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Bio
  • (2025 - Present) Atlantic fellow for equity in brain health at the Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI), TCD Dublin, Ireland & UCSF San Francisco, US.
  • (2014 - Present) Research associate of CONICET at Medical Physics Department - Centro Atómico Bariloche, Argentina.
  • (2021 - 2023) Postdoc at the Institut de Neurosciences des Systèmes, Aix-Marseille Université &
    Hôpital de la Timone, Marseille, France.
  • (2013) Postdoc at the Institute of Microelectronic Systems, Leibniz Univ. of Hannover, Germany.
  • (2012) Postdoc at the Cavitation and Biotechnology Lab - Centro Atómico Bariloche, Argentina.
  • (2011) Ph.D. in Engineering Science (funded by CONICET), Cavitation and Biotechnology Lab - Centro Atómico Bariloche & Instituto Balseiro - Univ. Nacional de Cuyo, Argentina.
  • (2006) Professional improvement internship (funded by INVAP S.E.), Cavitation and Biotechnology Lab - Centro Atómico Bariloche, Argentina.
  • (2005) Specialization in technological applications of the nuclear energy, CNEA, Argentina.
  • (2003) Electronic Engineering, Univ. Tecnológica Nacional, Facultad Regional Córdoba, Argentina.
  • (1993) Aeronautical Technician, ENET Nº 7, Córdoba, Argentina.
Areas of interest
Machine learning and data analysis for translational research in neuroscience and biomedical applications. Epilepsy. Prodromal biomarkers of neurodegenerative diseases. Autonomic dysfunctions. Transcranial and intracranial neuromodulation. Oscillations and arrhythmic broadband activity. Nested biological rhythms. Analysis of transient fluctuations (anomalies) and large-scale coactivations (avalanches) in brain activity. Inverse problems and source reconstruction methods. Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS). Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT). Imaging Photoplethysmography (iPPG). Signal processing in real-time using FPGA technology.

Damián Dellavale

dellavaledamian at gmail.com

ddellavale at comahue-conicet.gob.ar

Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET)
Departamento de Física Médica (DFM)
Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnología (INN)
Centro Atómico Bariloche (CAB)
R8402AGP, San Carlos de Bariloche, Río Negro, Argentina


Teaching & Academic Service


  • (2007 - 2021) Teaching at Instituto Balseiro - Univ. Nacional de Cuyo.
    Instrumentation and Control,
    Discrete Time Control Systems,
    Lab of Electronics,
    Lab of Physics,
    Signals and Systems (continuous and discrete time domains).

  • (2016 - 2021) Academic committee of M.Sc., Instituto Balseiro - Univ. Nacional de Cuyo.
    Coordinator of the technological physics specialization.

  • Advisor of 2 Ph.D. students at Instituto Balseiro - Univ. Nacional de Cuyo.

  • Advisor of 6 M.Sc. students at Instituto Balseiro - Univ. Nacional de Cuyo.

  • Advisor of 4 B.Sc. students at Instituto Balseiro - Univ. Nacional de Cuyo.

  • Advisor of 3 internships of postgraduate students at Instituto Balseiro - Univ. Nacional de Cuyo.

  • Advisor of 1 internship of Ph.D. student at Hôpital de la Timone &
    Institut de Neurosciences des Systèmes - Aix-Marseille Université, Marseille, France.
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Ongoing projects




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Ultradian dynamics of local and network LFP anomalies as novel dimensions characterizing focal epilepsy

In this project we demonstrated that 1) the rate of Interictal Epileptiform Discharges (IEDs) observed in stereo-electroencephalography (SEEG) recordings undergoes spontaneous fluctuations over ultradian time scales, as commonly examined in clinics to guide surgical planning in epilepsy, 2) the ultradian dynamics of the IEDs rate may impair the epileptogenic zone (EZ) identification and hence is a clinically relevant factor for surgical planning, 3) propagation of IEDs from the EZ to the propagation zone (PZ) could explain the observed ultradian fluctuations in a reduced fraction of the analyzed patients (N = 35 patients with good surgical outcome: Engel I), suggesting that other factors like the excitability of the epileptogenic tissue could play a more relevant role, 4) A novel link was found between the ultradian dynamics of the overall rate of polymorphic events and the rate of specific IEDs subtypes. We exploited this feature to prospectively estimate in each patient the 5 min interictal epoch for near-optimal EZ and resected-zone (RZ) localization. These findings generated new questions about the dynamics associated with the epileptic brain. Also, the processing tools developed for this project paved the way for novel approaches to quantitatively characterize rhythmic patterns of the brain dynamics, which can not be unveiled by traditional oscillation analyses.

[Paper] [Tools]






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Statistical, spatial, temporal and spectral characterization of brain avalanches with applications in neurodegenerative disorders

Brain oscillations, broadband arrhythmic activity and neuronal avalanches (NAs) are valuable conceptualizations extensively used to interpret brain data, yet, these perspectives have mainly progressed in parallel with no current consensus on a rationale linking them. This project aims to reconcile these viewpoints using non-invasive human brain recordings (scalp EEG, MEG). In the first stage of the project, we analized source-reconstructed MEG data obtained in healthy humans during eyes-closed resting state. As a result, we found that 1) the link between local above-threshold fluctuations and oscillations can be understood in terms of the group delay consistency across the spectral components of the neuronal activity (spectral group delay consistency), 2) spectral group delay consistency, transient cross-regional coherent oscillations and broadband 1/f activity, are all key ingredients for the emergence of realistic avalanches, 3) observed NAs can be segregated based on their spectral signature in two main groups having different propagation patterns, where cluster 2 avalanches is specifically related to the spread of narrowband alpha bursts across the brain network, whereas cluster 1 avalanches correspond to more spatially localized fluctuations promoted by the broadband 1/f activity, 4) large-scale spreading of alpha bursts occurs mainly via brain avalanches, which may play a functional role as a long-range interaction mechanism in the resting human brain. The second part of the project is aimed to study the brain avalanches as a biomarker of neurodegenerative diseases. For this, we are developing the signal conditioning and processing pipelines to analize scalp EEG recording obtained in healthy humans and parkinsonian patients.

[Preprint]





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Non-invasive neuromodulation based on temporally interfering electric fields

Temporal Interference Stimulation (TIS) is an emergent non-invasive neuromodulation technique which is envisioned as a potential terapeutic tool for treating neurological disorders. The objective of this project is to tackle the two main current concerns limiting the use of TIS in clinics. First, by engineering temporal interference patterns and electrode configurations we aim to improve the spatial focality of TIS. Second, by implementing detailed computational simulations of excitable membranes, cells and mirocircuits we aim to shed light on the mechanisms underlying the effects of TIS on the brain tissue.

[Preprint]

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Selected publications

Peer-reviewed & Preprints


  • Dellavale D, Troisi Lopez E, Romano A, Rabuffo G, Sorrentino P (2025), Characterization Of Local And Large-scale Paroxysmal Events Observed In The Human Brain Activity,
    Alzheimer's Association International Conference (AAIC) Neuroscience Next 2025, 24th - 27th February 2025, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
    URLs: AAIC Neuroscience Next 2025, Abstract, Poster and Video

  • Ueda T, Garnier E, Dellavale D, Bartolomei F, Bénar CG (2025), Identification of the epileptogenic zone using phase-amplitude coupling on ictal electroencephalography: authentic or spurious PAC?, Clinical Neurophysiology 174, 151-159.
    DOI: 10.1016/j.clinph.2025.03.029
    Processing tool: TLI algorithm

  • Dellavale D, Troisi Lopez E, Romano A, Rabuffo G, Sorrentino P (2024), Linking neuronal avalanches with oscillatory and broadband 1/f activities in the resting human brain,
    39th Anual meeting of the Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Neurociencias, SAN2024, 25th - 27th October 2024, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
    URLs: SAN 2024, E-book SAN 2024
    Abstract: Abstract D-099
    Poster: san2024_poster_dellavale.pdf

  • Acerbo E, Botzanowski B, Dellavale D, Stern MA, Cole ER, et al. (2024), Improved Temporal Focality of Non-invasive Deep-brain Stimulation using Pulses Temporally Interfering Electric Fields with Applications in Epilepsy, Submitted to Brain Stimulation.
    bioRxiv DOI: 10.1101/2024.01.11.575301
    ssrn DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.4849682

  • Dellavale D, Troisi Lopez E, Romano A, Rabuffo G, Sorrentino P (2024), Linking neuronal avalanches with oscillatory and broadband 1/f activities in the resting human brain, Submitted to Imaging Neuroscience.
    bioRxiv DOI: 10.1101/2024.02.28.582552

  • Dellavale D, Bonini F, Pizzo F, Makhalova J, Wendling F, Badier JM, Bartolomei F, Bénar CG (2023), Spontaneous fast-ultradian dynamics of polymorphic interictal events in drug-resistant focal epilepsy, Epilepsia 64(8), 2027-2043.
    DOI: 10.1111/epi.17655
    medRxiv DOI: 10.1101/2023.04.05.23288085
    HAL open science: hal-04148849
    Researchgate: Preprint including the discussion with the reviewers
    Processing tool: NODE algorithm

  • Acerbo E, Botzanowski B, Dellavale D, Stern M, Cole E, Drane D, Gross R, Williamson A (2023), Enhancing Electrical Stimulation Mapping: Non-Invasive Pulsed Stimulation via Temporal Interference, Annual Meeting of the American Epilepsy Society (AES 2023).
    URL: Abstract 2.084

  • Dellavale D, Badier J M, Bonini F, Dauly G, Wendling F, Bénar C G (2021), Data driven features learning based on a weak supervision paradigm for detection and clustering of epileptiform waveforms observed in local field potential recordings, Bernstein Conference 2021.
    DOI: 10.12751/nncn.bc2021.p057
    Videos: https://youtu.be/PfJyadRk4K0, https://youtu.be/RjUmVtsAhPg

  • Arnaldi L H and Dellavale H D (2021), Oversampled filter bank channelizer for cryogenic detectors, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 92, 023304.
    DOI: 10.1063/5.0035449

  • Velarde O, Mato G, Dellavale D (2020), Adaptive neuromodulatory scheme based on deep reinforcement learning, Bernstein Conference 2020.
    DOI: 10.12751/nncn.bc2020.0234
    Video: https://youtu.be/RZHd9xYWCec

  • Zizumbo Colunga J, Parra S, Urdapilleta E, Dellavale D (2020), Cross frequency couplings and directionality between neuronal oscillations in the somatosensory pathway of macaque monkeys during a vibrotactile discrimination task, Bernstein Conference 2020.
    DOI: 10.12751/nncn.bc2020.0283

  • Parra Sánchez S, Zizumbo Colunga J, Dellavale D, Urdapilleta E (2020), On some differences between multiunit and single-unit coding properties in behaving animals, Bernstein Conference 2020.
    DOI: 10.12751/nncn.bc2020.0156

  • Dellavale D, Velarde O, Mato G, Urdapilleta E (2020), Complex interplay between spectral harmonicity and different types of cross frequency couplings in non linear oscillators and biologically plausible neural network models, Physical Review E, 102(6), 062401.
    DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.102.062401
    bioRxiv DOI: 10.1101/2020.10.15.341800
    Processing tool: TLI algorithm

  • Dellavale D, Urdapilleta E, Cámpora N, Velarde O, Kochen S, Mato G (2020), Two types of ictal phase-amplitude couplings in epilepsy patients revealed by spectral harmonicity of intracerebral EEG recordings, Clinical Neurophysiology, 131(8), 1866-1885.
    DOI: 10.1016/j.clinph.2020.04.160
    bioRxiv DOI: 10.1101/2020.03.13.991299

  • Dellavale D, Rosselló JM (2019), Cross-frequency couplings in non-sinusoidal dynamics of interacting oscillators: Acoustic estimation of the radial position and spatial stability of nonlinear oscillating bubbles, Ultrasonics Sonochemistry, 51, 424-438.
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ultsonch.2018.07.026

    • papers/NeuroImage202_72dpi.jpg

  • Velarde O, Urdapilleta E, Mato G, Dellavale D (2019), Bifurcation structure determines different phase-amplitude coupling patterns in the activity of biologically plausible neural networks, NeuroImage, 202, 116031.
    DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.116031
    Processing tool: TLI algorithm
    Artwork selected to appear on the cover: https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/neuroimage/vol/202/

  • Dellavale D, Urdapilleta E, Cámpora N, Velarde O, Kochen S, Mato G (2018), Characterization of cross frequency couplings produced by harmonic and non-harmonic frequency bands during seizure activity from intracerebral recordings in patients candidate to epilepsy surgery, Society for Neuroscience annual meeting 2018, San Diego - California, USA.
    URL: https://abstractsonline.com/pp8/#!/4649/presentation/26010

  • Mato G, Velarde O, Urdapilleta E, Dellavale D (2018), Mechanisms of cross-frequency coupling in network models of Parkinson's disease, Society for Neuroscience annual meeting 2018, San Diego - California, USA.
    URL: https://abstractsonline.com/pp8/#!/4649/presentation/30271

  • Gesualdi F and Dellavale D, In vivo light-tissue interaction: Spatio-temporal and spectro-temporal characterization of the photoplethysmographic signal,
    (2017) 102nd National Meeting of Argentinian Physics Society (AFA), La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
    URL: https://www.fisica.org.ar/actividades/rafas/libros-de-resumenes/
    (2018) Machine Learning Summer School 2018, Buenos Aires, Argentina. URL: http://mlss.cc/

  • Velez J, Gesualdi F, Velarde O, Urdapilleta E, Dellavale D (2017), Cross frequency coupling at the organism level using imaging photoplethysmography in humans, 102nd National Meeting of Argentinian Physics Society (AFA), La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
    URL: https://www.fisica.org.ar/actividades/rafas/libros-de-resumenes/

  • Velarde O, Mato G, Dellavale D (2017), Mechanisms for pattern specificity of deep-brain stimulation in Parkinson's disease, PLOS ONE 12(8): e0182884.
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0182884
    Model source code: https://modeldb.science/260949

  • Velez J, Urdapilleta E, Velarde O, Mato G, Dellavale D (2016), Cross frequency coupling analysis of local field potentials recorded from rat hippocampal and parahippocampal regions during behavioral tasks, 2nd Congress of the Federation of Latin-American and Caribbean Societies for Neuroscience (FALAN), Buenos Aires, Argentina.
    URL: https://neurocienciasfalan.org/

  • Dellavale D and Rosselló JM (2016), Cross-frequency coupling and phase synchronization in nonlinear acoustics, Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics (Acoustical Society of America), 28, 055001. 22nd International Congress on Acoustics ICA2016, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
    DOI: 10.1121/2.0000294
    URL: http://ica2016.org.ar

  • Rosselló JM, Dellavale D and Bonetto F (2016), Positional stability and radial dynamics of sonoluminescent bubbles under bi-harmonic driving: Effect of the high-frequency component and its relative phase, Ultrasonics Sonochemistry, 31, 610–625.
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ultsonch.2016.02.013

  • Ferreiro I, Cappagli P, Dellavale D (2015), Design and implementation of an electrical impedance tomograph for real-time processing, 100th National Meeting of Argentinian Physics Society (AFA), Villa de Merlo, San Luis, Argentina.
    URL: https://www.fisica.org.ar/actividades/rafas/libros-de-resumenes/

  • Rosselló JM, Dellavale D and Bonetto F (2015), Stable tridimensional bubble surfaces in multibubble sonoluminescence, Ultrasonics Sonochemistry, 22, 59-69.
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ultsonch.2014.06.003

  • Dellavale D, Kock M, Blume H, Alam M, Schwabe K and Krauss JK (2014), Implementation of Phase-to-Amplitude Coupling Analysis Algorithms in Deep Brain Stimulation Devices, 48th DGBMT Annual Conference, Hannover - Germany. Joint journal of the German Society for Biomedical Engineering in VDE and the Austrian and Swiss Societies for Biomedical Engineering, 59(S1), Walter de Gruyter - Berlin - Boston. ISSN 0013-5585.
    DOI: 10.1515/bmt-2014-5002

  • Dellavale D, Leibold C, Payá-Vayá G, Blume H, Alam M, Schwabe K, and Krauss JK (2013), Optimization of a Phase-to-Amplitude Coupling Algorithm for Real-Time processing of Brain Electrical Signals, ICT.OPEN Conference, Eindhoven, Netherlands.
    URLs: researchgate.net/publication/260614486, ims.uni-hannover.de

  • Rosselló JM, Dellavale D and Bonetto F (2013), Energy concentration and positional stability of sonoluminescent bubbles in sulfuric acid for different static pressures, Physical Review E, 88, 033026.
    DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.88.033026

  • Rechiman LM, Dellavale D and Bonetto F (2013), Path suppression of strongly collapsing bubbles at finite and low Reynolds numbers, Physical Review E, 87, 063004.
    DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.87.063004

  • Rechiman LM, Dellavale D and Bonetto F (2012), Numerical description of moving single bubble sonoluminescence state in sulfuric acid, X Argentinian Conference on Computational Mechanics (MECOM 2012), Salta, Argentina.
    URL: https://cimec.org.ar/ojs/index.php/mc/article/view/4064

  • Dellavale D, Rechiman L, Rosselló JM and Bonetto F (2012), Upscaling energy concentration in multi-frequency single bubble sonoluminescence with strongly degassed sulfuric acid, Physical Review E, 86, 016320.
    DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.86.016320

  • Bellotti M, Dellavale D, Fabián Bonetto F (2012), A new technique to detect ocular pathologies based on electrical measurement implemented on programmable logic, IEEE Trans. on Inst. & Meas., 61(12).
    DOI: 10.1109/TIM.2012.2210458

  • Bast W, Dellavale D, Bonetto F (2011), FPGA implementation of a "Dynamic-Clamp" system, Proc. of VII Southern Programmable Logic Conference (SPL11), ISBN: 978-1-4244-8847-6, 167-172, Córdoba, Argentina.
    DOI: 10.1109/SPL.2011.5782643

  • Dellavale D, Urteaga R, Bonetto F (2010), Analytical study of the acoustic field in a spherical resonator for single bubble sonoluminescence, J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 127(1), 186-197.
    DOI: 10.1121/1.3257208

  • Iriarte Muñoz JM, Dellavale D, Sonnaillon MO, Bonetto F (2009), Real - time particle image velocimetry based on FPGA technology, IEEE Proc. of V Southern Programmable Logic Conference (SPL09), ISBN: 978-1-4244-3847-1, 147-152, Sao Carlos, Brazil.
    DOI: 10.1109/SPL.2009.4914899

  • Dellavale D, Sonnaillon MO, Bonetto F (2008), FPGA Based Multi-Harmonic Control System for Single Bubble Sonoluminescence, IEEE Proc. of IV Southern Programmable Logic Conference (SPL08), ISBN: 978-1-4244-1992-0, 269-272, Bariloche, Argentina.
    DOI: 10.1109/SPL.2008.4547774

  • Urteaga R, Dellavale D, Puente GF and Bonetto F (2008), Experimental study of transient paths to the extinction in sonoluminescence, J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 124(3), 1490-1496.
    DOI: 10.1121/1.2903854

  • Urteaga R, Dellavale D, Puente GF and Bonetto F (2007), Positional stability as the light emission limit in sonoluminescence with sulfuric acid, Physical Review E, 76, 056317.
    DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.76.056317

Patents

  • Amarillo Y, Dellavale D, Nadal M, Portillo J (2018), Electronic system for concurrent implementation of patch clamp and dynamic clamp techniques in neuronal activity recording experiments, Argentina patent (AR108504A1).
    URLs: AR108504A1 google; AR108504A1 CNEA

Theses


    theses/SA-Xe-SBSL8.jpg
    theses/SA-Xe-MBSL1_original.jpg

  • Dellavale D (2012), Concurrent signal processing algorithms with applications in sonoluminescence, PhD thesis, Instituto Balseiro, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo (UNCuyo), Centro Atómico Bariloche, Río Negro, Argentina.
    URL: http://ricabib.cab.cnea.gov.ar/338

    • theses/DSC_0074.jpg

    theses/Tutorial de conexiones960-585.jpg

  • Dellavale D (2004), Characterization of the damage produced on different material surfaces, Specialization thesis in Technological Applications of Nuclear Energy, Instituto Balseiro, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo (UNCuyo), Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica (CNEA), Universidad Nacional de Buenos Aires (UBA) - Facultad de Ingeniería, Argentina.
    URL: https://inis.iaea.org/collection/NCLCollectionStore/_Public/36/058/36058792.pdf
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Dissemination of results

Selected talks

Science communication

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