Gabriele Chelini, PhD, started his career in neuroscience joining a PhD program at the University of Florence, where he acquired expertise in working with in vitro and in vivo electrophysiology in mouse models of neurodevelopmental disorders. During this training, he spent 8 months with the Hensch-Fagiolini lab at Harvard Medical School, enhancing his understanding of experience-dependent plasticity. During this experience at Harvard, he crossed paths with the Translational Neuroscience Laboratory at McLean Hospital, directed by Dr. Sabina Berretta, stimulating his interest in translational psychiatric research.

Dr. Chelini joined the Berretta lab in 2016 and divides his attention between animal model and postmortem research. His aim is to develop improved translational models in psychiatry. He is currently investigating the relationship between environment and synaptic plasticity in health and disease and will use this knowledge to unveil the complex mechanisms underlying psychiatric illnesses.