also occur in subcortical regions. Our current interest is focused on differences in occurrence, distribution and fate of the immature neuronal cell populations in mammalian species ranging from small, more lissencephalic brains to large, more gyrencephalic ones. We recently showed that these young neurons, though very rare in rodents, are present in the entire neocortex of many other species, their density appearing to vary with brain size. Given the great interest in the question whether or not adult neurogenesis does occur in humans, our comparative and phylogenetic studies are aimed at increasing insight in this relatively unknown, 'other' population of immature cells under a broader, evolutionary perspective. This approach can have important implications in the translation of basic research to humans, for correct interpretation of results coming from different animal models. Since 2010, the team has moved the laboratories into the Neuroscience Institute Cavalieri Ottolenghi (NICO), a research center in agreement with the University of Turin.

• "Neuroni alternativi" (open project at NICO)
• PRIN-2015 (2017-19) "A new non-invasive approach to the investigation of cerebral activity in domestic animals using functional near-infrared spectroscopy: Implications on animal welfare and on comparative system and cognitive neuroscience"
• Fondazione CRT (2015-16) "Fonti 'endogene' di cellule staminali/progenitori neurali per la riparazione del sistema nervoso"

• La Rosa C., Cavallo F., Pecora A., Chincarini M., Ala U., Faulkes C.G., Nacher J., Cozzi B., Sherwood C.C., Amrein I., Bonfanti L. - Phylogenetic variation in cortical layer II immature neuron reservoir of mammals – eLife 2020, in press.
• Piumatti M., Palazzo O., La Rosa C., Crociara P., Parolisi R., Luzzati F., Lévy F., Bonfanti L. - Non-newly generated, "immature" neurons in the sheep brain are not restricted to cerebral cortex - J Neurosci. 2018, 38:826-842.
• Parolisi R., Cozzi B., Bonfanti L. - Humans and dolphins: Decline and fall of adult neurogenesis - Front Neurosci. 2018, 12:497.
• Parolisi R., Cozzi B., Bonfanti L. - Non-neurogenic SVZ-like niche in dolphins, mammals devoid of olfaction - Brain Struct Funct. 2017, 222:2625-2639.
• Feliciano D.M., Bordey A., Bonfanti L. - Noncanonical sites of adult neurogenesis in the mammalian brain - Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol. 2015, 7(10) pii: a018846.
• Ponti G., Obernier K., Guinto C., Jose L., Bonfanti L., Alvarez-Buylla A. - Cell cycle and lineage progression of neural progenitors in the ventricular-subventricular zones of adult mice - PNAS 2013, 110:E1045- E1054.
• Bonfanti L., Nacher J. - New scenarios for neuronal structural plasticity in non neurogenic brain parenchyma: the case of cortical layer II immature neurons - Prog Neurobiol. 2012, 98:1-15.

• Neuroscience Institute Cavalieri Ottolenghi (NICO)

• Irmgard Amrein, ETH Zurich and Institute of Anatomy, University of Zurich (Switzerland)
• Chet C. Sherwood, Department of Anthropology, George Washington University (USA)
• Juan Nacher, Neurobiology Unit, BIOTECMED, University of Valèntia (Spain)
• Frederic Lévy/Elodie Chaillou, University of Tour and INRA, Nouzilly (France)
• Bruno Cozzi, University of Padova and Mediterranean Marine Mammal Tissue Bank (Italy)
• Arturo Alvarez-Buylla, UCSF, San Francisco (USA)