Anna Letizia Allegra Mascaro
National Research Council, Neuroscience Institute, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Consorzio Roma Ricerche
Papers
6
Total Citations
121
H-Index
3
About
Anna Letizia Allegra Mascaro is a leading neuroscientist whose research sits at the intersection of stroke recovery, neurorehabilitation, and cortical plasticity. Her work fundamentally explores how the brain rewires itself after injury, with a particular focus on developing innovative, combined therapies to restore motor function. A hallmark of her contribution is the demonstration that pairing rehabilitative robotic training with neuromodulation—such as optogenetic stimulation or gamma-band entrainment—dramatically enhances functional recovery and restores healthy neuronal network dynamics. Her most cited study (82 citations) established that combined rehabilitation promotes the recovery of structural and functional features in neuronal networks after stroke, providing a critical link between brain rewiring and motor improvement. More recently, she has pioneered the use of gamma neuromodulation to restore the function of parvalbumin-positive interneurons, a key cell type disrupted after stroke, showing that this approach, when combined with robotic rehabilitation, significantly boosts motor recovery in preclinical models. Allegra Mascaro’s work is distinguished by its rigorous, multi-modal approach—integrating wide-field calcium imaging, optogenetics, and behavioral assays—to reveal the neural mechanisms underlying effective therapy. Her findings are paving the way for next-generation, mechanism-based rehabilitation strategies for stroke patients.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
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