Acta Psychopathologica Open Access

Dr. Colombo Cristina Anna

Biography

Cristina Colombo is Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery Vita-Salute San Raffaele University. She has coordinated various courses of the European Social Fund and national and international conferences. She has performed an extensive scientific activity, published in over 100 articles in international journals. Her research activity has spread from electroencephalography techniques and computerized brain mapping techniques in brain imaging (CT, MRI, PET) to reach the current position of coordination of the Research Team of the Centre for Chronobiology San Raffaele Hospital for mood disorders. She is also a member of the operating committee of the Centro di Eccellenza Risonanza Magnetica ad Alto Campo di Milano CERMAC, (Center of Excellence for High-Field Magnetic Resonance Imaging CERMAC, funded by Italian Ministry of Health and Italian Ministry of University and Scientific Research), Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, for functional imaging study applied to psychiatry.

Research Interest

Our clinical research is focused on the interface between neuroscience and behavioral disorders, with the aim of increasing scientific knowledge and developing effective diagnosis and treatment options in the broad field of Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences. In recent years, growing clinical evidence in support of the efficacy and safety of sleep deprivation, and its biological mechanisms of action, suggest that this technique can now be included among the first-line antidepressant treatment strategies for mood disorders. The basic and clinical sciences of sleep and chronobiology have been the beneficiaries of recent advances in neuroscience, including molecular neurobiology and genomics, cellular physiology, functional brain imaging, and neuropsychopharmacology. The new findings and methodologies have important implications for understanding the pathophysiology and treatment of mood disorders.